Zee’sSecondChance

Written by cycleguy on May 1st, 2014

Thanks to the inspiration which came from this post, I decided to feature some stories of my readers writing about God giving them a second chance. They will be spread out over the next week or two. One of mine was here.  Daniel’s was here. Today’s writer holds a special place in my heart. Zee lives in Ukraine and we have established a long distance big brother/little sister relationship. My hope is to someday meet her (and her soon-to-be-husband, Sam). Here is Zee’s Second Chance.

I was 27 and I thought my life was on a down course.

I lived alone, my cat was dying from a stroke and cancer, the Church building where I’ve spent my entire childhood and teen years was moving to another place, and I was beginning to hate the job I used to love. While there were many good things in my life, I was depressed.

May 20, 2013 was the day when I thought that I don’t want to do anything else except sit and stare into the window. No one knew about it – I woke up in the morning, went to work, came home, made tea… and yet on the inside I was as good as dead because the day before I put my cat – a friend of 19 years – to sleep. I knew God has something for me because He kept me alive through all those years and yet I had no desire to discover what it was. Completely blank on the inside.

It changed on May 21.

A few years before, I registered at a local Christian dating website, InVictory. I personally knew a few couples who met there, but I did not believe this would work for me. Having nothing better to do, home alone, I logged in to check messages. Nothing. After looking through various profiles, I figured that I would close my account that week. Obviously, something was wrong with me because I haven’t dated in many years.

I logged to Facebook and saw that I have a friend request. “Weird, we don’t have any friends in common. He does look good though.” So I added some random Alexander Gimon to my friends and figured that possibly we have crossed our paths in the past. Only afterwards, I saw a short message from him.

“I saw you on InVictory.”

That fateful message and a friend request have changed my life. We started talking online, then we met in real life, and realized that we actually do have friends in common. Besides friends, we also had a lot of common interests – and mainly, common faith and thoughts about spiritual life.

Four months later, he proposed to me – and on May 2, 2014, we are getting married.

Besides this being the story of how I met my husband-to-be, it was a story of how God pretty much made me take the second chance.

And I am thankful.

I am thankful that God gave me enough wisdom to follow this chance.

I am thankful that God did not give up on me when I was about to give up on myself.

Thankful for the second chance itself to truly live a life.

The moral of the story?

Follow His lead. Enjoy every chance you get. 

Someone said, “We never really run out of second chances, but we do run out of time.” 

Let’s make sure we don’t waste the opportunities we have.

 I chose to highlight Zee’s post today (and this weekend) because she becomes “Mrs. Sam” tomorrow (Friday). I so wanted to get there to witness their wedding, but it wasn’t possible. “Lil sis: you know my heart for you and Sam is to have a life filled with love and all God has for you together.” Thanks Zee for sharing your story.

And while you are at it, why not wish Zee and Sam a Happy Wedding. You can also pray for Ukraine and its people.

 

21 Comments so far ↓

  1. Awesome Zee!!! Love seeing this side of folks law whose comments I see.

    • Zee says:

      🙂 I agree – it’s fun to get to know the other commenters because after a while, the conversations get deeper and you want to know the person more.

  2. Jeff says:

    Well of course we will wish her a Happy Wedding. Enjoy the Day and many years to come.

  3. Tami Grandi says:

    awww- I love this story (and it gives me a little hope- even though I have about 12 years on her…) Happy Wedding Day!

    • Zee says:

      Tami – all I can say… you never know when it might happen. (It’s easy to see it looking back, but unfortunately not so easy when you’re in the middle of it… I was sharing this very thing with the girls today after the party)… My mom got first married when she was 45 (or so… Don’t remember the date)… (I was a surprise kid before that)

  4. Betty Draper says:

    Wish all of us, your blogging friends blogging friends could be there for your wedding. Your story does give hope to others who are looking for a Godly mate to share life with. So glad you never gave up and took one more chance. Blessings on your wedding.

    • Zee says:

      Thanks, Betty. I wish all my friends could make it, too! I will share the video once we get it. It was an awesome day.

  5. Daniel says:

    Zee, I hope your life going forward is a wonderful blessing to you with love, adventure, fulfillment, trust, partnership, and fun.

  6. floyd says:

    Great story, Zee. I wish you a wonderful wedding day and pray God blesses you and your husband abundantly from the inside out.

    • Zee says:

      Floyd – God has been blessing us in SO many ways that Sam and I are completely blown away! 🙂 Seriously… we’re in a complete amazement at what He’s been doing in our lives this past year.

  7. Roxie says:

    Zee, may you and Alexander have the most blessed of lives. May your years be many and happy. I’m so excited for you!

  8. Zee says:

    Thanks so much for the timing, Bill 😀 We just came back from the wedding. Sorry no video broadcast – we simply ran out of time to test it. But there will be video and I will share it. It was great. So thankful for all my friends.

    • cycleguy says:

      You know I will expect a personal copy IN ENGLISH! 😉 Love you sis and pray you and Sam have a fantastic and God-honoring life together.

  9. Bill, thanks for showcasing Zee’s story. Congratulations, newlyweds, Zee and Sam! Marriage is a wonderful worth-it adventure and challenge.

    Thinking of Ukraine these days too… we have adopted relatives from those towns.

    Jennifer Dougan
    http://www.jenniferdougan.com

    • Zee says:

      Thanks, Jennifer! (And thanks for your comment on my blog, too!)

      We here value all the prayers we can get since the situation is still very-very tense. Right now the main need is the honesty of the presidential / Kyiv mayor elections that will take place on May 25.

  10. Ike says:

    Great story and pray you and Sam will honor God in all your relationships.

    Note: Big brother-Little sister?? If I understand Zee’s age…wouldn’t it be more like Grandpa-Lil granddaughter??:-)

    • Zee says:

      Ike – both Sam and I are 100% sure that it was God’s idea to get us together (if I could go on longer than 500 words, I’d fill up books about the “coincidences” that took place in our lives that brought us even closer together), and we do try to not forget to thank God for each other every day.

      Re: big brother / lil sister – I’m 28. Bill’s not much older ( 😉 ) 😀