ANSWER TO AN UNPRAYED PRAYER

For a long time, I had been praying to God to grant me a relationship. 
I remember pleading, praying, and even crying to Him to remember me in that regard, but in 2021, I stopped. No more prayer requests, or seasons of pleading and praying. I resigned to my fate. I said to myself that singleness is my portion, I might as well embrace it. To add to that resolution, I made all sorts of excuses to the people who came my way. I was done. Totally done.

However, in the year 2023, I get this DM (Direct Message), from a guy whose facebook profile I had checked a while back, just because the thoughts he shared online frequently challenged me to think. From his profile photo, my conclusion was that he lived abroad. 

On receiving the DM, my first thought was; why would someone abroad be sending me a message? I was not one of those girls looking for any boyfriend, let alone someone abroad. Anyway, I quickly responded in my usual way, polite and kind, knowing that by the end of our chat on that 19th day of January, I would put him in his place and that he would move on to hopefully find the girl he was looking for.

By now you know that because you are reading that story, my attempts to ward him off were unsuccessful. I instead agreed to pursue a relationship with this handsome guy after two months of daily communication and one month of regularly meeting each other.

I fondly remember my excitement at this new phase of my life after a long hiatus from relationships. I loved everything about it, even though there was a concern from a close friend, that I had settled. How else could I explain to her that I had found someone; with whom I was at ease, who saw my flaws but rather than judging, always lovingly pointed out where I was wrong, who saw in me strengths and gifts I had long forgotten that I had?

Anyway, now that I had this guy by my side, those were not the most critical questions. My most crucial question, now that I had not been praying for this was, 
"How could I know if this relationship that I now had was from God?"

To you, my reader; Have you ever received an answer to a prayer that you had stopped praying a long time ago? How did you know that it was God's answer?