Prince Charming is the name of almost all fairy tale princes. The name goes back to a fairy tale, LePrince Beaumont’s, Beauty and the Beast – in Beauty and the Beast, the Beast turns out to be a prince who is the “Charming Prince.”It seems most Fairy Tales follow this concept just referring to the Prince as the charming prince or a charming prince which really means, the Beloved Prince. I remember when I was a little girl and lived in a foster home, I watched Cinderella for the first time, I became like every other little one and began to dream that one day my prince would come. My imagination was very active and I longed for the day…
In today’s society, we have been told, we don’t need a Prince Charming, that we should only rely on ourselves, no one is coming to save us, we are told to be independent, strong, self-reliant. If you’re a friend of mine, you know these terms might be used to describe me to some extent, but even I knew somehow I needed a Savior. I just didn’t know who he was or how to get to him! As a teen and a young adult I had worked so hard to succeed, it seemed everything I tried to do, flourished and I would be promoted! That sense of satisfaction was short-lived though, never enough I was a workaholic. I liked to fix broken systems, I liked to improve throughput and workflow. It seemed my mind never stopped thinking, work was my life! When I was fired for not dating the owner’s son, I was devastated. It had been a rough life but I felt I had overcome all of those obstacles and was on my way to success when all of my accomplishments suddenly meant nothing – it came down to me having to date someone against my will, it felt like it was the end to me, I was so young but I was so tired of trying to make this life work.
I had reached the limit, the bottom of the pit, I tried to commit suicide. I was all alone in my apartment just before Christmas I decided I had enough and I was going to end my life. I uttered a word to no one. I went home and took every pill I had in my apartment and I downed a bottle of vodka – I passed out. I woke up to quite a mess, I had been lying there for days, so weak I could barely get myself up all I could whisper to God was, “Why do you hate me, You won’t even let me die.” Â
A few weeks later I started a new job, within days I met the man that was to be my husband. I had no interest in dating anyone and let him know but he, Dan, was so pleasant and polite I allowed him to teach me a computer program. All of a sudden he was helping me by escorting me to see my mother who had been brought to the hospital for emergency surgery, she had been hemorrhaging so we knew it was serious. On the way to the hospital, Dan prayed with me for my mother. I never had heard anyone pray that way before – he was talking to God! My mother survived the surgery and on the drive home, Dan shared how his life changed at the age of fifteen when he prayed and accepted Jesus Christ! He said, “Jesus, is my everything, my friend, my helper, my provider.”
I never heard such talk, I didn’t ask any questions, somehow I knew what Dan was telling me was true. That night all alone in my apartment once again, I cried out but this time it wasn’t with the intention of killing myself but finding myself or rather finding my Knight in shining armor, my Prince of Peace, my Jesus!
I cried out to God, “do for me what you did for Dan, “I didn’t understand it all and I certainly knew nothing about what had just happened but this I knew – what happened inside of me, there was a part of me that instantly came alive! It was like I never knew what truly being alive was before this point! I cried myself to sleep confessing my sins although Dan never once told me to do so or that he had done so. I just knew I was in the presence of a Holy God and I wanted to be free of all that had a stranglehold on me – you see the Prince is truly a rescuer. The Bible says Jesus came to set us free and free indeed! That means completely free, free of all sin for all time! Oh, my Prince changed me forever -The Savior came to me! The Prince of Peace came just at the right time.
He changed my life forever, all these years later and I love Him more now than ever before because the longer I live the more I understand just how much He loves me. In the fairy tales, the Prince fights through forests, fights bad guys, fights evil forces and witches. In truth, Jesus went to hell literally, he faced His enemies, they beat Him and, Jesus died but only because He chose to lay down His life (He could have called a garrison of angels to rescue Him) but He died so that you and I would be set free so that we would have forgiveness of sin so that we would be filled with the Holy Spirit and so we could live eternally and never taste death!! Oh, thank you, God, You rescued me that night, the night I tried so foolishly to take my own life. What a liar the devil is!