Worth “The Wait” – Feature on DeVon and Meagan

DeVon and Meagan
connected while
working on the film
Jumping the Broom. w
IN THEIR NEW BOOK,
THE WAIT, HOLLYWOOD
POWER COUPLE
DeVON FRANKLIN AND
MEAGAN GOOD
DETAIL HOW DEVELOPING
DISCIPLINE UNLOCKS
GOD’S GREATEST
BLESSINGS
FOR YOUR LIFE
ORTH
THE
BY CHARREAH K. JACKSON
100 ESSENCE .COM FEBRUARY 2016
HASAN/@ FACE TSTU DIO
AIT
WHY WAIT?
In our on-demand, express-delivery and microwave-meal
society, waiting for anything, especially sex, can seem inconvenient. Yet growing discipline could be the key to unlocking
lasting love and joy. DeVon, 37, and Meagan, 34, both credit their
waiting season as pivotal in their journey and in strengthening
their ability to be patient. For Meagan, it was a chance to know
herself in new ways. “I learned self-control and loved myself in a
more ­meaningful way,” she says. “If I could give God one of the
most tempting areas of life, anything else is possible.”
The couple hope more singles consider saving sex until
marriage, especially in the Black community. “We need to start
looking at how we date. We need to start talking about sex in
our community,” DeVon says. “We can start to consider another
way to do this that will produce more peace and better health—
spiritually, mentally and emotionally. We can put ourselves on a
path to healing and reconciling relationships.” Though The Wait
centers on celibacy, mastering delayed gratification has an
impact on every area of life from finances to family relationships.
102 ESSENCE .COM FEBRUARY 2016
I decided to
slow down and
become celibate.
God had let me
make my mistakes.
Now it was time to
do it God’s way.
almost a year before he asked her out, after
their paths continued to cross while promoting Jumping the Broom. “ ‘The wait’ is first
about my time with God, time I needed to
grow and begin the healing process,” Meagan
writes. “Those nine months between God
telling me that DeVon was my husband and
his asking me out on our first date was one of
the toughest times of my life.”
DATE WHILE YOU WAIT
—MEAGAN GOOD
GET GOD’S BEST
Growing up in Oakland, DeVon knew he loved the Lord. He also
wanted a career in entertainment and, at 18, got the first taste of
the high life while interning for Will Smith’s management team.
During that time, he struggled to remain true to his religious
beliefs. In his early twenties, he committed to celibacy. “The
­decision to wait was one of the most difficult ones I’ve ever
made in my life,” he shares in the book. “I asked myself, ‘What if
what I was doing disqualified me for the full manifestation of the
call God has on my life? Would it be worth it?’ ” For DeVon,
short-term pleasure outside of a commitment before God wasn’t
worth missing his blessings. “I couldn’t reconcile the idea that at
the end of my life, God might say, ‘Here’s what I had planned for
you, but because you showed yourself unworthy, I couldn’t do all
I wanted to do in your life.’ I wasn’t prepared to take that risk.” So
DeVon waited for God to reveal his wife.
Inside the producer’s office hang framed posters featuring his
theatrical projects with their opening week box office earnings
next to them. The Pursuit of Happyness boasted $109 million, and
Heaven Is for Real grossed more than $29 million. Perched on his
bookshelf are scripts he’s helped bring to the big screen.
Alongside the remakes of The Karate Kid and Annie rests
Jumping the Broom, the film that jump-started his own marriage.
In 2010 Meagan arrived on the set of the romantic film
unsure of what the future held for love. “I was in the fourth
year of a relationship that had become destructive,” she
notes. “I would see DeVon on set and think, That’s the type
of guy I wish I could be with.” After the shoot wrapped,
Meagan went home and ended things with the man she’d
been dating. “My next assignment was to work on myself.”
Seeing her mother’s anguish after her parents split taught
Meagan to guard her heart at an early age. “I avoided failure and
heartbreak. Choices I thought I was making out of strength were
actually out of weakness and fear,” she writes. “I decided to slow
down and become celibate. God had let me make my mistakes.
Now it was time to do it God’s way.” While actively spending
time in prayer, journaling and stepping up her self-care, Meagan
felt God reveal to her DeVon was her husband. It would be
COU RTESY OF SU B J ECTS (2)
O
n any given
Sunday, you can
find film producer
DeVon Franklin
and actress
Meagan Good just
about anywhere.
The set of one of
their film projects, a
church where DeVon
preaches the word or the
red carpet during awards
season are just few of their regular stops.
On a sunny Sunday last November, the couple go over 2015,
their best year yet, while sitting in DeVon’s Los Angeles office
on the Sony lot. “Franklin Entertainment” is scrawled on the wall
behind them. It’s his first year as CEO of his own venture after
stepping down as senior vice-president of production for
Columbia Pictures. In his inaugural 11 months, he has produced
the new film Miracles from Heaven, featuring Jennifer Garner
and Queen Latifah, and a pilot for the FYI network in which he
counsels couples. Meagan, who stars in Fox’s Minority Report,
has just returned from Canada, where the series is filmed. Her
prayers to do a sci-fi action project were answered with the TV
adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s international blockbuster.
The couple, who’ve been married for three years, attribute
their professional success, solid union and inner peace to one
major decision: waiting to have sex until after they married.
Their story made headlines and many articles covering
their personal choice followed. Now they are offering all the
details of their experience and encouraging others to
consider celibacy before marriage in their new book, The
Wait: A Powerful Practice for Finding the Love of Your Life
and the Life You Love (Howard), due out February 2. In the
tome, the two are honest about their undertaking. “Everything has changed dramatically since I stopped picking and
choosing which parts of the Bible I would follow,” Meagan
writes. “When I stopped and focused on the hardest thing,
which is sex, I watched my life and career change.”
priceless gift: authentic love. After ten months of
dating and actively getting to know each other,
DeVon dropped to one knee and asked Meagan
to marry him. The couple tied the knot in 2012.
Of course, if everyone knows you have waited,
there will be plenty of comments on your
wedding day about the night ahead. “One of his
cousins had a dirty joke for us during his
speech,” Meagan recalls. “My family was nervous
since his family was so rooted in the church. That
joke let us know they are free-spirited, funny and
good-natured.” The couple offer never-beforeseen photos of their wedding as a special bonus
for those who preorder The Wait.
Sex is a gift from God in which you are one
with another person. The Franklins don’t shy
away from its power. “There is nothing
wrong with sex and sexuality. God created
HAVE DISCIPLINE FOR THE JOURNEY
both for the enjoyment of married couples,”
Visit thewaitbook.org
Three years after the two were married, the
the duo share. In our society, waiting for
for more information and
blessings for their sacrifice are still coming in. “There
marriage to have sex is often considered a
to preorder your copy.
has been nothing about this walk that has been easy,
practice of the past. Yet the effect of sex on
yet the rewards that have been reaped because of the sacrifice
our spirits is unchanging. “When you have sex with someone,
are irreplaceable,” DeVon says. “Any great relationship takes time.
you are leaving them a piece of yourself and taking a part of
The more you try to rush it, the more you risk damaging it and
them with you,” they add.
yourself in the process. When you are used to delaying gratificaAbstaining while you date allows for a clear assessment of
tion, you can be patient to allow potential to manifest.”
another person without sex clouding your judgment. ChoosAt the core of The Wait is trust. “God has a destiny set up for
ing to date while you wait requires planning and much
you, but you get to choose whether to follow,” the couple
communication between couples. DeVon and Meagan had to
imparts. “You decide how to express God’s vision for you.”
learn each other’s triggers while dating to avoid temptation.
For Meagan, the fruit of their waiting season includes more
“I had been celibate for longer when we started to date, so my
confidence in herself and her marriage. “Because God sent us to
resolve was stronger than hers. We would hug and she would
each other and ordained our marriage, and the clarity I received
say, “That’s enough,” DeVon shares. After learning to master
through my wait, I know there’s nothing we can’t do. I don’t
their natural urges while dating, the couple hope to help
worry about him cheating or other things that plague other
singles and other couples gain greater clarity and strength in
relationships. We have a lot of peace.” The couple are also clear
their relationships. “Waiting is an act of power,” Meagan
that marriage is more than a good time and a calling on their
writes. “It’s declaring that you know and accept yourself, love
lives. “The person you marry is your partner in life and purpose.
yourself and trust God.”
God has given you help to do what he wants.” £
Deciding not to have sex before marriage has unique
considerations for men and women. In the book, Meagan
tackles common concerns for women from whether men are
DeVon and Meagan seal
willing to wait to how to deal with meddling friends. DeVon
their bond with a kiss at
their California wedding
breaks down society’s expectation of the hypersexualized
in June 2012.
male. “Think about how many men who used to be on top of
the world who can’t even get a job because they had no
discipline in their personal lives. God gave men their sex
drive, but he also gifted them with restraint, wisdom and the
ability to inspire,” DeVon writes. “As a man, if you can be
disciplined in your sexual life, there’s nothing you can’t do.”
DeVon and Meagan began dating in May 2011. That September they decided to go on a Daniel-style fast, giving up meat,
bread and sweets for 40 days. “We wanted God to bring us
closer together, as we believed we were moving toward getting
engaged.” They also began four months of pre-engagement
couples counseling. They put their relationship counselor Bishop
T.D. Jakes’s advice on choosing a spouse like you buy a house
into action: Do your research and examine everything before
making a decision. “Counseling was a tremendous blessing to
our marriage,” Meagan says. “It made us think and see each
other’s baggage. What can you live with?”
READY TO LEARN MORE? CHECK OUT THE WAIT 101, A FREE
ESSENCE EMPOWER U ONLINE COURSE BY DeVON FRANKLIN AND
For the Franklins, “the wait” is not punishment. It is a
MEAGAN GOOD. REGISTER AT ESSENCE.COM/THEWAIT.
season of denying your immediate urge in search of a