The Moment My Mom Set Me Up
Who’s the last person on earth that you would let set you up on a date? A certain friend? That strange coworker?
Your mom?
I let my mom set me up ONE time, and here’s why I’d never let her do it again!
Back in February of 2015, my life was a bit different. I was in my third year of teaching kindergarten at Peterson Elementary in Wichita. My focus was learning contentment and running half-marathons. My life was full of many activities, but one activity was non-existent: dating . In June of 2014, I had decided to give up dating for a year in order to focus on my relationship with the Father. At the age of 24, I hadn’t made the best dating choices, and I needed a fresh start. I pledged that year to grow as a person and just focus on my walk with God.
One night in February 2015, my phone rang.
“Mom” the caller read. I answered. We started with simple chit-chat, and then she had something important to tell me.
“There’s this guy at church. He’s cute and tall and sits by himself.”
“Mom, I’m not even dating right now.”
“Well, I’m just letting you know.”
End of conversation.
Another month passes, and I get another phone call from my mom.
“Hello,” I said.
“I know his name!”
“What?”
“The guy who sits alone at church. He joined the church today, so I found out his name. His name is Grant Rardon.”
“Mom, I’m not interested. I’m not even dating.”
End of conversation.
I would later come to find out that the mysterious Grant Rardon was in the midst of his own life changes. Deciding if he wanted to return to Virginia or stay in Kansas, he prayed to God that March that if he was going to stay in Kansas he needed a lady in his life.
Needless to say, God was up to something!
That April, I went home for Easter to check out this man my mother swooned over. I saw him for a brief second. At that point, I was not interested. Over the next month, my mom continued to pester me about this man. So on May 3, 2015, I decided to add this man to my Facebook to prove my mother wrong. “I will show her!” I thought.
That night, sitting at his friend’s house, that Mr. Grant Rardon sent me a message over Facebook.
“Hey Kristen, was today during the meet and greet the first time we have met? I feel as though I have seen you before or we have met, but I am draw a blank if we have.”
We did not actually meet that morning. I replied with how I accidentally added him to facebook when I was looking at his profile. I chuckle as I write this because we all know it wasn’t an accident.
For a few days, we messaged each other back and forth before meeting up. At that point, I was training for a half-marathon, so a couple days later, he joined me at 6:00 for my morning run. As he showed up on my parents’ door step, I was so nervous turning that door knob to the unknown future. We ran three miles out in the country as the sun was rising. It truly was as magical as it sounds.
By mid-May, we were texting daily. I already had planned to spend 6 weeks in Alaska that summer so we only saw each other one more time before I flew off on my Alaskan adventure. Because I still had two months left in my commitment to God, we didn’t go on an official date until I got back on July 12.
If you know me, you may now understand why I never let my mom set me up again. After July 12, 2015, that mystery man became my boyfriend and now my husband. Through meeting Grant, I learned that God is always working behind the scenes. There is so much of the heavenly realm we don’t see. God was simultaneously working in my life and Grant’s to bring about the right moment we would meet. If I had added him to Facebook back in February, it might not have lead to anything, as he was dating someone else then. If I had not added him at all, we might not be together. Sometimes you just have to take that leap of faith, trust your mom, and fall into God’s perfect timing.