I Asked God for My Own St. Joseph

Good Morning and Welcome to Faith Friday!

Today, I want to share about prayer and those prayers that are answered. Five years ago, I went on my first official date with my husband. We met the night before and unofficially went on a date where we talked for hours. I was volunteering at a First Friday event and had wanted to go out with the other volunteers, as I had in previous months. However, everyone, except Brian, already had plans for the evening. I was so bummed. Then, he invited me to hang out, which turned out to be the best thing in both our lives.

You see, months prior, during my separation and later divorce, our church did the Consecration to St. Joseph for his feast day in March. The more I learned about him, the more I loved the way he loved Mary and raised Jesus as his own. Being a divorced mom with three children, I never would have thought any man would willingly love me AND want to raise my three children with me. Boy, was I wrong.

I had a conversation with God. I remember it vividly. I told Him, “Lord, you know I’m not looking for any relationship. I will be happy to raise my children as a single mom, living as best as I can as a Catholic woman. But… but if YOU want me to have a relationship, my only request is that You grant me my very own St. Joseph. I need someone who will treat me and the kiddos as St. Joseph loves Mary and Jesus.” And then I left the prayer at that, truly believing there would be no such man in the world.

Enter in October 1 of that same year. I was volunteering my time to a worthy cause to help domestic violence victims raise funds. This extremely cute, young guy was walking around the event, selling 50/50s, constantly coming back over to our booth (he was friends with the organization founder) and being extremely nice and flirty with me.

We ended up hanging out for hours. After several hours of hanging out, he asked me what I was looking for in a relationship. I curtly said, “I’m not.” He only took a second with that rejection before telling me what he was looking for. The conversation continued for a long time after. When I was ready to head out, he kindly offered to walk me back to my car. We agreed to meet the next day to go for a walk around the lake. And I got the best hug of my life before I got in my car. I remember texting my friend and telling her, “Girl, I think I just accidentally went on a date tonight...”

The next day, we met at the lake as discussed. During our walk, I told him how important my faith was and this time, no one was going to keep me away from there, not even myself. He laughed, telling me he went to Catholic school for 13 years (K-12). Now, I know plenty of people who went to Catholic schools who weren’t Catholic simply because Catholic schools were better alternatives to their public schools. I jokingly asked, “Oh, yeah? Well, who’s your Confirmation saint?” I thought I’d be tricky and get a response that he wasn’t actually Catholic. Instead, his response stopped me in my tracks.

“St. Joseph.”

I about lost it. Months prior, I had told God if He wanted me in a relationship at all, I needed my own St. Joseph. Here he was, standing right next to me. I knew in my heart at that very moment that this was the man God wanted in my life and in the kids’ lives, though it took me months to have faith in myself.

We were inseparable after that. We saw one another as often as we could. We waited several months before introducing the kiddos to him. And even that, we eased into it. He built this entire world in Minecraft, a game the kids loved to play, and we slowly introduced them online before an in person introduction.

We have been together for 5 years and married for almost 2.5 years in our Church. Brian has truly become all of our St. Joseph. He loves the kids as his own. It goes to show that a small prayer request, when letting God know that you will follow His plan for your life, can lead to amazing and beautiful things.