#GodIsInThisStory

It had to be you

By Sara | April 1, 2024

“You turned my mourning into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.” (Psalm 30:11)

David and I are blessed to have traveled to Puerto Rico to celebrate our first wedding anniversary on March 12th. In Spanish, we can now say, “Nos casamos el año pasado.” Translation? “We got married last year!” With our Frontier “Go Wild” passes and a $100 flight voucher, we flew round trip for $29. During our week there, we stayed in two separate locations, basking in the subtropical sunshine and crystal-clear waters of the West Indies.

*View from the balcony of our Fajardo, Puerto Rico condo.*

More than a vacation, this journey served as a celebration to commemorate our first year together as husband and wife. We’d been counting the days to mark this milestone for quite some time, and our patience was well rewarded with an outstanding getaway filled with love and laughter – much as our marriage has been.

*Humacao Nature Reserve, Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico*

“I love being your husband,” David remarked as we awoke on our anniversary morning. “I love that you’re my wife. It was so clear.”

“What was clear?” I asked, slowly shaking the last tendrils of sleep from my subconscious mind.

“That God gave you to me,” David replied.

“It had to be you,” I affirmed. “Since before we were born, it has always been you. I love you, David Robert Olson.”

“I love you, Sara Victoria Olson,” came the consistent response. “I love you so much!”

*View of the eastern Puerto Rican coastline from the El Yunque rainforest.*

And so, our anniversary began – as all our days do: beautifully, blissfully, blessed.

David and I consistently wake up snuggling and proclaiming how much we love one another every morning. It’s such an affirming way to start each day. David recognized this fantastic phenomenon early into our marriage. “I love how we always wake up the same way. Every day. So in love. I know we’ll always be this way.” And so we are.

Every morning, David rolls onto his back, unspokenly inviting me to nestle inside the crook of his shoulder, our bodies pretzeled in our natural state of togetherness. We can never get enough kissing, hugging, and holding each other.

*Sharing a kiss next to an ancient Ceiba tree, San Juan, Puerto Rico.*

“Every time feels like the first time,” David always says. ” I waited a lifetime for this and can never get enough.”

“Me, too,” I say. “I love you so much! I am so happy. Content. Complete. You complete me, David. You are the biggest blessing of my life, and I will always love you.”

*Shouting “Yay, God” on the beach of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico.*

As we enjoyed the final day of our anniversary trip to Puerto Rico, it struck me that our time there was an amplified reflection of our marriage – rejuvenating, restorative, and re-energizing.

*Shouting “Yay, God” after being pronounced husband and wife on March 12, 2023.*

Looking back over our last year, I’m struck by all the incredible things we’ve done together with God’s help.

Personal milestones:

*Helping Hurricane Idalia victims in Perry,FL.*

Declared victory over David’s prostate cancer scare
Served with Samaritan’s Purse to help Hurricane Idalia victims in Perry, FL
Made twelve round trips between Brunswick, GA to Virginia Beach, VA where we performed the following renovations to David’s former house:
- Re-shingled the roof
- Re-painted the exterior vinyl siding
- Added Pergo flooring to the living room, primary bedroom, office, and hallway
- Re-painted the living room, primary bedroom, office, bathroom, and hallway
- Re-modeled the office to include the removal of the popcorn ceiling, re-wired and replaced the drywall on all the walls
Removed the carpet from our primary bedroom, hallway, and living room in our Brunswick, GA home and replaced it with Pergo flooring
Designed and built a new 10-foot by 12-foot addition onto our Brunswick, GA shed

Side-job completions:

*Enjoying a break while re-screening a porch in Chesapeake, VA.*

Re-screened a screen porch, repaired the porch door, added a new door, created concrete steps, and poured a concrete step-down pad
Removed an old in-ground fire-pit and created a new one with a circular paver patio
Repaired and replaced portions of a wooden fence and fence posts
Stripped and re-stained six wooden church doors
Repaired a leaking wooden barn roof
Rebuilt a church storage shed

Two-week Italian honeymoon:

Visited 12 Italian cities – touring 15 chapels/basilicas, staying in 5 vacation homes and hiking over 75 total miles
Drove like an Italian on busy highways and narrow mountain roads
Visited the Roman Colosseum and Forum
Danced on a city sidewalk adjacent to the Roman Forum at dusk
Toured the Vatican Museums
Participated in an Italian mass in the Roman Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica
Survived an attempted pickpocket attempt onboard an inner-city Roman subway
Lived in a Medieval tower home for four nights in Assisi
Enjoyed a free, operatic concert featuring Mozart and Schubert in the Centuries-old Basilica of St Francis in Assisi
Took part in an Italian religious pageant during the festival of St. Francis on my birthday
Ascended and toured the crumbling, cliff-side town of Civita de Bagnoregio before it disappears
Stayed overnight at two agriturismo farms surrounded by private Tuscan vineyards
Hiked seven miles up and across the seaside cliffs from Monterroso al Mare to Vernazza in Cinque Terre
Viewed world-renowned artwork like Michelangelo’s David in Florence and the Sistine Chapel in Rome
Shopped for groceries in seven local markets
Swam in the Italian Riviera
Viewed the tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, and Dante in Florence’s Basilica de Santa Croce
Drove in the dark through a tiny Tuscan alleyway so small that we had to pull our rental car mirrors in to keep them from breaking off
Mastered the intricacies of the Italian transit system, including the Roman subway and Florentine buses

First Christmas together:

Celebrated in the FL Keys at David’s friend’s condo in Tavernier
Kayaked to Kalteux Key
Fed Pelicans and tarpon in Islamorada
Relived part of David’s past while visiting the hotel where he spent many fall days repainting and repairing hotel rooms for his friend, the former co-owner

Worked remotely from Oceanside, CA:

*Hiking the Pacific coast cliffs at Torrey Pines Natural State Reserve, CA*.

Toured the San Diego Zoo
Hiked Torrey Pines Natural State Reserve to see California’s sandstone cliffs
Watched countless sea lions, cormorants, and pelicans frolic in and around the La Jolla shoreline
Survived driving the San Diego freeway at rush hour

One-year wedding anniversary in Puerto Rico:

Visited Seven Seas Beach – world renowned for its beauty
Hiked to the deserted and colorful Playa Colorá
Sat in crystal clear water near a coral reef – watching the fish play in the Reserva Natural de San Juan
Discovered massive, innumerable termite nests big enough for a person to sit inside
Witnessed wild iguanas, horses, roosters, and chickens crossing the roads
Hiked through the centuries-old Castillo San Felipe del Morro in San Juan – a six-story, impregnable fort proclaimed a World Heritage site
Hiked a 7-mile trail in El Yunque – the only rainforest on U.S. soil
Discovered both freshly dug and recently covered iguana nests
Stood eight feet away from a female iguana that had just dug her nest in a tropical preserve

While these highlights are tremendous, our marriage’s unquantifiable love and prolific partnership are even more impressive. It’s the small things, like those listed below, that mean the most to me:

Our perpetual hugs and kisses whenever we’re in close proximity to one another
The way our heads have to touch when we pray
The way we kiss and say “I love you” after “Amen” every time we pray
Our daily ritualized “Crowning Ceremony”
The way David looks at me with love in his eyes as I run to him after we’re apart
Nightly cuddle time on the couch, watching historical or British dramas we both enjoy
The way David sat by me in the coastal Puerto Rican forest as we both waited for an iguana to move so I could film it
Our shared love of kitties and all God’s creatures
A visceral need to continually affirm our appreciation and love for one another
Our joint commitment to daily Bible readings together, holding each other accountable to both God and one another
Being a part of “Team Olson” – the first, best, and only team I’ve ever belonged to

While we have seen and done so much in the short year we’ve had together, the little things make our relationship exceedingly precious. I’m continually in awe of the way we love each other more each day than we did the day before – which can only be thanks to God. I am so grateful.

It had to be David. No one else could ever be what David is to me. Our love is too perfect, affirming, and precious to have come from anything else but our Heavenly Father.

But it also had to be God – first and foremost in our lives. Without God, there would be no David and Sara – and we are forever grateful to our Creator for bringing us together. He turned our mourning into dancing – and we will never stop thanking our Heavenly Father for His precious gift of dependable, uplifting, empowering, re-energizing, unconditional love.

And so, I end by saying, Thank you, Jesus! Thank you for saving, loving, and giving me such a precious, incomparable gift of love, love, love. I can never thank you enough. I am so undeserving and wholly humbled by such a massive life-changing gift.

*Exterior wall of the Pitti Palace, Florence, Italy.*

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.

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.

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!

Tag: #GodIsInThisStory