The Bride Experiment by Mimi Jefferson

they were not ready to get married?”
    â€œYes, we have. They are easy to spot. They have a hole in their souls and have decided that getting married will fix it. We tell them they need to deal with those issues, but they think walking down the aisle will fix everything. They usually leave our church and go somewhere else, where they will marry anyone with money to spend. Months later, they come back, hoping we can save them from a divorce that seems imminent.”
    The middle-aged woman started to turn red and firmly said, “People just need to wait, bottom line. Allow God to prune and prepare. He will send that perfect person along in His perfect timing. I mean, would you really want to marry someone if it wasn’t God’s best?”
    â€œI knew marriage was the most important decision I would ever make, and I wanted God all up in it. You feel me?” the youngest one asked. “I had seen too much destruction. I knew we needed Jesus from the beginning. And now that we have been married for only three years, and have gone through more drama than I could have imagined, I’m so glad I followed the Master’s plan. Let’s face it—this world does not have a clue about how to be married. Oh, we know how to pick out a big diamond ring and a Vera Wang dress, but we don’t have a clue about how to make a marriage thrive.”
    The oldest one said, “And the funny thing is, it is right in the Bible, but nobody bothers to read it. God created marriage. He’s the only one who knows how to work it.”
    â€œWe are too busy watching celebrities jump in and out of marriage,” said the middle-aged lady. “I heard a pregnant, single, twice-divorced celebrity say on a talk show the other day that she and her boyfriend were going to redefine marriage. I guess God didn’t get it right the first time, so now he needs her help.”
    All the women shook their heads. Joan turned off the TV and threw the remote control across the room. “I quit! I quit! I quit!” Joan couldn’t believe she was actually yelling out loud. “I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to be single, celibate, and lonely. I don’t want to go to Bible Study anymore. I don’t want to go to church. I don’t want to have one more conversation with any more church people. They are full of it.
    â€œAm I the only one struggling? Am I the only one who gets up in the morning and doesn’t feel like shouting, ‘Hallelujah, praise the Lord’? I don’t want to have to worry about if or when I will ever have sex again. I’m tired of seeing all the older married couples hand in hand at church, reminding me of what I may never have. I’m tired of seeing all the swollen bellies of the pregnant married couples reminding me of what I may never have again. When is it going to be my turn?”
    Joan turned to look at herself in the mirror across from her bed. “I should have just done it. I should have just had some fun with James last week.”
    Joan looked at her cell phone on the nightstand. James Sr. wasn’t married yet. Maybe she should give him a call. Yes, just maybe she would. . . .

Chapter 13
    Raquel looked at the bubbles emerging from her tall chilled glass. After taking a sip, she delicately nibbled on a chocolate-covered strawberry. This was just how she imagined the morning of her wedding: cool, calm, and refreshing.
    All of her bridesmaids, minus Karen, were in a hotel suite down the hall getting their hair and makeup done. The children were in another suite with James’s mother. Raquel had arranged to have her own private suite. She didn’t want the busy chatter of the other people in her wedding party to disturb the best day of her life. There was no way she was going to give anyone the pleasure of preventing her from soaking up every delectable moment.
    The masseuse had arrived at six in the morning. After an hour-long