I am so excited to have Tayler Beede contributing on Unveiled Wife! Tayler is the author of her personal blog www.taylerbeede.com and she also contributes on FaithLife Women. This personal testimony from Tayler is one that I am sure other women can relate too… and whether you have a similar story or not, the hope is that we can endure through life’s trials!
Tayler writes:
Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. (Psalm 118:5-8)
My high school experience was beyond terrible. I spent most breaks leaned up against the door inside the bathroom stall, waiting for the bell to ring. It sure wasn’t enjoyable, but it was better than roaming the halls alone. I prayed at the beginning of every single class—that we wouldn’t be doing an activity that required picking partners. I was always that girl that the teacher had to force someone to be partners with.
My classmates wrote a book about me titled 101 Ways to Kill Tayler. Drown her in Jell-O, run her over 100 times with a motorcycle, chain her to the bottom of a lake…and the list goes on. They had hiding areas where they would go and hide from me during break time. They spread rumors about me. They bullied and tormented me. It felt so unfair.
I didn’t know what it felt like to have a best friend. I couldn’t imagine having someone that I could tell everything—someone I could laugh with, and someone who truly cared about me. I remember lying in bed one night, with tears streaming down my face, begging God for a friend. I told Him I didn’t understand why He had put me in that school. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could endure the hatred.
I woke up the next morning, put makeup on my swollen eyes, and got on the school bus to go back to that horrible place. As I was singing my sorrows away in choir class, something smacked me in the back. I figured it was just another classmate trying to torment me, so I kept singing. Then I got hit again. That was it. I nervously turned my head around; ready to find out who was teasing me this time. To my surprise, there stood the dreamy Kyle Beede—swinging his keys around, with a huge grin on his face. He just stood there giggling. I smiled and turned back around.
Kyle Beede was paying attention to me?
Surely someone had dared him. He hit me with his keys a couple more times, and finally I turned around, grabbed them from him, and stuffed them in my backpack.
As I was walking out of school that day, my phone rang.
“Hello?…”
“You must think you’re pretty funny. It took me all day to hunt down your phone number so I could get my keys back.”
“That’s what you get for hitting me with them! I’ll meet you by my locker—number 106.”
The rest was history. We quickly became best friends, and eventually started dating. We were engaged within a month after graduating high school, and set a wedding date for a year after that.
That was a rough year. There’s nothing like being excited to announce your engagement, and receiving nothing but negative and condescending comments. “How old are you?” “You know the divorce rates are much higher when you get married before 25, right?” “Why on earth would you want to ruin your life this early?”
To be honest, we hadn’t even thought of what people’s reactions might be. We had prayed about it, and we felt this is what God had planned for us. We had God and our family on our side, and that’s all we needed. We learned to disregard hateful comments, and calmly replied by saying “We feel this is God’s plan for us.” We learned to trust in His plan, rather than letting individual opinions steal our joy. And slowly but surely, many came to respect our choice to marry at 19.
We got married not too long ago. We’re both in school, working, and learning how to be more like Jesus. Most of our friends didn’t approve of our young marriage, and many still don’t. It’s a lot, and it’s not exactly easy…but we’re in this together. We laugh, we hang out, we live life together, and it’s quite wonderful.
I am so thankful to God for bringing him into my life. He’s the best friend I dreamed of, cried over, and prayed for. Through our journey I’ve learned that sometimes you must endure painful times in order to carry out God’s plan. I endured the bullying, tormenting, and hatred. We endured the snarky remarks and judgmental attitudes that ensued after we announced our engagement—and it was all so worth it.
I know that there are many trials to come, but we will endure those together too. And they will be worth it. They will be so incredibly worth it.
– Tayler Beede
