Marriage, Money, and Faith

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Sunday and Priscilla on their wedding day

I attended the young single adult summit in Kumasi, Ghana, not because I needed a girlfriend—I was already engaged—but because I felt that I needed more motivation and that the summit would be the right place to find it. Indeed, my prayers were answered at the summit after Sister Call, a senior missionary assigned to work with young single adults, spoke about the importance of temple marriage.

Toward the end of the discussion, her countenance suddenly changed and she said, “You do not need money to get married—all you need is faith.” I felt like she was talking to me directly, but I didn’t think it could really apply to me because we had to purchase several items in preparation for the wedding. I said to myself, “How can I not need money but only faith?”

I thought about this over and over again throughout the week. In the process I asked myself, “Is God limited in what He can do?” At first, I thought no, but on second thought I thought yes. But then came a follow-up question, “How can He be limited if He is all-powerful?” The Spirit taught me the answer: God’s blessings are dependent upon our obedience to Him. He is not limited in His ability to bless us, but we must invite those blessings by exercising faith to do what He would have us do.

Later, I called my fiancée, Priscilla, to discuss our proposed marriage plans. Despite our lack of money, we decided to choose a date for our wedding, but we could not decide on a particular date. We agreed that she should ask her bishop which dates were open on the ward and stake calendars. Out of the two dates he offered, we chose September 27, 2014—which meant that we had barely seven weeks to the day of the wedding!

Priscilla asked, “Obim [meaning “my heart” in the Igbo language], do you have some money? The time is short.”

I replied, “No, but I do have some faith.”

She laughed and said, “It’s OK. Let’s fast and pray.” Paraphrasing 1 Nephi 3:7, she continued, “The Lord will open a way for us because He has commanded us to get married.”

Within that week I was paid for a job I had done months previously. Then Priscilla told me that she wanted to start a business to raise more funds. With the money I had made, she bought used women’s handbags and resold them. After buying some of the items on her list of things required, she still had more than double the money I gave her.

During this time, there were no jobs coming my way. Every promised job fell through. We had two weeks remaining and there were still things we needed to buy. My fiancée suggested that the date be moved back. All I said was, “A miracle is on the way.”

Just two days before our wedding day, the miracle happened: I was paid for a job I had done over two weeks before. I was also learning that with faith and hard work, the Lord would bless us to accomplish our righteous goals.

We went to the bank to cash the check and from there to the market to purchase the remainder of what was required amidst heavy rain, which we saw as heaven’s approval of our act of faith.

Less than 24 hours later, we were married. When we were asked to exchange vows, the feeling was unlike anything I had ever felt in my life. I felt so accomplished that I believed I could do all things through faith from that point on. We were later sealed in the Accra Ghana Temple.

Though you may need some money to prepare for marriage, the most important thing you need is faith.