Spring 1991, at my bedside table, late on a Sunday night after my college fraternity meeting, I asked God to save my soul from what I had become – even if it meant I would be a monk and have to move to Africa. That decision meant giving up what I loved most – the ability to choose for myself who would be my companion.

Up to that point, the reasons for choosing a companion were: #1 appearance and #2 personality.  I was always looking for the next girl to pursue and with this kind of criteria; I dated very questionable women as a teen and adult.  But with this salvation prayer, I gave up control of who I would become, who I would date, who I would flirt with, and who I would choose to marry.

Fast forward to summer 2000, a great friend of mine, Stacy Skeen, just told me she was moving, as a missionary, to Africa.  My heart rejoiced and fell, for I had just fallen in love with this woman for all the right reasons. My new criteria for pursuing women: #1 a heart for God, #2 personality, and #3 physical attraction.  Stacy loved God more than any woman I knew, I loved being around her and she was pretty! I asked her to marry me and she said “NO”! Unaffected, I pursued this woman of God all the more until she said “yes”!

Let’s look at how Proverbs 31 can affect your life whether single or married, male or female.

Mr. Blair Burke