Our Story

I had been divorced for almost ten years when we met. The first part of those ten years, I met Jesus and surrendered my life to Him. I was so broken and had so much baggage in my life. I had made some really bad choices in my life and carried a lot of guilt and shame. I couldn’t understand how the God of the universe could love someone like me, but He did.

He does.

I saturated my mind with the Word and surrounded myself with people who loved Jesus. I drew confident in who I was in Christ. I was serving in the church as a youth leader which challenged me to stay in the Word and live my life worthy of the calling He placed on me.

As the years passed and my heart and mind were healing, I still had the desire to be a wife. I wanted to be married. I had learned that God cared about the things that concerned me. I took that literally. I just believed Him. So, I began to ask Him for a husband. I mean, I got specific. I literally wrote out a list of qualities I wanted in my husband.

• Loves Jesus more than he loves me
• Taller than me
• Trustworthy
• Respected in the community
• Humble
• Loves coffee
• Drives a truck

Listen, I know some of those are not spiritual qualities, but I believe the first one covers it all. And if God cares about the things that concern me, then having a husband taller than me would be a piece of cake for Him.

During these ten years of being single, I had the opportunity to speak at several ladies’ events. The summer of 2010, I took my first weekend trip by myself to be alone with the Lord. I wanted to get in the Word and hear from God to prepare a message for my next speaking event. I visited a church in Greenville, SC that Sunday and WOW!

God had a message for me. I won’t preach the whole message to you, but I want to share the verse that knocked me off my feet. Remember, I had been praying and asking the Lord for a husband. The verse He spoke to me (through that pastor) was Isaiah 64:4. It says,

“For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!”

This made me cry. That’s how I knew the Lord had spoken this to me. It made me cry. So, I just believed Him to work on my behalf and went about life as usual. Fast forward to October of that same year, 2010. I had a friend from high school who was always trying to set me up with any single guy she knew. Insert eye roll here… So, I was not surprised to receive a text from her saying that she had someone she wanted me to meet. My first question to her was, “Is he taller than me?”

She immediately shared that he went to church with her because she knew that would be my next question. Well of course I wanted to see what he looked like, so I headed to Facebook. I have to share this part. Our profile pictures. I had an aunt in Lexington, SC that I would visit frequently. She had a neighbor with a pet deer named Diane and a donkey named Pedro in a fenced in backyard. I took a selfie with Pedro and made that my profile picture. This guy that my friend wanted to set me up with had a profile pic of him with a beautiful Quarter horse. It’s ok to laugh.

I agreed that she could give him my number. We started texting, then graduated to talking on the phone. After about five days, we agreed it was time to meet in person. We met at a local coffee shop on 11/5/2010. (take note of that date) I was so nervous when I arrived but when I saw that 6’1″ bowlegged hunk of a man walk towards me, SWOON.

Now here’s another piece of the story I must share. I continued to pray and ask the Lord if this was the guy He sent me. I didn’t want to do anything outside of His will for my life.

I needed confirmation.

That’s what I got.

I was a school nurse. There was a sweet couple that would come and volunteer in their granddaughter’s class. One day in November of 2010, he and his wife stopped in my office on the way to the classroom. He had a grin on his face and seemed a little giddy. He asked me if I was dating anyone. I shared with excitement that indeed I was! I could see this disappointed him because he wanted to play matchmaker. He, too, had a friend he wanted to set me up with.

Would you like to take a guess who the guy was that he wanted to set me up with? You guessed it! Same guy I was already seeing. Ok God. I hear you!

I had one other friend who was going to ask if she could set me up with this guy she went to church with but decided she didn’t want to meddle. It was the same guy.

On December 25, 2010, he proposed. I said yes. We got married February 5, 2011.