We Might Have Stayed Too Long—But God Was Still Right on Time

My husband has this line he loves to say to me:

“I didn’t marry you for your mind.”

And when I try to challenge that, he doubles down with a smile and says,
“You’re certainly beautiful—but I didn’t marry you because you’re beautiful either.”

At first, I’d roll my eyes or give him that really? look, but over time I realized—it’s his way of saying: I married you for something deeper.

Now me? I’ll tell anybody—I married that man for his mind. His mind calms mine. It challenges mine. It covers mine. It expands mine. I knew that if I was going to walk into purpose, I needed someone who could hold my heart and walk me through hard questions with spiritual sense. And that’s what I got.

One thing we do together—and I love this about us—is we ask each other after a situation:
“What did you learn from that?”

Today, I learned something I wasn’t ready to admit before.

I stayed in relationships with people who weren’t good for me—not just romantically, career, especially family, friendships, and other circles too. I didn’t want to admit that I wasted my time.

I didn’t want to say it out loud: that I knew it wasn’t good, but I stayed. Maybe I thought I could fix it. Maybe I could love them more or I just didn’t want to feel alone. Maybe I wanted to prove I was loyal.

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”
— Ecclesiastes 3:1

Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is walk away from what once felt familiar, and trust that God will redeem the time.

“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten...”
— Joel 2:25

But the truth I’ve come to see is this:
God doesn’t need you to hold on to a community just to say you have someone.

He will send the right people—at the right time—when you are ready to receive them.

God is never late. And He’s never early either. Just right on time.

So if you’re holding on to someone, something, or some group out of fear that you won’t find better—release it. God is not trying to empty your life; He’s trying to fill it.
And sometimes, the only thing standing between you and what He’s promised… is what you refuse to let go.

As for me and my husband?
We still laugh about the “mind” comment.
But underneath it all—we both know…
We didn’t marry potential. We married purpose.