Encouragement – Page 4

God’s perfect timing

By Sara | June 30, 2023

Over the past few weeks, David and I were busy in VA Beach, completing two general contracting jobs elicited from former customers who’ve previously seen David’s skills in action. Although I worked with David as he completely rebuilt a storm-ravaged home in FL, post-Hurricane Ian (see Building an ark is never easy but always worth it), I’m still amazed at his ingenuity and ability to adapt. I’m thoroughly convinced that there’s nothing David can’t repair, replace, and restore.

*David’s re-screening job, before any work was done.*

The first of David’s jobs was to re-screen a massive 26-by-20-foot screen porch and fix its wooden exit doors that wouldn’t shut. His second project was to rip out concrete paving stones and create a new 14-foot artistic patio with a stone firepit centerpiece on another job site. Both contracts proved to be labor-intensive, with unique challenges to overcome.

While my help is mostly rudimentary, I enjoy assisting in whatever capacity the situation allows. I often tell people that God prepared me my whole life for working with David. I’m not afraid of manual labor and love learning new skills. Knowing I can help David as he completes these jobs is incredibly satisfying – and consistently adventurous. I never know what will happen next.

Such was the case when we began David’s porch project. Early into our labors, I noticed the gentle squawks of baby birds that seemed to be emanating from inside the enclosed area. I couldn’t determine where the source of the sound was coming from and didn’t dare look around too much.

Imagine my surprise when one of the homeowners, Jocelyn, later pointed out the unique bird nest built inside an empty cardboard box on her porch. I’d seen the momma nut thatcher earlier as she flew inside the screened area through the open back doors that wouldn’t close properly. I had even snatched a picture of this beautiful, tiny bird while helping her escape the enclosure. I remember thinking she’d entered the porch by accident. She hadn’t. After learning of her babies, I began watching her and her husband visit the nest every 10 minutes or so, bringing bugs and who knows what else to their hungry nestlings.

As our job crept into the second week with an add-on project of creating a side exit door, wooden steps, and a small concrete pad, I began wondering how we could ensure that the nestlings and their parents would still be able to reach one another once the porch was again enclosed.

“You may need to keep the back doors open when we’re done,” I advised Jocelyn one day. “That way, the parents can still enter, and the babies can get out.” As a mother herself, Jocelyn agreed and said she’d thought of the same thing.

*David begins building new steps, a doorframe, and a concrete pad* *on our first job.*

Day after day, David continued to work. Still, the babies didn’t seem anywhere near the fledgling stage.

The afternoon before David and I were to complete the job and return to GA, we were surprised to learn that all three nestlings had not only all fledged but had also wholly vacated their nest.

“God’s timing is so perfect,” I exclaimed after hearing the news.

“So true,” agreed Jocelyn. “God is awesome.”

*Sharing a smile atop our ladders, David and I stapled new screen material onto freshly painted porch frames.*

And yet, how often do we doubt our Heavenly Father’s unique understanding of what’s needed in our lives? Rather than trusting God, we plead and petition for what we want – restored health, a new job, a home, or even love – without considering our Lord’s timing. We’re such impatient people. Between instant messaging, microwave meals, and streaming services, there’s not much we have to wait for anymore.

I remember learning patience growing up. For example, I distinctly recall the anticipation of receiving our annual Sears Christmas catalog in the mail when I was between six to ten years of age. As I salivated over the pages, dreaming of all the ways my new toys would enhance my life, I loved the excitement of circling everything I wanted. While I seldom received anything from the catalog, it was still fun to see what each festively wrapped package would reveal on Christmas morning – and I was never disappointed.

*Completed porch project with new steps, door, and concrete pad.*

Fast forward a decade, and I can still recall feeling like my senior year in high school would never arrive – until it did. And then, after daydreaming about how exciting it would be to walk down the aisle to Pomp and Circumstance, the ceremony passed in a heartbeat.

Waiting until I was 21 to get my driver’s license offered another unique exercise in my patience training. I never took Driver’s Ed in high school and had to wait until I had a car I could drive before even attempting to pass the test. What a feeling of triumph when I ultimately held my first license in my hand!

I could say the same about my first car and apartment. I didn’t have any of those things until I ventured out alone after my second abusive marriage. I remember the thrill of having my own refrigerator – with all the foods I wanted, not what someone else insisted we have. Nothing compared to that simple joy. It took me months to afford an actual store-bought mattress and boxspring set rather than the wafer-thin, uncomfortable Walmart futon I’d been sleeping on. The gratification I felt from this new acquisition was profound.

Inevitably, trading my futon for a Lazyboy sofa brought intense satisfaction, as was purchasing my first home – bought with my painstakingly restored credit and frugally saved money. It took years of saving and earning my way to such moments of triumph and satisfaction – all with God’s help. I remember dancing around the house with my arms raised in praise after signing my life away on my new 30-page home loan. I couldn’t stop thanking God for bringing me to that moment.

*David begins his patio job by removing the previous concrete pavers.*

But the grandest reward to a lifetime of learned forbearance was ultimately receiving a gift so undeserved yet undeniable as the incalculable love of my irreplaceable husband, David. I remember my innocent dreams of finding my soulmate when I was younger. To think I once believed I could earn love from men who knew nothing of God is ludicrous to me now. Disappointment and heartache soon proved that notion was nonsensical. No matter how hard I hoped it would, such a result would never materialize.

*I’m always happy to help however I can – even hauling concrete pavers.*

I had long ago given up ever finding God’s perfect love personified in a man – so I gave up looking. I was content to be alone, serving my Savior however I could, living for the day when He’d call me home to my place in Glory. I wasn’t interested in looking for a compatible spouse on Earth. I truly believed that such a thing could never exist. After all, that’s what I’d consistently learned and lived.

But then God’s perfect timing put my soulmate and me together in the most unlikely circumstances – sweating our guts out while helping hurricane victims in FL. Neither of us was looking for anything other than the exultation of serving our Savior during that trip.

Still, as David tells me, he looked heavenward when I first offered to share my lunch with him on day one of our combined disaster relief work. “Is she the one, God?” David questioned.

“Be patient,” a still, small voice seemed to whisper to David in return. Thank goodness he listened.

*Midway through the new patio and firepit job, David stands behind his artistic creation.*

And here we are today. I’m still in awe of our Savior’s timing. Even when both David and I had given up on love, even though we accepted that we might never receive genuine human tenderness here on Earth, God gave us both the same – in abundance. Our Heavenly Father’s grace, provision, and generosity are unfathomable.

And so, I ask you to be patient, beloved. Your Heavenly Father knows what’s best for you no matter what you’re hoping, praying, and beseeching God for.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55: 8-9)

*Our completed patio paver and firepit job turned out to be a work of art.*

In God’s perfect timing, fledglings will fly, hearts will mend, and all things will be restored. Our Savior is our “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

Nothing is impossible with Christ – in His perfect timing.

It’s always been you

By Sara | June 12, 2023

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. (Isaiah 43:2)

I woke up a few days ago with Phil Wickham’s “It’s always been you” blasting in my head. It’s been a while since God placed a song in my mind during my waking hours. But there it was, reverberating on loop in full, high-definition replay.

*God gave David and me a beautiful day to enjoy the beach together on St. Simons Island, GA.*

After sharing with David how the composition affected my thoughts, he asked me to pull up the song on my phone so he could hear the lyrics again. We added this beautiful ballad to our wedding reception playlist and often listen to it – and the rest of our reception music – as we eat dinner most nights.

As often as I’ve heard it, lying in bed next to my soulmate, wrapped up in his arms, I realized anew how great our love is. Caught up in the magnitude of the emotion, I couldn’t stop the tears streaming down my face.

As the song finished, David said aloud, “Why so long?”

I instantly knew what he meant as we both bemoan the time it took for God to unite us. We experienced so much heartache while we waited. Many mistakes were made, and long, lonely nights were spent apart as we sought one another – never finding each other until that fated day last October.

Seeing my tears, David whispered into my hair, “No more tears. We have each other now, and that’s all that matters.”

Still caught in the emotion, I responded, “It’s always been you, David. My truest love has always been you. My best friend has always been you. The love of my life has always been you.”

*David and I visited the sites in Savannah, GA on Memorial Day.*

Even as I uttered the words, an even stronger emotion hit me.

Even beyond David’s, my greatest love has always been God’s. My Heavenly Father was with me through every fire. When the waters rose over my head, and I wasn’t sure if I could go on, Jesus was always ready to pull me out of the waves and hold my head above water.

And when I needed someone to break down all the fortresses I built around my heart to protect it, God used David to do so.

David and I were created for one another. I know that’s true with every fiber of my being. Our Heavenly Father fashioned each of us in our mother’s wombs to one day find, rescue, and love each other deeply for the rest of our days.

And while we were waiting to find each other, God kept us close to His heart.

The love that David and I share is so tangible that a passer-by took this photo *and shared it with us* *as we basked in God’s glorious sunset over the Chesapeake Bay in VA Beach.*

Your Heavenly Father will do the same for you, too, beloved. He’s always there – waiting to help, heal, and hold you – no matter what you’re going through. Never give up – no matter how dark the day seems. The night may be cold and dark, but hope comes in the morning with God’s perfect light.

It’s always been You, Lord Jesus. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for finding me. Thank you for rescuing me from the fire.

And thank You, God, for David – Your love with skin on it. It’s always been You.

The only “C” word that matters is Christ

By Sara | May 31, 2023

They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. (Psalm 112:7)

Life is a book in volumes three –
The past, the present, and the yet-to-be.
The past is written and laid away,
The present we’re writing every day,
And the last and best of volumes three
Is locked from sight – God keeps the key.
– Author unknown

As a self-proclaimed optimist, I work hard to always see the good in everything– even when things are at their worst. Sometimes, I can do so easily. At other times, maintaining that mindset takes a bit more conscious effort – and a whole lot of prayer.

If you follow my blog at all, you know that God brought me my soulmate, David, in culmination of a lifetime of surrender to my Savior. Despite my fears and trepidation, I heeded my heavenly Father’s call and traveled to FL to help Samaritan’s Purse with disaster relief, post-Hurricane Ian. While serving – in a completely unexpected act of grace and provision from my Heavenly Father – God revealed His plans to provide me with a godly husband.

David holds my heart. He is the blood that flows through my veins, and I can’t imagine life without him. David is my life’s greatest gift and an incomparable blessing from God.

One month and one day after we were married, David had an MRI scan of his prostate at his doctor’s recommendation. Eight days later, the results showed a high probability of cancer. It would take nearly four weeks before we could see a urologist to fully interpret the findings.

In the interim, my head was filled with a gamut of emotions. A sense of surreality is what hit me first. There’s no way this could be happening, I thought. I waited my whole life to find David. I couldn’t lose him now.

“This is a love story,” I told him. “And it’s not going to be a tragedy.”

The reality is that David lost his mother to cancer. She was only 52. My grandmother also died in her early 50s from the same disease that claimed my grandfather.

And yet, we also have good stories in both of our families. My mother is a cancer survivor – as is one of David’s older brothers, who battled a rare form of leukemia through an experimental treatment that saw him cancer-free within a few weeks of treatment. Despite another bout of lung cancer, he remains healthy today.

Still, of all the C-words one might want to hear and celebrate in a marriage, cancer is not one of them – neither are calamity, chaos, or cruelty.

But what about courage, compassion, and cheerfulness? Aren’t those all words David and I celebrate every day? Hasn’t God given us an abundance of blessings? Aren’t our cups already overflowing with joy, laughter, and love, love, love? Indisputably!

We will be strong, no matter what. I know that without reservation. We will fight this thing with every ounce of our combined strength – and God’s.

And so we’ve surrounded ourselves with prayer.

David and I are both warriors. We’ve lived through personal battles that might have broken others. It’s true that we still bear the scars of those wars – but only so we can share with others how God brought us through the valleys with His mighty hand.

So it is with this battle. “God is using this to further strengthen our testimonies,” I told David.

“I have more work to do for Him,” David agreed.

We will not let this challenge defeat us. From the first day we heard the news about David’s health, we’ve earnestly prayed that God would heal David’s body from the inside out. We know in our hearts that He is.

Our God made the universe (Genesis 1:1-2:3). He parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could walk through on dry land (Exodus 13:17-14:31). He brought dry bones back to life (Ezekiel 37:1-14). And He brought two formerly forsaken people together – destined for one another since birth – through a disaster relief ministry and a forgotten lunch (The David and Sara Saga, parts 1-3). There is no way that our story is anywhere near being over.

God affirmed our faith two weeks ago when we met with David’s urologist. At the doctor’s request, we scheduled a biopsy for mid-July to confirm what we already know in our hearts: the Great Physician is completely healing David. That is our earnest prayer, and we believe it with all our hearts. David’s doctor also believes we caught whatever this is early. He said his concern level was “low,” which only made us raise our hands and cry, “Yay, God,” as we walked away from the doctor’s office.

As I initially wrote that statement affirming my faith while sitting on our porch, the skies cleared, and the sun came out from behind where David sat lounging across from me, illuminating his frame. After a week of grey skies and three solid days of cold, rainy conditions, the sun’s presence was profound. I could only smile as I snapped David’s photo. A minute earlier, the skies were overcast. A few moments later, they began blazing with light and promise.

So it is with God’s presence in our lives. There is no fear, no challenge, no prognosis too big for our Heavenly Father to overcome. We speak conquest over this challenge. Our combined service for our Savior has only just begun.

And so, I confidently proclaim that the only “C” word that ever matters is Christ. This battle – like all the others we’ve ever faced – belongs to the Lord. And in Him, we will always have eternal victory.

What I loved about you today – The David and Sara Saga, Part 4

By Sara | May 13, 2023

Early on in our marriage, I began the daily practice of telling David at least one thing he did to capture my heart anew each day. I wish I had written down all my observations, as I would have amassed quite a volume of beautiful memories by now.

You see, there is always more than one thing that endears my husband to me. It’s the countless little things he does that make him so incredible. I know David delights in hearing my observations as much as I enjoy affirming him with the same. As I told him in my wedding vows, I will always be his greatest encourager.

“What I loved about you today,” I told him one evening, “is that you were so excited to write ‘married’ on your dental forms and list me as your emergency contact.”

“I loved it when you held me in the parking lot at Walmart before I got into the car,” I detailed on another occasion. “It didn’t matter who was around or watching us. It was like it was just you and me in the world.”

*David’s egret photo taken in Islamorada, FL. David gifted a framed copy of the same to one of his clients for her home.*

More than just the romantic part of our relationship, I also comment about things David does that impress me. Whenever we’ve visited his former clients in VA Beach, it amazes me to hear their stories of his great skill in completing projects in their homes. Whether it was witnessing with my own eyes a few of the additions David built on several houses or glimpsing one of his framed wildlife photos on a wall in a former client’s home, I’m incredibly proud of all the skills David possesses.

David told me a while ago how much he appreciated my observations before ever proposing to me. He once said that while he knew his clients respected his abilities, he never heard such affirmations from anyone else. How sad, I thought, but I completely understand. You see, I, too, was absent such positivity and praise in any of my past relationships. It’s impossible to quantify the true worth of encouragement.

*David an I sitting atop the peak of his roof in the middle of our re-shingling job.*

Nor can we ever say “I love you” enough to those we cherish. One of my dear friends told me her boyfriend recently verbalized his opposition to uttering those three precious words too often. What on earth would ever possess someone to say such a thing, I thought. You can never say ‘I love you’ too much. I later told her she needed to tell him he needs to figure out what love is if he truly feels that way.

Our Heavenly Father first demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son into the world to die for our sins. John 15: 13 reminds us, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down in one’s life for one’s friends.” How much more should we demonstrate our love for our spouses or those we claim to care about than by telling them how much we value their presence in our lives? Saying “I love you” is one thing. Each of us should show our loved ones their merit by helping, supporting, listening to, and encouraging them every day.

*David smiles as he nears the final peak and the end of our roof work.*

David and I are committed to exhibiting love to one another at every opportunity for the rest of our lives. We’ve spent far too long apart and have been too beaten up by the world not to cherish the treasure we’ve found in one another. While some of our friends are skeptical about our lingering love affair – giving us “another week” or “until our first fight” (for the record, we’ve had more than one and hated every moment of them, by the way) – we know that God has given us a unique form of love that will never die or grow cold. We are tied together with Christ at our center. As much as we love Christ, we also love one another.

Ephesians 5: 28-29 gives this direction to men: “…Husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.”

*After discovering how much I love using a nail gun, I learned that shingling may be labor intensive but it’s also super fun.*

While many people are uncomfortable with the Biblical direction to wives that precedes Paul’s guidance to husbands, we must take the time to understand it. Ephesians 5: 22 says, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.”

Submission here does not mean subservience. As Focus on the Family explains Paul’s passage, “When a husband submits to the Lord, leading his wife with a servant’s heart and nurturing her God-given talents, she can confidently submit to him — lean on him and trust his covering. That will always be relevant…The relationship isn’t of master to servant; it’s of lover and beloved.”

*David and I share a moment of joy while reclining on his former home’s newly shingled roof.*

I couldn’t have defined that statement any better. As Solomon’s wife exclaimed in the Song of Songs (chapter 6:3), “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”

And so, I will continue to tell David what I love about him daily, affirming my beloved and assuring him of my continual affection. Whether it was the evening when we were both sang together on his roof while re-shingling it when our song – “Perfectly Loved” – played on our streaming service – or whether it’s how much I love seeing the joy on his face when I run to hug and kiss him whenever he walks into a room, every moment we have together is precious and should be celebrated.

How much more love would there be in the world if we all followed this simple practice of affirming one another?

Never doubt the power of love. It can move mountains. It can obliterate walls. And it can bring you your soulmate – and keep him or her filled with joy and contentment – all through the simple use of words and actions that remind your loved one of their worth. We are to follow Christ’s example, after all, aren’t we?

Jesus loved us first. May we always be ready and willing to share His love and ours with the world – especially to those we share our lives with.

David and Sara-isms – The David and Sara Saga, Part 3

By Sara | April 30, 2023

One of the things I appreciate most about my relationship with David is that we both speak the same love language. Dr. Gary Chapman may have written books on the subject, but David and I will never need to read them. The ten-mile-long trail of text messages and emails we sent to one another long before we declared our love was constantly filled with words of affirmation – one of Dr. Chapman’s five love languages – as are all our daily conversations. David and I provide positivity and encouragement to one another as easily as we breathe air.

*David and I rejoiced at our first Easter Sunday together.*

As silly as it may sound, even beyond our constant encouragements, as mutual writers, we developed our own phrases and way of speaking soon after we declared our love. We derived so much pleasure from our sayings that David suggested we write a few to share with our wedding guests.

And so, the famous “David and Sara-isms” document was born.

At every banquet table, the following explanations were shared:

David and Sara-isms

Do you speak David and Sara’s Love Language? Let’s find out! Here’s a small sampling of what you might hear them saying to each other:

“Is this for real?” – Translation? This phrase is used constantly when David and Sara think about everything God has done to bring them together.
“A thousand million, billion, KA-zillion times ‘YES!’” – Translation? This is how Sara answered David when he proposed to her. Use this phrase when you want people to understand that you really mean what you’re saying. We’re not sure these are real numbers, but you can pretend they are and impress whoever you’re talking to.
“It’s HUGGLE time!” – Translation? David uses this phrase when he wants to hug and snuggle with Sara. Huggling is definitely a happy pastime, so give it a try!
“DOUBLE awesome!” – Translation? When David first told Sara that she’s awesome, she replied that he’s awesome, too. David asked Sara, “If you’re awesome and I’m awesome, what are we together?” Sara replied, “We are DOUBLE awesome!” The phrase stuck! You can also use it to explain that something is beyond amazing. It’s “DOUBLE awesome!”
“Awesome times INFINITY!” – Translation? When something is beyond awesome, it’s “Awesome times INFINITY,” and nothing can top that!
“Together forever, wherever!” Translation? David and Sara are inseparable. Make sure you use this phrase carefully, as it indicates a perpetual state of togetherness.
“I love you! I love you! I love you!” – Translation? This expression describes a triune bond of love that starts with Christ at the center. David and Sara seldom issue a single “I love you.” It’s more commonly heard in a chorus of three declarations of love. “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

As we cleaned up the reception hall after our wedding, I was surprised to see that none of the David and Sara-ism documents we created were left behind. We later learned that all were taken by our wedding guests as keepsakes of our event. In fact, one of David’s brothers told us that he keeps the document on top of his bureau, where he can read and enjoy it daily. Apparently, we’re not the only ones who value our choice to use words of positivity and love to communicate.

*What a joy to have someone to attend special events with! David and I recently shared a light lunch at a friend’s garden party.*

Why is affirmation so rare, I wonder? I often hear from my work teammates that my uplifting words are different from what they hear from others. “Everything is always a steady push to get things done,” one of my colleagues commented. “But you always take the time to be uplifting and encouraging. I greatly enjoy interacting with you.”

Another person once told me he couldn’t understand how I could always be so happy. As I’ve told countless others since, “It’s not me. It’s God you see in me.”

How can we make a difference if we, as Christians, are no different than the world around us? If we constantly moan, whine, and complain, what incentive is there for anyone to want what we have? We’ve been given the gift of eternal life and love from our Heavenly Father. How can we not share His love gift with others? By demonstrating Christ’s love to the world, we are being His hands and feet through everything we touch, wherever we go, with whoever we encounter.

Christians should always be affirming – loving one another wholeheartedly. It’s not only an excellent way to keep our spouses happy, but it also makes the world a more beautiful and joyful place for everyone to exist in.

*Every moment David and I share is a huge blessing.*

Why not adopt David’s and my love language and incorporate encouragement into your daily existence? Don’t just tell someone they did a good job. Uplift those around you by letting them know they are double awesome, or even awesome times infinity, if you really want to knock their socks off.

And when you want to uplift your spouse or friends, don’t hesitate to triple your affection for even greater significance. After all, who wouldn’t want to hear the trilogy “I love you! I love you! I love you!”?

With just a little practice, you, too, can add David and Sara-speak into your everyday conversations. Just add love to everything you do, and you’ll always be appreciated.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

I worship Father God – not Mother Earth

By Sara | April 24, 2023

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.” (Psalm 24:1-2)

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”

So read the church sign David and I passed on the Friday before Earth Day, 2023. I was saddened to see this declaration which seemed to be pointing directly to climate change ideology. It’s Earth Day, I reasoned. That church appears to validate the belief that we all must help ‘Mother Earth’ by saving our planet. What does that sign have to do with God?

Since Earth Day was established in 1970, planet activism has become a pseudo-religion. Former CBS Evening News Anchorman Walter Cronkite first explained the remembrance in a special April 1970 news broadcast by defining it as “a day set aside for a nationwide outpouring of mankind seeking its own survival. Earth Day,” Cronkite continued, is “a day dedicated to enlisting all the citizens of a bountiful country in a common cause of saving life from the deadly by-products of that bounty.”

Climate activists will do anything to elevate their cause. Recent examples of such include protestors vandalizing priceless pieces of art to bring an audience to their message. In October 2022, two Just Stop Oil activists threw mashed potatoes on Claude Monet’s “Les Meules” painting in a German museum before super-gluing themselves to the floor. In explanation of their act, the protestors stated, “If it takes a painting – with #MashedPotatoes or #TomatoSoup thrown at it – to make society remember that the fossil fuel course is killing us all: Then we’ll give you #MashedPotatoes on a painting!”

In a similar October incident, two other protestors threw tomato soup on a Van Gough painting in a London gallery before gluing their hands to the wall. Similar incidents saw protestors glue themselves to Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” and other works by Botticelli and Picasso.

In addition to defacing artwork, scaling buildings, blocking traffic, and vandalizing pipelines, activists are often willing to sacrifice their bodies to elevate their ideals. One such unfortunate incident was coordinated by Boulder, CO resident Wynn Bruce, who set himself on fire outside the U.S. Supreme Court building on Earth Day, 2022. Bruce later died from his sustained injuries.

Zen Buddhist priest Kritee Kanko – a friend of Bruce’s – later acknowledged that Bruce had been planning the protest for “at least one year.” In an interview with the New York Times, Kanko told the paper that “people are being driven to extreme amounts of climate grief and despair.”

As an outdoor enthusiast, I fully appreciate the importance of doing our part to protect the environment – but not at the expense of forgetting the one who created it all. Genesis 1:1 reminds us, “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.”

Conversely, I also believe what our Heavenly Father foretells us in the book of Revelation. Chapter 21:1 declares, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.” God created everything and is in control of all things. “For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” (Psalm 50:10)

And so I disagree with the church sign I mentioned earlier in this post. The greatest threat to our planet is not in believing someone else will save it. The greatest threat to humankind is not acknowledging that Jesus Christ is the only one who can save both our planet and our eternal souls. In fact, He already did so when He died on the cross for our sins. While preserving the earth may sound like a noble cause, as Christians, we should be more concerned about where our fellow earthly citizens will spend eternity.

Christ’s blood covered all our sins and bridged the chasm between heaven and earth. My mission in life is not to save the planet but to share God’s love with the planet’s dwellers. I was created to serve our Creator – not any other created being – including planet Earth. Just as worshipping an idol manufactured by man is senseless, so is idolizing any other entity other than the God who created it. There is no such thing as “Mother Earth.” There is only Father God, and He has a future home for us in Heaven – far beyond anything we can envision on this terrestrial globe.

Revelation 21: 3-4 reminds us to look forward to our heavenly home where God will dwell alongside us. “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Our Creator loves us so much that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross so that His perfect sacrifice would cover our sins and allow us to spend eternity with Him in heaven. More important than saving the planet is saving ourselves and others from eternal separation from God. We can never be perfect enough, do enough, or perform enough acts of sacrifice to save ourselves from the penalty of sin.

Romans 3:23 reminds us that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” To save my soul, I had to acknowledge that I am a sinner in need of a Savior. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for my sin by dying on a cross for me. Belief in Him is the only way I can ever be accepted into heaven. As John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

My Heavenly Father cares about me and loves me. The fairy-tale entity of Mother Earth is no different than Mother Goose. Her existence, like the latter’s, is only a manufactured creation.

If climate activists are willing to super-glue themselves to walls to draw attention to their cause, how much more so should I, as a child of the one true God who has saved my soul for all eternity, be willing to use my whole life to promote the gospel? “I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40:8)

May I always be willing to pay any price and sacrifice anything I have for Christ. After all, I was created to worship and serve my Creator – all the days of my earthly life and beyond.

How did we get here? – The David and Sara Saga, Part 2

By Sara | April 16, 2023

“I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.” (Psalm 30: 1)

“How did we get here?” David’s brother, Jeffrey, asked at the start of his toast to his brother and me during our wedding reception. “How did we get to where they’re married?”

Unlike traditional toasts that provide anecdotes while congratulating the lucky couple, Jeffrey built his speech around whether God knows or cares about us when we’re hurting. His words struck a chord with not just David and me but everyone privileged to hear the “backstory,” as he called it.

*David and I stand in front of one of the shore-stranded and stacked shrimp boats in Ft. Myers, FL – post-Hurricane Ian in January, 2023.*

If you read my blog, you already know how David and I met and how unexpectedly beautiful our God-given love story is. Neither of us was looking for love when we traveled to Florida to help Samaritan’s Purse with disaster relief in Ft. Myers, post-Hurricane Ian. Anyone attending our wedding knew the same.

Instead, Jeffrey elaborated more on who God is and how much He used the love of our Creator to unite us.

“Yeah, you might say that they met on a hurricane project – a clean-up project in Ft. Myers on October 12th,” Jeffrey continued. “But I want to know where they were before that. I can tell you, there was a lot of pain. There were hearts that were shattered – broken relationships, dreams obliterated, enduring years of disappointments, wondering where God was in the pain of it all. They were begging for help.”

“I wonder if God did know the agony of their souls,” Jeffrey questioned. “Does God really get us? Does God really know what’s going on in those times?”

For the next five minutes, Jeffrey shared scripture with the spellbound room as he turned to passage after passage of reminders that God understands our heartaches.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O, my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. (Psalm 22: 1-2)
Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. (Psalm 69:1-3)
Lord, you are the God who saves me; day and night, I cry out to you. May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry. I am overwhelmed with troubles, and my life draws near to death. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like one without strength. I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care. (Psalm 88: 1-5)

“I think God does get it,” Jeffrey affirmed. “At least two thousand years ago…people were hurting but hanging on. God does know that we suffer. He [gives] us these words to give us comfort, to know we are not alone.”

I couldn’t agree more. Despite everything I’ve been through, my love for God never changed. His Holy Word kept me focused on my Savior and less on myself. In fact, my eternal love for my Heavenly Father sustained me during moments that could have broken me otherwise. The times when I felt utterly rejected by the world, I always knew that God was with me and loved me. That thought continually gave me hope.

By worldly standards, I was the perpetual outcast – shunned, spurned, and shamed in past relationships.

And yet, I never lost sight of my Father’s love. God’s grace pulled me up from the depths of despair more times than I could ever mention. I was committed to loving and serving my Savior – no matter the cost.

“What got them to this place right there?” Jeffrey continued. “Their love of God. They didn’t know each other, but they loved God. And that was the key component that they required in anyone else.”

*David and I were privileged to serve with Samaritan’s Purse in Ft. Myers on Monday, December 12, 2022 – the day after he proposed to me.*

Jeffrey went on to explain David’s ultimate decision around a year ago not to date anyone unless they loved God. That decision only came after another broken, worldly relationship pulverized his heart. Despite his best intentions in helping others, David learned the hard way that his pursuit of love with anyone who didn’t understand Christ would inevitably end in heartache.

“When he first told me about Sara, I knew she had passed the test,” Jeffrey explained to the sound of chuckles. “It was their love of God that got them there, despite all the lonely trials…Despite the effects of loneliness, they still heard God cry out that He needed people. God said, ‘Hmm. Tragedy in Florida. Whom shall I send?’ And David in Virginia Beach and Sara in Georgia, like Isaiah, said ‘Here am I, Lord. Send me.’ That’s how we got here. Their love of God became their love for each other.”

As David and I ponder the amazing grace that brought us together, we are continually in awe of the love we share and our God-aligned, astounding compatibilities. How many people in the world fully understand God’s love? And how many of us have surrendered our plans to our Heavenly Father’s? Of all the relationships currently standing, how many are built on God’s love, first and foremost?

As Jeffrey said, David and I loved God and placed Him first in our lives. Despite my fears and David’s missteps, we knew we were called to serve our Savior. We would never have met if we hadn’t entirely surrendered to God’s will over our own. If either David or I had once said, “I can’t do it. It’s too hard. It’s too much. I’m too busy,” or even “Maybe next time,” our paths would never have crossed.

How often, I wonder, do we miss the blessings that God has in store for us because we aren’t willing to relinquish our will to God’s? There may come a day when we all stand before our Heavenly Father in heaven and learn what our lives could have been if we’d only listened to God and done what He asked us to do instead of following our own plans for our lives.

I hope and pray that I will always obey my Savior’s calling. I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23). I’ve made many mistakes in my life that I’ve had to live with. I don’t want to regret another moment when I could have done more for God but chose not to.

After all, it’s only when I fully surrendered to my Heavenly Father’s sustaining grace that I received the biggest blessing of my life – finding my soulmate in David.

Whatever my Heavenly Father has yet to ask of me, whatever else He needs me to do, may I always be ready and eager to do so. After all, I’m a living testament to God’s outstanding provision. My life with David – finding true love with him is so much more than I ever could have asked for or imagined.

And I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t yielded to my Savior. I have true joy beyond imagination because I said the simple but meaningful words: My life is yours, God. Guide me. Use me. Send me.

May those words always be on my lips and yours, beloved.

Perfectly loved – The David and Sara Saga, Part 1

By Sara | April 12, 2023

“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.” (Psalm 30: 11-12)

“God is the only one who has ever perfectly loved me – until now.” So began the wedding vows I wrote to my soulmate, David, and read before all those who attended our wedding on Sunday, March 12th.

“All I’ve ever wanted was to be perfectly loved,” I continued, “I used to puzzle over why something that should be so simple was so unobtainable. I didn’t want superficial love. I wanted perfect love – a love like God’s – with skin on it. I dreamed of the kind of love that would see into my soul and love every part of me – inside and out. Despite my flaws and insecurities, the perfect love I envisioned that someday someone would have for me would be blind to anything but my spirit.”

*All dressed and ready for the ceremony in my exquisite, gifted wedding dress* *(courtesy of Diana Villier).*

For decades, everything I experienced told me that the kind of love my heart longed for was impossible to achieve – in fact, my first husband told me outright that the love I wanted was unachievable. That statement alone paralyzed me in painful relationships for longer than it ever should have. There’s no such thing as perfect love, I thought. It’s only the stuff of fairy tales and Hollywood.

But then I met David.

David’s road to winning my love was paved with landmines, boulders, and quicksand. While he never saw these barriers, there was no limit to the protections I’d built to safeguard my heart. I hadn’t just built a wall around it; I surrounded my most vital organ with barbed electric wire. I didn’t want to let anyone in. I was happy to give love to others. I just couldn’t allow myself to believe that what God had programmed me to extend could ever be returned.

And then came David.

What began as a friendship based on our mutual love of God and service slowly developed into something so much more than I ever could have imagined.

Video montage courtesy of Michael Erb.

David is different than anyone I’ve ever known my entire life. He’s the first person to honestly say – and mean – that he never gets tired of hearing me talk. I realize that’s almost impossible to imagine for those who know me personally. And yet it’s true. As a fellow writer, David understands the value of words. We never struggle for something to say to each other – and we always strive to say it with love.

As I told David in my vows, the love I’ve hoped for but never dared to believe in was always resting inside him – just waiting for me. “I believe that God created me for you and you for me,” I told him, “I am the rib that God took from your body and fashioned into the woman that will always remain by your side. God created us for each other.”

Cell phone capture of our wedding ceremony, beginning with our vows. Video courtesy of Mark Higgason.

1 John 4:18 tells us that “Perfect love casts out fear.” That’s the kind of love David and I have for one another – a perfect love without fear.

I know fear. I lived it most of my adult life. Every relationship I had before David’s was surrounded by terror. Besides being afraid of physical violence in my first marriage, my second husband instilled psychological boundaries that held me captive for over ten years.

I could never be perfect enough for a perfectionist controller. If I wasn’t working, cleaning, improving, or flagellating to his standards, I was worse than a failure – I was reprehensible and didn’t deserve to eat or sleep in my own house. I wasn’t allowed outside friendships – even with my family members.

Any relationship I tried to develop outside of his was considered a betrayal – and there was always a price to be paid. I was screamed at, reprimanded, and shoved out of the house to find my own shelter overnight – no matter the weather, whether I had eaten, or even if I was dressed for the elements. I learned to accept that my existence was unimportant. I didn’t deserve kindness, let alone love.

*David and I prepare to enter the reception hall after our marriage ceremony. Photo courtesy of Diana Villier.*

And still, my heart dreamed of it. God gave me love. Without the love of my Savior, I could have easily succumbed to the belief that I didn’t deserve to live. But with God, I always knew I was valued. I believed no one on earth could ever love me like God did until my heavenly Father sent me David.

David knew the value of being invisible himself. His mother died when he was 15, and his father didn’t know how to show love. For decades, he struggled to find his own self-worth – something he had never learned at home. David also didn’t know what real love was – even though he looked for it everywhere.

When David and I met on a Samaritan’s Purse bus in FL, he said he immediately knew I was different from anyone he’d ever known. “Is she the one, God” he later told me he questioned when I offered to share my lunch with him on our first meeting. From the beginning, David felt God telling him to take it slowly with me – that he should be patient and show love.

And show love he did. The day David drove eight hours to surprise me with the gift of his presence after one of my kitties died, my walls were demolished in one fell swoop. As David wrote to me that morning, “What I’m sending you, my love, is my heart. It’s my dedication, devotion, and determination to show you how much I love you and want to be with you!”

Joyfully ready to walk down the aisle. *Photo courtesy of Diana Villier.*

After dancing around in shock when David – instead of a long overdue delivery driver – showed up on my doorstep at 9:20 that evening, I knew this man was different. No one had ever given me such a precious gift before. No one had ever made me feel as valuable as David did. My electrified barbed wire was obliterated. I was utterly and completely in love with David’s beautiful heart.

Last October, David and I both surrendered to God and drove hundreds of miles to serve our Heavenly Father by helping others whose lives had been turned upside down by a hurricane. I could never have envisioned that in doing so, in complete surrender to God, He would bring me my soulmate.

But it was there – on a bus that neither of us should have been on – that I met David, my future husband – six months ago today. There he was – without a lunch. And there I was with more than enough to share. How the angels must have rejoiced that day when we set in motion what God had planned for us before we were born.

*The blissful newlyweds at our wedding reception. Photo courtesy of Diana Villier.*

From our wedding day forward, I promised before God, our family, and friends to always share my lunch and everything else I have with my husband. I pledged to stand beside him no matter how difficult the circumstances may be. I promised to serve God with him while loving him wholeheartedly, encouraging him, helping, taking care of, and spending eternity with him. God created David for me and me for David. Our saga is just beginning.

We vowed that we will be together forever, wherever God leads us. Our love story is timeless. Together, we have found perfect love through Christ. He is the cord that ties us together. As Ecclesiastes 4:12 reminds us, “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” With our Heavenly Father as our center, David and I are finally free to be who we were meant to be.

*David and I celebrated the pronouncement of our marriage by raising our arms in victory while declaring, “Yay, God!”* *(With Diana Villier, left, and Rev. Michael Simone, right.) Photo courtesy of Sharon Olson.*

Together, we are stronger in service. Together, we are complete in Christ.

I finally know what it means to be perfectly loved – and I couldn’t be more grateful to my Savior for teaching me what that really means – first by Himself and then through a man who loves me like God does – with skin on.

After all, there’s never been a moment when David, I, and you, my beloved reader, were ever not perfectly loved by Christ.

God is in this story – Part 2, The dress

By Sara | March 5, 2023

I will thank You, LORD, among all the people. I will sing Your praises among the nations. (Psalm 108:3)

In my last blog – God is in this story – Part 1, The Ring – I talked about how my Heavenly Father preserved my sister’s diamond for decades until I met my soulmate and needed an engagement ring.

A few weeks before David and I even considered rings, I met with my best friend, Didi, to share the good news of my engagement. I knew I had to tell Didi my story in person, so we arranged to meet at her house at the first opportunity.

*My best friend, Didi, and me outside her home.*

After detailing my story, I intended to ask Didi to be my Maid-of-Honor at the wedding. Before I could do so, she jumped up from her stool and exclaimed, “I have a dress! I have a dress!”

As surprised as I was at her announcement, I wanted Didi to hear my request. “I’m not done with the story yet!” I laughed. “Sit back down and hear the rest of it!”

After hugging and confirming her consent to join my wedding party, Didi jumped up in excitement again. “I have a dress! I have a dress!”

Before I could stop her, my friend ran to her garage and returned with a zipped garment bag with the most beautiful dress I’d ever seen.

“It’s from Bulgaria,” Didi explained. “My father brought it to me. I didn’t know what I’d do with it but thought maybe Sasha (Didi’s daughter) might wear it someday.”

As Didi explained, her father still lives in Bulgaria. He surprised her with the dress years ago. His unexpected transportation of Didi’s former gown may have surprised her when he first presented it, but that could hardly match my shock of seeing a wedding dress come out of my friend’s garage. It even boasted a veil and crinoline.

“It’s gorgeous,” I exclaimed. “I don’t know if it will fit – but it’s amazing! I can’t believe you had this in your garage.”

*Didi’s table setting for our visit included her mother’s Bulgarian plates and tea service.*

“You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to,” Didi demurred. “But you can’t even find a dress like this here. It was handmade and hand beaded. If you like it, you can wear it in your wedding!”

“I love it,” I affirmed. “It’s absolutely stunning!”

“Try it on,” Didi pressed. “I think it will fit you.”

Without hesitation, I tried on the perfect offering in shock and amazement at my heavenly Father’s provision.

Miraculously, it fit!

“I can’t believe it!” I kept saying as Didi took pictures of me smiling in the dress – my face filled with joy at the incredulity of it all.

“This is incredible,” I said. “God is so good! I can’t believe you had a wedding dress in your garage – and that it fits!”

“You look beautiful in it,” Didi gushed. “It was meant to be.”

And so, I now have one more God-ordained component to add to my story. My Creator brought two strangers together in hurricane relief work and prompted my soon-to-be spouse to forget his lunch on the very day I had extra food to share.

Two days later, God placed the notion in my head to ask needy homeowners to tear down their kitchen wall – leading me to David, the wall-breaker. Little did I know then that David would eventually tear down my psychological barriers, as well.

That milestone achieved, my Creator brought me back to FL to help in the home where David would ultimately propose.

The next morning, we returned to serve with Samaritan’s Purse, precisely two months to the day when we first met. I had planned our service day together long before David’s proposal was even a thought.

And yet God knew how significant that day would be.

The following week, I remembered my gifted diamond that would inevitably become the symbolic stone of my engagement. My sister had given it to me while she still lived in Fort Myers – the city where David and I were to meet by divine providence decades later.

And then came my dress gift from God – perfectly preserved in my friend Didi’s garage. My Heavenly Father knew I would require it someday, so He compelled an earthy father to bring it from Europe for me. Although no one understood until now why the wedding dress was here, God knew I’d need it. In His omniscience, He provided a gown for me years before Hurricane Ian hit Florida and led me to serve with Samaritan’s Purse, let alone meet David.

And as unlikely as it seems, despite our size differences, Didi’s handmade dress fits me perfectly.

Step by step, God has demonstrated that He is not just in our story. His fingerprints are all over my life. No one could ever convince me otherwise.

And so, I will continue to recount my miracles to anyone I can – the jewelers, my friends, everyone coming to our wedding, the clerk in the county marriage office we met on Valentine’s Day (another story entirely), the pilot that brought David and I back together again on the holiday, my new doctor, all the clerks at Hobby Lobby who helped us find church decorations, my bosses and co-workers – and now all of you. I can’t stop talking about my miracles!

So, you see, God is in this story.

Even more, our Heavenly Father oversees all our stories – even when we don’t see or feel Him. There’s no moment He hasn’t already foreseen. He is right there with us through our trials and triumphs, our challenges and victories.

I feel God’s power over my life in a whole new way. I know that God loves me and has given me my heart’s greatest longing – His unconditional, unwavering, unearthly love, all wrapped up in the earthly body of a man named David.

Let my story strengthen your faith, beloved. Let it remind you that God knows what will happen in our lives, even before birth. If I can find my soulmate in the aftermath of a hurricane, a handmade European wedding dress in a friend’s garage, and a diamond in a long-forgotten box sent by my deceased sister decades earlier – there is nothing our Creator can’t do.

God knows you, beloved. He longs to bless you, give you hope, and a future (Jer. 29:11). Surrender to Him and let Him shower you with blessings as He has me. Our God can do anything. Let my story show you how very true that is. His fingerprints are all over your life – just as they are mine.

[Note: I will post a picture of my beautiful wedding dress here after my wedding on March 12^th. Stay tuned!]

God is in this story – Part 1, The Ring

By Sara | February 20, 2023

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans. (Proverbs 16:3)

In just three short weeks from today, I will walk down the aisle to pledge the rest of my life to the man God sent me while serving Him. I have no doubt about making that claim. God’s fingerprints are all over every aspect of our story.

When David and I began looking at rings, I was shocked at the price tags, which exceeded my expectations. We checked a pawn shop first but quickly learned that wedding sets might be hard to find.

“I don’t need a ring,” I told David as we left the store.

“Yes, you do,” David confirmed. “We both do.”

We went to Sam’s Club next and found a beautiful set, only to learn that what you see is what you get in a big box store. If the men’s and women’s rings fit, you can buy them. If they don’t, you’re out of luck. These rings are one-size-fits-all – even though they don’t.

As David and I considered trying the jeweler at our local mall, I realized I had another option.

“I have a diamond,” I told David. “Years ago – maybe decades – my sister sent me a diamond, still in the necklace setting but without the chain. I asked her what I should do with it. She told me to keep it and that I should just save it.”

There’s so much more to this story that needs to be shared. My sister, Jackie, was living in Fort Myers, FL, when she sent me the precious stone. The fact that she lived there is one of the reasons I chose to help Samaritan’s Purse in that location. I could have served in Punta Gorda or Englewood – also affected by the hurricane – but I went to Fort Myers for two reasons. First and foremost, Fort Myers was the hardest hit city in the storm. I wanted to serve where I could do the most good.

I also wanted to go there because that’s where Jackie had previously lived. Married three times, she resided in Fort Myers during her second troubled marriage as she fought for custody of her daughter and the ability to leave the state.

Eventually winning that privilege, Jackie moved to Colorado and married again. A few short years later, Jackie and her daughter were killed by her third husband, who later took his own life.

I hadn’t thought about the diamond Jackie gave me in years. Only at that moment did God choose to remind me that I already had a precious jewel in my possession.

“I’m not sure I can find it,” I told David, “but if I can, maybe we could put it into a ring. It would be incredibly symbolic, since Jackie lived in Fort Myers, and that’s where you and I met.”

“You should look for it,” David agreed. “We should definitely do that.”

Amazingly, despite not thinking about it for years, I found the diamond the first place I looked.

The next day, David and I took the jewel – in its long-forgotten orange velvet box – to the mall. The first store we visited was not for us – but we met Jimmy at the second. Jimmy McSpadden is the assistant manager at Reeds Jewelers. After offering to help us look at rings, I told Jimmy about my diamond. He asked to look at it. When I showed it to him, he told me he’d get someone to check it. A few minutes later, Jimmy confirmed that I had a half-carat diamond that would have cost us $2,500 if we’d bought a similar ring straight out of the case.

“You should put this on a band,” confirmed Jimmy. “It holds great significance to you.”

After explaining how David and I had met while performing disaster relief work in FL for Samaritan’s Purse, I detailed my sister’s story and how she’d gifted the diamond to me.

“She lived in Fort Myers,” I detailed. “It’s partly why I chose to go there. Decades before my sister’s death, she sent me this diamond, although I never knew why. I’ve barely thought about it for years.”

“Let’s find you a band to put it on,” Jimmy said. “That’s quite a story.”

After choosing a band and sizing my finger, we chose a ring for David and requested that it be sized, too. We promised to return for our rings after Christmas – long before David suggested I fly back to FL rather than GA after visiting my family over the holidays. I agreed with David and knew our rings would have to wait.

As noted in my last blog post – Building an ark is never easy but always worth it – it’s safe to say that David and I lived through the fire in January. Our initial plan was for me to help with the rebuild over the long New Year’s Eve weekend. After seeing how much work was left to complete, New Year’s weekend soon turned into a week and, ultimately, a month. There was too much to do, and I was more than happy to help.

And yet, doing so quickly escalated into a more significant challenge than either of us expected.

While other couples may live with their respective families early in their marriages, David and I lived with strangers, working twelve-to-fifteen-hour days while rebuilding a home from the inside out. The only breaks we took were to eat and sleep – continuing our work through the weekends. Nightly supply runs were the only time we stepped away from the house we lived and worked in.

With a shared bathroom, kitchen, and communal space, we encountered daily opportunities to demonstrate patience, kindness, and service not just to each other but also to the homeowners whose house we shared.

Still, as David likes to say, “There was never a cross word between us.”

During that interval, we learned to assist, encourage, pray for, and support one another to the degree that few other couples ever experience. God was with us in that place, and I am so grateful for our time together there. It significantly strengthened our relationship.

*David and I share a joyous moment with our new rings.*

David and I couldn’t pick up our rings until late January, as a result. When we finally returned to GA, it was our priority to retrieve them – but only if Jimmy was there. “He’s a part of our story, too,” we both agreed. “We can only get the rings from Jimmy.”

David called the jewelry store twice to confirm that Jimmy would be there. When we arrived, Jimmy stepped into the back to retrieve our rings and returned with the jeweler who had sized them both and mounted my diamond.

“This is the couple I told you about,” Jimmy told his teammate. “The ones with the special diamond.”

*My special diamond, provided by God, decades ago.*

“God brought us together while serving Him,” I explained. “Thank you so much for your help!”

After reiterating our story and sharing photos of the FL rebuild, we reminded everyone of our testimony. “When you surrender to God, He will give you the desires of your heart.”

As we walked away from this momentous occasion, I was reminded how great our God is. Long before David and I met, my heavenly Father gave a diamond to my sister, who then sent it to me. Our Creator knew then that I would meet David – decades later – unexpectedly fall in love and need a unique jewel for my ring. I’m continually amazed at my Father’s provision, orchestrated long before finding my soulmate. David and I would never have met if I hadn’t followed God’s calling.

*David and I celebrate our God-given engagement with unique rings.*

Instead, we share a love story that grows more profound daily. To think that my Father orchestrated everything years ago still astounds me.

But that’s the God we serve. He knows everything and longs to bless us. If we only surrender to Him, our Creator can and will give us the desires of our hearts. It all begins with a simple act of obedience – and total surrender. I thank God daily for the blessings He’s bestowed upon me.

This story is far from over. Be sure to read part two to see what God provided next!

Category: Encouragement