An Unexpected Answer to a Prayer

I knew I had a vocation to marriage and children when I was about 12 years old. Later, as a teen, I prayed to God to send me a husband. I didn’t pray for a good man. I didn’t even ask for a Catholic man, just a husband, because at the time, I wasn’t a practicing Catholic. In my mind, I pictured a good-looking, blond man who was easygoing and athletic.  I wrote a letter to my future husband and began buying gifts for him when I was about 15 years old and stored them in a small wooden hope chest.

I didn’t date in high school (teen boys weren’t interested in dating someone who looked like a little girl). Because of this, I began writing to pen pals from all over the world. This was over 40 years ago when there was no email, no Snapchat, no FaceTime, texting or cheap long distance. If I wrote a letter to someone in Hong Kong, I received a letter a month later in response. I had over 100 pen pals, so I was always receiving a letter from one of them. One pen pal lived in Ontario, Canada, so when she invited me to visit, I didn’t hesitate. At that point, I was 19 years old.

On this trip, I met my future husband, who happened to be friends with my pen pal’s brother. He didn’t seem like the kind of person I would initially be attracted to (he was three years younger, was not athletic, and lived 500 miles away), and yet I was drawn to his kind and gentle nature.

In my book Julia’s Gifts, Julia also writes a letter to her future husband. Julia also buys Christmas gifts for him, even though she doesn’t know who he is.  When her future husband arrives in her life, she dismisses the possibility he could be her future husband because of her preconceived notions of the sort of man her future husband should be.

Like Julia in Julia’s Gifts, I almost dismissed the possibility that the man who turned out to be my husband was just a nice, cute guy. He is not only a faithful Catholic, but also an excellent husband and father and an all-around nice guy with more talents and abilities than anyone I’ve ever met. We had a long distance relationship that lasted for three years until we got married. In that time, my husband, in his gentle nature, helped to bring me back to the Catholic faith.

I prayed to God with one expectation, and He answered my prayer one hundred-fold!

Have you ever prayed to God with specific requests? Did He ever respond in an unexpected way?

Image by adamova1210 from Pixabay

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About the author: ELLEN GABLE HRKACH is an author of twelve books, ghostwriter of five books, self-publishing book coach, speaker, publisher, NFP teacher, book reviewer, and instructor in the Theology of the Body for Teens. She is the former president of the Catholic Writers Guild, and her books have won multiple awards, including the Gold Medal in the IPPY Awards and First Place in the Catholic Media Association Awards. Married to her husband of 40 years, James, she is also the mother of five adult sons, three daughters-in-law, and Grammy to two precious grandchildren. When she’s not writing, Ellen can be found watching classic movies, researching her family tree, and reading Dr. Seuss books with her grandchildren. Originally from New Jersey, Ellen lives with her husband in rural Ontario, Canada. Her website is at www.EllenGable.com.