I Prayed to Marry a Preacher

We never had much growing up. Daddy drank and wasted his income on the bottle. Mother sewed our clothes from flour sacks she saved. I remember how happy she would be to find a sack full of flour at the grocery store that had the same print as others she was saving at home. I remember her saying, "I have enough to make a dress now." I was happy for her. Ah me, what memories. My mother was something else. She didn't have to use a pattern to make a dress. She made my brothers shirts out of flour sacks and recycled clothes long before it was even a popular thing to do.

Time went on and I grew up and realized how things were at our house. Mother tried to live right and she taught us the one way. Daddy didn't have any interest in spiritual things. Mother always told me, "You may not have much, but you have your character and if you keep it clean you will be all right."

I wanted better for myself than what I had and mother and daddy wanted that for all of their children. What they didn't know was just how much I wanted it better. Deep within me was the dream of marrying a good man who didn't drink, curse, and who put the Lord first in his life. I wanted to marry a man completely opposite from my daddy. The best person I could think of who would fit that dream was a preacher, so I knelt by my bed at night and prayed to marry a preacher. I didn't know a boy that was making a preacher, but I kept praying. Often times at night I could hear my daddy snoring across the hall in his intoxicated state and as I prayed I asked God to let him live to change his life. I didn't want my daddy to die lost. I loved my daddy but didn't love his habits or life style.

Jerry Humphries was our local preacher and one summer when I was 19, he left for two weeks to preach in gospel meetings. He invited this young preacher man, Clifton Tuggle, from Alabama Christian College in Montgomery, to preach in his absence. Clifton was so cute but he brought his girlfriend, Marcia Moulton, who later became his wife, with him. Mother and I invited them to eat lunch with us at our home. Daddy went to the country store and visited with friends all afternoon and avoided meeting them. During the afternoon I asked Clifton and Marcia if they didn't have a fine young man they could bring down and let me meet the next time they came. After thinking a little bit Marcia snapped her fingers and said, "Old Doug." The following Sunday when they came, they brought "Old Doug." I thought he was one of the nicest people I had ever met. There was just something very special about him. We four went riding in my new red and white 1963 Rambler that afternoon. They spilled a Coke in my car, which I didn't appreciate, but didn't let them know it since they cleaned it up nicely. At some point during our outing I started singing unconsciously, "Today I met the boy I'm gonna marry." It was a popular song back in the 60's and they roared with laughter at me. I was embarrassed.

Douglas and I dated for a year and a half. He invited me to attend banquets at Alabama Christian College with him and I wore evening gowns mother had made for me. I was just as proud of those brocade satin dresses as if they had cost a fortune. The one pictured above was a light green and with my green eyes, it really looked nice. I felt like a princess.

After one year with a potential preacher for a son-in-law, Daddy quit drinking and smoking after being in the hospital. The doctor warned him he had to stop or he was going to die. Daddy asked if he could go to church with us one Sunday when Doug was visiting. We were thrilled beyond words that he wanted to go and worship with us. Mother and Daddy sat in the back of the auditorium. Doug and I were in the center section about half way to the front. During the invitation I looked over and saw my Daddy walking down the aisle toward the preacher. He confessed having lived in sin for 30 years. He rededicated his life to the Lord and later became a Deacon in the Elba Church of Christ. Things really changed around our house. My daddy died in a right relationship with God.

Douglas and I were married December 18, 1965, by brother Raymond Elliott, at the Elba Church of Christ. We've had a wonderful life together. God answered my prayer as a young girl to marry a preacher, and I am so thankful He did. We look forward to celebrating 50 years together in 2015, if it is God's will.