Don’t you love a good love story? When we meet a couple, we are curious about the life and relationships that person treasures. Married? What’s your love story—how did you meet? How did you end up here doing what you’re doing? How did Christ woo you to become His own? That’s a love story, too, right?

It is important that we reminisce and share.

And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb,
and by the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Revelation 12:11

My Story

After my family and I came to Christ, I felt God wooing me. At eleven, everything was new, foreign even. I didn’t know the books of the Bible. I’d never heard most of the songs the other kids sang at church camp. But one thing I was learning—God loved me!

We lived across the street from Roger’s Park in Forest Grove.

I loved to swing high into the air studying the sky. One particular day I gravitated to the horizontal bars to twirl my cares away. Little did I know something of great value flew from my pocket. I eventually dashed home, invigorated. Come dinner time, I could not find the double retainer for which my parents had paid dearly. It was a complicated mouthpiece to keep me out of headgear. It cost $400 to replace, which was a lot in the recession of the 80’s. I’d been warned, “If you lose it, you have to pay for the next one.”

It might as well have cost a thousand dollars. My little babysitting income wasn’t enough. I retraced my steps dozens of times. And prayed. NOTHING.

Days later, my mom called me to the front door in an excited voice I couldn’t decode. At the window I recognized a neighbor dog I’d cared for a time or two—sauntering off the steps.

“What’s so exciting?” I studied our meager front porch.

“Melinda, that dog just deposited something on the welcome mat.” I opened the door to find my retainer. My eyes bulged. No way! It had been four days. How…?

We gathered it, washed it, boiled it, and dashed to the orthodontist—praising God the entire way. He examined it, took it to the backroom to sanitize and assess the alignment, and declared, “It’s in perfect condition. Who would have thought.”

It was interventions like these that wooed my heart. Convinced me God cared. I wasn’t spared skinned knees or bullies at school, but when I asked for help—He was there.

You can read more about how God saved our family: https://melindapoling.com/christmas-1980-a-family-renewed/.

What is your story? Do you remember a time God reached in and turned your situation around? Won your heart? Maybe opened your eyes to see you weren’t alone in a tough situation? Please share. It would brighten the day—for both of us.

If you don’t have any God stories, I encourage you to ask Him. I assure you He is there, watching, caring, sometimes waiting for a tender moment to be invited.

For the Jacob Generation,

Melinda Poling