Last Christmas, I was invited to spend the holiday with a co-worker and her family. She knew that I didn’t have family here in Atlanta and she said she couldn’t bear the thought of me spending Christmas in my tiny one bedroom apartment all alone.
So I graciously accepted. The moment I arrived, we locked eyes. He was handsome, well dressed, and well spoken.
As my co-worker and I made our way around the room ,introducing me to her guests, my heart sank more and more the closer we got to him. I remember thinking… “I bet he’s married. The good ones are always married”.
Now here’s the moment of truth. We have formally been introduced and I must say… he even smells good. I didn’t notice a ring on his finger neither. He’s handsome, well dressed, well spoken, smells good, AND single? No way!
As the night progressed, we engaged in small talk and eventually exchanged phone numbers.
In this short period of time I found out that he had 2 kids (8yr old and 5yr old), had been divorced from their mother for 2 years, was looking forward to being married again one day, owned an IT Company, and considered himself to be a “Good Christian God Fearing man”. His words exactly.
I was starting to feel like he was everything I wanted in a man AND MORE! We would talk everyday. We would have date night at least once a week depending on his work schedule. He opened doors. He pulled out chairs. He was a real gentleman, I must say.
Things were going so well that in May, I invited him to go back home with me for my parents 30th anniversary. I felt like this would be the perfect time for my parents to meet the man of my dreams and to show them how happy he made me.
They loved him. I’ve always said that I wanted someone just like my daddy. Someone who would treat me like my daddy treats my mama, a Godly man, maybe even a pastor like my daddy. So far this man is checking all the boxes.
When I got back to work that following Monday I had two urgent messages from a Mrs. Williamson. I clocked in, got my coffee, and called her back.
Turns out Mrs. Williamson is the wife of “Mr. Christian Counterfeit”. Yes, the man I thought I was building a future with.
When I asked her why she chose to reach me at my office instead of my cell, she replied “because your office number was the only one that stood out as unusual.” Then I realized that most of our conversations were during the day while both of us were at work. He would call me at my office, but always from his cell phone. We didn’t talk much after work hours unless we were face to face but only for quick moments because he worked long 12 hour shifts most days.
Now it was all starting to make sense.
According to Mrs. Williamson, Mr. Williamson doesn’t even have a job. She even laughed when I asked her about the IT Company. Turns out, he has 4 kids, not 2 (by 3 different women). …And as far as him being a “Good Christian God Fearing man”. She explained that her husband was as far from being a Christian man as he could get. She also made it a point to let me know that I wasn’t the first to fall for that line. There were others.
She even accused us Christian women of being the most vulnerable. She was right. At least in my case.
I should have guarded my heart a little closer. I should have prayed about it more.
I shouldn’t have been so easy to allow the devil to use me as pawn is his own little game.
Now I know better. The devil doesn’t come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns. He comes as everything you’ve ever wished for. Be vigilant and stay prayed up!
