27,000 Miles in Love: An Epic Marriage Story Guided by Faith Leaving a Legacy

By Sara Thurman

How small steps and little changes can purposefully make your spousal relationship a holy journey.

Are you wear

• Language: English
• Publisher: Acts 1:8 Blessings
• Release date: May 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798985201130

Sara Thurman

Sara Coston Thurman loves to create. Whether she's writing, painting, teaching, or gardening, she finds immense joy in bringing beauty into the world. Sara is a fellow Texan living with her toy poodle, Selah, in Wimberley. There she encourages others to pursue their creative dreams and tell the goodness of God all over the world. Sara has written several books on a variety of topics, from following God's calling in her artistic life to children's stories and journals. Visit sarathurman.com to learn more.

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Introduction

This book is an assignment from God to tell the story of redemption, the story of holy matrimony when God is in the middle. Wayman Lee Thurman is now in heaven, but God has commanded me to tell his life of service as a man of God.

His example of being a godly husband and father and friend is one that I hope his grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great, great grandchildren will follow and continue Wayman’s legacy of love.

The story of our marriage and our parenting are woven together through the seasons of our lives that spanned more than three decades. I pray our story blesses you in your marriage, your family, your friendships, and your life to bring God’s love into your own story.

Marriage is God’s amazing gift to mankind. Unfortunately, the world has really messed up the idea of marriage as God intended. He created a beautiful avenue to grow in relationship with Him while we grow in relationship with our spouse.

In Genesis 1:27 (TPT), we read about the beginning of mankind, So God created man and woman and shaped them with His image inside them. In His own beautiful image, He created His masterpiece. Yes, male and female He created them.

Then we read in Genesis 1:31 (TPT), He surveyed all He had made and said, ‘I love it! For it pleased Him greatly.’

Think about this plan: God created man and woman to complement each other, help each other, to be unified to bring glory to God in a physical realm to prepare for the reality of the spiritual realm of unity and completion. Why? Because a man and a woman need companionship and to help each other.

Then Yahweh-God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. Therefore I will fashion a suitable partner to be his help and strength.’ Genesis 2:18 (TPT)

We keep reading in Genesis 2:21-25 (TPT) and find out about the rest of the beginning of the first marriage relationship in the Garden of Eden. So Yahweh-God caused Adam to fall into a deep trance, and while he slept, He took a portion of Adam’s side and closed its place with flesh. Then Yahweh-God used the portion of Adam’s side and skillfully crafted a woman and presented her to him.

Then Adam said, "‘At last! One like me! Her bones were formed from my bones, and her flesh from my flesh! This one will be called, ‘Woman,’ for she was taken from man.

For this reason, a man leaves his father and mother to be unselfishly attached to his wife. They become one flesh as a new family! The man and his wife felt no shame, unaware that they were both naked.’

What an exceptional beginning God gave to the first of mankind to enjoy a special companionship and connection in a perfect place on earth. This holy communion where woman had been inside of man, then separated and crafted and then man and woman were made to be intimate to become one again.

Each unique creation made in God’s image and each carrying God to be made into a holy communion. God established a beautiful foundation and purpose for us to grasp. Mankind did not think this up. It is not a government social contract. Marriage is a gift from God for a holy communion between a man and a woman to become one to give each other help in times of need.

Ecclesiastes 4:9 (NLT) states this truth, Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.

In this context, I write this book on our marriage. Wayman was a gift to me, and I was a gift to him. Marriage is a gift from God to us. I want to share with you about this holy communion with My Man to inspire you and bless your marriage to be the best it can be because of God’s design.

I knew when I gave the eulogy at Wayman’s funeral service on January 24, 2020, that I would write this book about our marriage. God gave me the title while I prepared what I would share with the hundreds who came to honor his life and support me and my boys at his memorial celebration.

We walked at least 27,000 miles together in our marriage. Wayman was a runner when we married. I, too, had run lots of miles, long before marrying Wayman. I ran track in my middle and high school days and cross country and track in college.

Sometime after my twenty-fifth birthday, I switched to walking and hiking to save my joints. Wayman ran every day and I walked. In less than a year after we married, Wayman switched to walking with me every day—a true gift to me and our marriage.

God used these daily walks, something we looked forward to, as a connection point of communication through nearly thirty-five years of marriage. We even had to spell out W-A-L-K or our dogs would go crazy if we spoke the word and were not quite ready. We walked three miles at least five times a week for fifty-two weeks a year, rain or shine, snow or sleet with rare exceptions.

For the first thirty years we were married, we kept that pace of at least fifteen miles a week. The last few years of marriage we usually walked seven days a week but just two miles a day. We also hiked a number of trails in state parks and national parks all over the United States and the world.

Walking was one of the hallmarks of our marriage for two reasons. First, our communication was clear and rich with stories and respect for each other. We talked while we walked. Second, we held hands nearly 100 percent of the time during our walks. Physical touch was another hallmark and holding hands during our walks got the attention of those around us.

Others noticed we were a couple who held hands frequently. One can tell a lot about the other person when you hold hands. Sometimes, no words are needed. The gift of physical touch was important to both of us as part of our love language.

Holding hands for 27,000 miles was a stamp of authenticity in our marriage. Marriage is for this side of heaven, on earth for us as a gift from our Father God. Wayman and I loved each other with a deep and unwavering love. We knew we were each a gift from God to each other.

I pray this book will inspire you to taste and see that the Lord is good. I pray the testimonies of God’s goodness written on these pages will point you toward heaven, with your eyes fixed on Jesus.

If you have not yet found your person for marriage, I pray it will happen in God’s perfect timing. If you are married or plan to be married, I pray the words of this book will bring encouragement and hope for your marriage to become more than you ever dreamed it would be. Also, that you will find the fullness of the gift of a holy communion and holy covenant right from God’s design, plans, and heart into your marriage.

Be blessed, dear ones, as you read our marriage story. I so wish Wayman was here to read and check every word for accuracy. My story is, of course, written from my perspective while My Man watches from heaven.

May our story bring glory to God and blessings to you.

SEASON I

An Epic Love Story Unfolding: Dating and Falling in Love

Lord send me the very best husband. I will wait on You. I will be an old maid schoolteacher and single and I will be ok with that call on my life. But Lord, if you have a husband for me, send him. Only the best husband. One I can respect and love and run with to follow You.

That was my prayer in October 1984, and God answered quickly. Wayman and I had our first date in February 1985, and we married three months later on May 19, 1985.

I knew on our first date I would marry Wayman Lee Thurman. I could feel it in my heart that he was the one I had been waiting for. He was a man I could respect and trust, who was gentle yet strong to handle my personality and gifts.

And Wayman was one of my dad’s best friends.

God was so out of the box when Wayman came into my life. He was twenty years older than me, had been married for twenty years to his first wife, was divorced, and had a fourteen-year-old son.

I was twenty-six when we started dating, and he was forty-six. My expectations of whom I would date did not include anyone even in their thirties, much less forties. And it did not include someone divorced or with children.

A single college student working my way through a deficiency program at Sul Ross University to meet the qualifications to become a certified teacher in the state of Texas. Teaching was my calling in life, and it had taken me several years to agree with this calling. I had graduated with an undergraduate degree in General Studies with emphasis on Family Counseling but was not licensed.

Within the first month of dating, I moved home to my parent’s place in Fort McKavett, Texas, from Uvalde and started planning our wedding. Wayman lived an hour away from my parents. I was so in love, I struggled to focus on my college classes and dropped out. I returned to my studies in the fall after we got married.

I grew up knowing I could do and be anything I wanted. My parents had instilled in me a confidence that the world was mine to conquer. I was capable and able to be a world changer. If I did get married, I would need a strong and gentle man who loved God first and then loved me.

Because of my belief system, I was expected to marry within the same religious denomination. Not surprising considering all the numerous laws and rules. Despite some of the good things and values in this church, it could be listed as a cult.

We believed we were the only ones saved in this church and we had to marry only within the church. We observed the Old Testament holy days and had strict views on what we had to do to be saved from our sin and to make it into the Kingdom of God.

As a member of the same denomination, Wayman was approved as someone I could