Name: Karena Reusser
Years Married: 4
I was living in Washington, D.C., where I had just finished a graduate degree at George Washington University. Although I had a good job, a master's degree and had been very successful in my career, I wanted to be married. It didn't make sense that all my friends were already married and I was on my own. I had never even dated anyone that I would have considered marrying.
I fasted one day a week for three years and prayed that God would send me the perfect husband. Meanwhile, I agreed to spend additional time in Washington, D.C., to help a friend. She was a single mother with two children and she spent many weeks traveling for work. Starting August 2002, I took care of her children, telecommuted and flew back to Ohio to work on the weekends. On Christmas Day, my friend was found dead in Rock Creek Park. I stayed in town long enough to get the children moved to their dad's house, to make funeral arrangements and to help the family.
On December 31, I flew home to Ohio for my final trip from D.C. When I was on the plane, I asked God why. I was so devastated to have lost such a good friend. God didn't give me any answer about the past, but He said, You will meet the man you are going to marry this year and before this time next year you will be married.
I admit that I didn't believe it. It really sounded crazy and impossible. Five months later I was assigned to work on a community service project with a doctor who had just moved to town from Cleveland. I knew the first time we got together that he was exactly what I had prayed for.
Two months later I won a national award through my job and went to South Carolina to accept the award. He invited himself to go with my parents and me on that trip. While we were there, he asked me to marry him. On December 12, 2003 we were married. God is so faithful.
