a new year: engagement

With the passing of the New Year (both Calendar and Chinese), I can't help but to wonder what this coming year may have in store. So far, a lot has happened. The biggest news this year is that I am engaged to a wonderful woman I met last year while in Australia. I proposed to her here in Taiwan. I took her to Kenting, which is one of the most beautiful places in Taiwan. I spent a couple weeks planning the trip. This meant driving down with a friend who knew the area. He showed me the good scenic lookouts, beaches, restaurants and helped me book a hotel. I needed to get a reasonably priced hotel because I needed to book two separate rooms (one for her and one for me). So, I ended up booking two rooms at a "Minzu" which is like a little boutique hotel. The funny thing is, I booked  the nicer suite for her with a nice view while I booked a room down the hall from hers without a view which was half as much. I figured we would spend most of the time talking in her room on the balcony and at the end of the night I would go back to my room which worked out well. 

So onto the night of the proposal. I had a couple options running through my mind which were contingent on the weather. It looked like it might rain or be a but cooler, so I was preparing for this. But, thankfully there was no rain and the temperature was alright. It did end up being a bit windy though. I told her I wanted to dress up a little and go out for dinner. But, before heading out I brought her flowers that I secretly bought earlier in the day and hid in the trunk of the car. Needless to say, she was totally surprised! White flowers are her favorite, specifically lilies which is what I brought. Score!

Next, we went to "Smokey Joe's" which is a Tex-Mex type of restaurant. It was nice, I asked the hostess seat us away from people so that we could have some privacy. At this point, I think she knew that I may propose to her (and afterwards she said that she thought I would propose to her in the restaurant), but as I have kidded with her over the previous weeks: "she will not know the time nor the place that I will propose, but it will happen." So needless to say, it wasn't ever in my plan to propose to her in the restaurant. After dinner, we drove to a little beach area down the street and ended up sitting on a blanket while looking at the surf and stars. 
It was a very romantic moment and this is when I popped the question. While we were holding each other I pulled out the ring and asked her in Chinese: 你願意嫁給我嗎？which is "Will you marry me?" She said "yes!" But this special moment didn't last too long because the wind really picked up and started blowing sand everywhere, so we decided to head back to the hotel. This is where we took some more traditional photos of me on my knee. After spending some time talking on the balcony, we said our goodnights and I headed back to my room. All in all, the night was quietly romantic. No big fanfare, just me and her spending a very special moment together. We spent the next day at a white sand beach where we were the only ones on the beach for a couple hours. It was a sweet first moment together as an engaged couple. God truly blessed us throughout the trip. He made it a very, very special time for us. One that will be an endearing keepsake we will both remember for the rest of our lives. We truly are feeling blessed by God to be in each other's lives.
There is a amazing future waiting for us and we are excited to walk into everything God has planned for us as a married couple. But, as my fiance prayed for us just tonight was that we would always be a Presence driven couple that consciously makes room for Jesus to lead and guide us by showing hospitality to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and marriage. Now I don't say this naively like we are going to live some fairy tale life where there will be no trials, testings or trouble. No, I say this understanding that all of these will come but I say this from a place of faith, believing that no matter what happens Jesus will be with us releasing love, grace and faith to us as we go through whatever trials, testings or even trouble that may come our way. This is God's promise to us: that He will never leave us nor forsake us, but will be with us always even to the end of this age.
 Jesus gave up everything to make sure that there is no space, no gap between us and Him. Jesus sacrificed everything so that we could be close to Him. Not close in the sense of being next to Him, but so close that we are literally in Him and He is literally in us. That's why He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within everyone of His followers. I can't tell you how excited we both are to spend the rest of our lives together with Jesus. If you know anything about either of us, you would know that it's a miracle that we are even together. We have both been through quite a lot journeying through this life, but those stories are for another time. 
There's a very special song that has deep meaning for both of us called "Bless the Broken Road" by Selah. You see, we have both spent our fair share of time searching for true love, but ended up only finding heartache and heartbreak. It's only after we found the perfect love of God that our journey ended and a new one began. A journey that has brought us into the very heart of God which is not only where we have found each other but also so much more. Do you think it's time for your current journey to end and for a new one to start?