Karen was wondering what God’s plan was for her life and the pursuit of a husband had produced no end of frustration. But she turned to the Bible for inspiration. “I remember God’s word from the book of Jeremiah,” she recalled. “I know what plans I have in mind for you, plans for peace, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
The 36-year-old from Singapore believed God’s Word, but she didn’t know how His plan might be revealed. She persisted in her membership on CatholicMatch, even though it didn’t seem like it was going anywhere. She made a lot of online connections, including overseas pen pals and went on some dates at home, but dating relationships were not able to progress to the next level.
In September of 2007—after six years as a CatholicMatch member, the question of whether Karen was seeing anyone came up in a prayer group she was a part of, directed to her by a missionary. “I thought her question was rather odd,” Karen recalled. “This missionary is…close to God and I knew she kept me in her prayers…that set me pondering.”
While Karen pondered, Henry was moving in her direction. 40-years-old and also from Singapore, he came upon the CatholicMatch ad online and decided to check the website out. As a new member, his profile came up prominently in the search Karen ran after her encounter with the missionary. “At the time the only thing I could see was send an emotigram since I was a non-paying member,” she told CatholicMatch.
Karen had also caught Henry’s attention. He loved her big smile, and summoned up the courage to also send an emotigram and to write out a message. When she didn’t reply, he thought Karen had lost interest.
“I dragged my feet on subscribing,” she admitted. “Maybe I was jaded after being on a couple blind dates or maybe it was being stingy.” But an act she attributes to Divine Providence intervened.
Karen was accidentally friended by someone on Facebook, in case of mistaken identity. But it turned out Karen recognized the person and recalled that she had recently married someone from the Netherlands. “She shared with me how they met online…her faith sharing gave me the courage to become a paid member of CatholicMatch.”
Now Henry got a reply to his message. In fact he got much more than that. Over the next couple months a series of messages adding up to 40 or 50 total ensued and it paved the way for them to meet in November 2007.
The groundwork for their relationship was well-established through the messaging and they moved ahead to engagement and ultimately married in January 2010. Today they have a 15-mont-old daughter.
“I am reminded time and again how God has brought us together,” Karen marveled. Indeed, a series of unlikely coincidences had wrought the plan for hope that He intended for both her, Henry and little Joan Isabel.
Continue Reading
