I have a successful, fulfilling career and an amazing son, and am very happy. I want to get married for the right reasons and to someone who is right for me - my equal in every way, loves me and my son, and respects me. Until then, I would prefer to stay single. Many a heartache has been saved by living by this guideline, "Never make someone a priority in your life when you are just an option in theirs."

Farrah Evans thought she would never get married.

"My dream and hope was that I would be married by the time I was 25 years old," she told The Sunday Gleaner. "Like most young women, I wanted it all, the husband and the family," she said.

But by the time Evans turned 30, she began to lose faith that she would ever find a husband. Having accepted the Lord at a young age, she spent most of her adult life as a Christian in the apostolic church and quickly realised that there was a severe shortage of available church brothers.

"I had given up hope. I decided that singlehood was what God wanted for me," she said.

"The funny thing about it, though, was that the older church members, who could see for themselves that there were not a lot of men in the church, would still ask you constantly 'When you going to let me eat some cake?'," Evans pointed out.

"The constant pressure was very frustrating at times," she said. Evans, however, admitted that she accepted her fate and used her time and energy to concentrate on God's work.

"I participated in most church activities. I volunteered for everything that came up. I studied and I prayed and I dedicated myself to the church," she said.

However, Evans received the shock of her life when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at 39.

"I couldn't believe it," she said. "That's when I knew I would never get married, because if there was hope before, there certainly was none now," she said.

But fate certainly had other plans for her, as at the age of 41, in the midst of the chaos and pain that accompanies chemotherapy, Evans had a chance encounter with the man who would eventually become her husband.

"We met over the phone and he asked to meet me in person, and less than a year later, we were married," she said.

Evans has been living cancer-free for several years. She also recently celebrated her third wedding anniversary.

"I believe it is never too late for God to work a miracle in your life," she said. "My story is a clear indication that you must never lose hope, never give up, because at any time, God can answer your prayers."

Evans said further that in many cases, there are women who stand in the way of their own blessing. "Sometimes we are looking for that ideal person who only exists in our dreams or in our heads," she said. "Because of this, we often turn away and reject the person who was really meant for us."

Name changed on request.

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com