Maria's Story

Maria and Jose

The air was filled with the scent of spicy grilled meat coming from the taco stands that were lined up among other street vendors as it mixed with the breeze wafting in from the Rio Grande.  Giggles and joyful screams were heard as children were playing with a worn-out soccer ball in the border city of Metamoros, just across the Texas border.  Music was heard coming from a nearby building as a group of college friends was gathering and dancing to the rhythms of the current 1980s songs.  Friends and strangers alike shared laughter as they swayed back and forth to the sounds.  Maria enjoyed spending time with her friends.  There was even one young man she danced with who was not a classmate and who she hadn’t met before.  At the end of the dance, Maria went back to her seat, and he left the gathering.  It was a small community atmosphere where a lot of the same people intermingled with one another without necessarily knowing one another.

Maria and her two younger brothers and two younger sisters were born and raised in Mexico.  Growing up, they spent a lot of time across the border in Brownsville, TX, and then they all became citizens when their father took a job in the United States.  Although she was the oldest, Maria’s brothers and sisters all married before she did.  There were certain characteristics she wanted in a husband someday but told the Lord that if there was anything in her list she needed to change, she would do it.  She also prayed that if she’s not ready and if her husband-to-be is not ready, for God not to put them together.  She only wanted it when God said they were ready to meet each other.  And God honored that.

Maria grew up Catholic and was taught to remain pure until marriage.  That was God’s way to do things.  Her parents had a Bible but she never saw them read it.  She decided she would read the Bible on her own.  The first time she read it, she came across Genesis 19:30-38, which is the passage about Lot’s two daughters having sexual relations with him.  That scared her so much that she closed the Bible and didn’t open it again until she got older.

Throughout young adulthood, she met different men who were interested in her for various reasons.  They were all from different nationalities and different skin colors.  One of the men was knowledgeable in the Bible but he didn’t have a job.  Her father told her once that if a man doesn’t work, there is something wrong.  Then she met some who were spiritually illiterate but who had more lucrative jobs.  That wouldn’t be a good fit either.  Others blessed her with gifts, and one taxi driver even wanted her to fly back home to Russia with him to meet his family.  Maria told the Lord to show her when she’s ready to meet the right one. 

Maria’s parents married when her mother was 27, and so she felt like that was a good age to be ready for marriage.  She had a boyfriend at the time who didn’t share her beliefs about remaining pure before marriage.  He did not want to wait.  The relationship ended.  Maria wanted to dedicate herself to study, church, and work.  When she was in her 30s, people told her she should have been married by now.  She seemed to know somehow that the man she would marry would like her premature grey hair and would come to where she was working.

At her brother’s wedding, a man named Jose stumbled in by mistake, looking for another venue.  Maria glanced his way as she was in the parking lot with her cousin but turned away as he was not her type.  She went back in and danced with one of her brothers.  A friend with Jose told him, “Hey, that lady is looking at you.”  Jose thought, “Nah,” and the two of them left and went to the correct place they were invited to.

Some years later, Maria was working in the cafeteria at the hospital in Brownsville.  She had already been there seven years and was ready to look for a different job, but no one was interested in hiring her.  One day a coworker called in sick, and Maria filled in for her, and so the time of her shift changed from 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.  Jose was living in Brownsville at the time, and he received a call from the welding union that there was a job opening in the hospital.  Jose asked the man on the other end of the line how he got his phone number.  The man said it was on the paperwork when he applied.  Jose was confused because he had never been to the welding union office, and did not even know where it was located.  He never applied for that position.  He went to the hospital and worked the first few days cleaning offices, and then he was told to do some pipe repair and floor maintenance.  He stopped by the cafeteria for some breakfast before his shift started.  Maria was there early filling in for her co-worker and was working the register when Jose paid for his coffee and donut.  They made some small talk.  Because she worked in a hospital cafeteria, Maria’s hair was up in a hairnet.  As Jose walked away, he said to her, “Your grey hair looks very nice on you.”

He made it a habit to get breakfast in the cafeteria for those first few days at his new job.  One morning Maria invited him to church with her.  He agreed.  Each week she would pick up some of the widows and drive them to church, and so she told Jose she’d pick him up too.  That following Sunday, Maria and Jose were in the front seat of the station wagon and four of the church widows sat in the back as they all drove to church together.

Although he had once been, Jose wasn’t a churchgoer at the time.  When Maria went to pick him up, he hurried in to freshen his breath because he had been drinking and smoking.  When the church service ended, the pastor was talking to Jose, who kept on turning his head sideways for fear that the stench on his breath would be noticed.  The pastor told him not to worry because at one time he was worse than Jose was.  Jose felt so much relief when the pastor told him that.  In fact, no one at the church criticized him or gave him any indication that they had thought lowly of him.  Jose and the pastor formed a quick relationship, and Jose reconciled himself back to God.  He had been involved in church at a younger age, but it had been several years since then that he walked away from any sort of faith.

Another relationship that formed was one between Maria and Jose.  God answered Maria’s prayers about who her husband would be when they were both ready.  Maria’s waiting for the right time and the right one paid off.  Before working at the hospital, Jose told the Lord he wanted to meet someone who loved him for who he is, regardless of what type of past he had.  Maria was that one.  The two of them discussed doing things God’s way and remained pure until their wedding day. 

Things progressed quickly.  It was in August when they met at the cafeteria.  In September Jose asked Maria to be his girlfriend.  In November, he asked for her hand in marriage.  They were married in December of that year.

Though they had some first experiences on their wedding day, the bride and groom dance was not one of them.  It was Jose that danced with Maria all those years ago at the college get-together.  They didn’t know each other.  Nor did they at the chance meeting at Maria’s brother’s wedding.  God was planning their union for quite some time.  They were finally both ready.  God’s timing is perfect.  He just needs a little bit of patience from us.

Maria and Jose have been married now for 16 years and have a ministry together providing clothing and other donations to the homeless people near the border from where they both came.