Tag: #TrustinGod

Our wall breaker/love maker anniversary – part 2

Our wall breaker/love maker anniversary – part 2

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In my last blog, I talked about how David knocked down my walls of protection by sending me the Rachel Lampa song, “Perfectly Loved,” followed by his testimony of how God broke through to him with His own love for David’s soul. Through several back-and-forth emails, David and I verbalized our lifelong pursuit of one another.

As David explained, “I’ve been praying to meet someone the way we did, in a place where God was. I wanted to feel the beat that skipped in my heart when I met her. I wanted my breath to be taken away by her beauty, intelligence, compassion, love for others, and willingness to serve. I wanted someone where I would be safe to express my love of God, where it would grow and become stronger. I wanted to find that someone who understood and believed those same things, and we would have a love built on the strength of our faith in Jesus and all that He teaches us.”

David and I shared a hug as we served with Samaritan’s Purse for the first time together as an engaged couple on December 12, 2022.

Writing back, I asked, “Did your heart really skip a beat when you met me? Did I truly take your breath away with who I am? Can that be real?”

“I was called to Florida, David,” I explained, “God called me just as He called you. He asked us to give up a few days of our lives in utter abandon to His ministry, and we heeded His call. I had no idea what to expect, but it was beyond my wildest expectations. It still is. His gifts for me are still coming – from one single act of wholehearted commitment.” 

Over the next few days, David set into motion an elaborate plan to further demolish my protective walls by supplying me with tangible evidence of his love. It all began with David’s message that he had arranged for one of his VA Beach friends to ship me something from his home via special delivery. This much is true. David did have a friend mail a tile he had painted years ago. The slate was emblazoned with a gold and red heart along with the words, “Healing heart – Love Heals.” 

What David didn’t reveal was that the shipment was coming to him in FL so he could hand-deliver it to me. Over the next few days, David unabashedly convinced me that I needed to be home to sign for the package – presumably scheduled to arrive on December 1st and later delayed until December 2nd. 

David and I stood beside storm-tossed and destroyed shrimp boats at Ft. Myers Beach, FL, following Hurricane Ian, December 2022.

Behind the scenes, David wasn’t yet at a place in FL where he could easily leave his restoration work. After reaching a breakaway point, he grabbed his kitty, Bo, and set out on an 8-hour journey to my home – all the while sending me text updates regarding the estimated arrival time of my “package.” I never expected anything but a mysterious gift sent with love.

On Friday, December 2nd, 2022, I woke to the following beautiful email from David:

“Good morning, Dear Sara, 

You are the Angel that holds My Heart!!!! 

What a beautiful and memorable day this is going to be! God has blessed us with such a wonderful beginning, and today will add to our precious Love story! What will come to your door today truly has been a lifetime in the making. God has shaped and molded this gift to be the perfect fit into your life, and I’m so excited to be able to share it with you now and forever! I know you want me to be there, and I will be – in your heart as you are in mine. 

I know that my life with you has happened because we both gave our lives up to God to be in his service and allow the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts. 

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! I’m so happy to know what I’m giving you will be in a safe place that you can share with others when they come into your home. 

David and I in Perry, FL, after assisting Samaritan’s Purse after Hurricane Idalia hit the region, September 2023.

I know we will have a lot to say to each other this evening, and I can’t wait to hear the sound of your voice! 

With God’s Love and mine💞 – David”

To David’s mailing, I sent the following response: 

“Dear David, 

The giving of one’s heart is a sacred offering and one that I would never give or take lightly. The fact that you’ve given me yours is profoundly precious to me. Please know that I promise to hold your heart protectively as I understand its tremendous value. 

I can’t even imagine what you could possibly be sending me today, but I feel privileged to receive whatever you want to give. The gift of oneself demonstrates no greater love, and I am eternally grateful to God for sending me a man who understands that. 

Savannah, GA, July 2023

I’ve never known a love such as yours before, David. It’s incredulous to me that such a thing can exist – that what I’ve hoped and prayed for my entire life could actually be living on this earth. I’d long ago given up the idea that someone like you could ever find and love someone like me. Only the hand of God could have brought us together for such a time as this. 

Thank you for loving me, David. Thank you for the gift of your heart and for your steadfast determination to make me believe in its veracity. 

With our Savior’s love and mine – Sara”

Throughout the day, David gave me periodic updates on the arrival of my package. 

Per David, “I’ve got an update for delivery moved to between 7:00 and 9:00. I was able to get the signature requirement removed, so no worries.”

Jekyll Island, GA, August 2023.

As time progressed, I became more and more excited about whatever David was sending me. As the 9:00 pm hour rolled in, I told David I still hadn’t seen anything. 

“It says it’s still out for delivery,” David told me. “That driver sure is working late!”

“Agreed,” I replied. “I’ve never had such a late delivery before! I feel sorry for the driver! I wonder if they’ll just take it back and bring it tomorrow now.”

“Patience love,” came David’s response. “Delivered by 9:20!”

By 9:15, with still no sign of the “package,” I decided I should have a tip ready for the driver. Pulling a five-dollar bill from my wallet, I put the money in my pocket and moved to the door to look out. 

Peering through the semi-sheer drapes covering the sidelights at my front door, I noted the headlights that entered my driveway at precisely 9:20 pm. When a car door shut, I looked again and could just make out a figure walking to my door that didn’t appear to be wearing a uniform. 

It was at that moment that I felt a twinge of concern. There I was, a single woman, preparing to open the door late at night to a stranger who may or may not have been in uniform. “Maybe this isn’t the best idea,” I thought. 

But then the doorbell rang.

David will tell you that he remembers watching his finger move in slow motion to the doorbell, knowing full well that he was preparing to change our lives forever with that single action.

Virginia Beach, VA, June 2023.

As for me, I will never forget the abject shock I felt when I opened the door to find David standing on my welcome mat with a massive smile on his face. 

Barely comprehending what I was seeing, I cried out, “Wait. What?!? David! How on earth can you be here?” In my utter dismay, I literally shut the door on him.

Realizing what I had done, I opened the door again, grabbed ahold of David, and dragged him inside – repeating over and over, “I can’t believe it! How can you be here?” 

As David laughed, I paced back and forth – periodically looking at David while repeating, “I just need a minute. You don’t understand. I can’t believe it!” 

At some point during my pacing, David finally grabbed me and pulled me into his embrace.

“I had to come,” he said. “I love you. I needed to tell you that, in-person, before you came to Florida.”

While I wasn’t prepared to tell David I loved him yet, I held onto him, clinging to the first person on earth who ever made me feel valued. His single act of driving to see me had completely validated his proclamations of love. 

David and I celebrated our hard work of re-shingling his VA Beach, VA house by sharing a selfie on the roof, April 2023.

“You don’t understand,” I repeated, genuinely overwhelmed at the incredulity of his arrival. “No one has ever done anything like this for me before. I just can’t believe you’re here! How long did it take you to get here?” 

“Eight hours,” David confirmed. “It was worth every mile to see your face.” 

Overwhelmed by the love David had demonstrated to me, I could barely stop the tears streaming down my face. “You don’t understand. You just don’t understand,” I kept saying.

Over the next few hours, I did my best to explain to David how his act of unselfish love had touched my soul deeper than anything he could have ever said to me. 

For as long as I can remember, I have always felt unworthy. I’d been led to believe that my value was always tied to the tangible: how I looked, what I could do, and who I was compared to the rest of the world. I always fell short. I could never be pretty enough, smart enough, or anything else the world believed held value. This concept had been my truth throughout my broken marriages. I was never enough for anyone to love or consider worthy of their kindness, let alone their affection. 

VA Beach, August 2023

Worse yet, I had been repeatedly told that the vision I held in my heart of what love really is was unrealistic. “No one can love like you think they can,” was a frequent refrain. “That’s only in movies and fairy tales.” 

And so that statement became my truth. The love depicted in movies was just make-believe. Books with happy endings were unrealistic. No one, not anyone on earth, could love me unselfishly, wholeheartedly – the way I wanted to be loved – without asking anything in return. No one, that is, until David.

In David, I have found the mirror image of my love for him, the kind of love God has for us all. Every day, David and I hug, laugh, kiss, and thank our Heavenly Father for the beautiful, merciful, undeserving, steadfast, unequivocal, unquenchable love we have for one another. We hold onto each other at every opportunity, thanking God for the gift of finding such love on earth. At every meal, our first mention in our prayers – while we’re holding on to one another, I might add – is to thank our Creator for the gift of love He’s established between us. 

“Thank you, God, for your love,” I pray before every meal. “Thank you for tying David and I together with such an unbreakable bond, bound together with your presence that always surrounds us, for keeping us focused on you. We are so grateful. We can never thank you enough.”

God is the ultimate wall breaker and love maker. He is the one who was always with me, guiding David and me to the moment when we would meet, serve Him together in FL, and ultimately fall in love by seeing each other’s hearts for our Savior. 

Our wedding day, March 12, 2023

My whole life, I always knew my Creator loved me. That much has always been true. But it was only by surrendering my will to His and consistently praying for someone to love me like He did that I found my precious David. As it turns out, David was also seeking love like I was – someone to love like God does, with skin on it. 

One year ago, yesterday, David proposed to me, and I immediately replied, “A million, trillion, ka-billion times, yes!” Today, as we are celebrating our 9-month wedding anniversary, I repeated the exact phrase over and over to him. 

By the way, David still has the five-dollar tip I gave him as the rightful, hard-working delivery driver who came to my door on December 2nd, 2022. 

That money pales in comparison to the gift of love we received from our Savior – both when we gave our hearts and lives to Him and when He gave us the long-held hope of genuine love here on earth. I can never thank God enough. 

After all, only God could create such a love story from two seeking souls whose only desire was to serve their Creator.

Thanks to our Heavenly Father, we’re just getting started.

Our wall breaker/love maker anniversary – Part 1

Our wall breaker/love maker anniversary – Part 1

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It’s normal for married couples to celebrate anniversaries such as the day they met and the day they wed. But two anniversaries in a love story as profound as David’s and mine don’t seem to be enough.

Instead, we celebrate our love with anniversaries all year long. In addition to the day we met (October 12th) and our wedding anniversary (March 12th), the 12th of each month is another important acknowledgement of God’s grace in bringing our two hearts together. December 11th is also important to us as it’s the day David proposed to me. So, too, December 12th is remembered as the two-month anniversary of the day we met, as well as the day we served with Samaritan’s Purse together as an engaged couple. December 2nd is another important date in our lives that will forever mark the moment my walls of protection were utterly obliterated by love.  

The tale begins on November 28th – what I like to call our “Next Chapter Day,” which I’m now officially naming as another anniversary. 

My sweet kitty, Rocky.

On November 27th, I gave my sweet kitty, Rocky, back to God – a story I wrote about in my blog entitled, “Not the Father’s will that any of these should perish.” I had purposely chosen not to tell David about this event as I knew he was working hard rebuilding Herm and Nancy’s Ft. Myers home, which had been devastated by Hurricane Ian. I didn’t want to distract him from that mission with my pain.  

As it turned out, David was hurt by my choice not to share this life event with him. After a few brief back-to-back text messages establishing the same, David sent me a link to the Rachel Lampa song, “Perfectly Loved,” which affected me profoundly. 

Beyond our miles-long text messages in those first few months of our relationship, David and I wrote beautiful love letters via email. Wanting to capture the profound way David’s song-send had deeply moved me emotionally, on November 28th, I emailed him the following impassioned response: 

“Dear David, 

I had planned to send you a completely different message this evening about being a wounded animal – something that needs time and total commitment to earn trust. I know all about such things by being both the one earning the trust and the one who trusts. It’s always worth the effort in the end. 

But then you sent me that video. The lyrics of this song speak so deeply to my soul that I can’t stop listening to it. 

David, God is the only one who has ever perfectly loved me. He’s the only one who’s never abandoned, abused, and rejected me. All I’ve ever wanted was to be perfectly loved. That’s all. I used to puzzle over why something that should be so simple is beyond comprehension. I love like that. Why can’t anyone else do the same? 

They haven’t. Until perhaps now. 

Can you perfectly love me? Can you truly want to know these, my innermost thoughts? Can you really want to know me and yet still love me – despite my flaws, scars, and fears of betrayal? 

I have only one fear in life – believing that there may be perfect love only to discover that I was mistaken, yet again. I want to hold onto my belief that somewhere, love can be genuine and whole, that deep love, as the Bible tells me, covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8) 

I used to think that meant love excuses bad behavior, that I could WILL someone to love me, or that they’d change and do so. Nothing could be further from the truth. People don’t change. Either they love you, or they don’t. 

I don’t want superficial love, David. I want perfect love – the kind that sticks with you when times get tough, that isn’t afraid to scale walls, walk 10,000 miles, or stand beside you when things get messy or you’re less than perfect. 

‘Perfect love casts out fear.’ (1 John 4:18) I don’t want to fear that I’m bothering you. I don’t want to fear that I’ll tell you I love you only to have you change your mind and walk away. I don’t want to fear that what I hope for, that someone can love me as deeply and passionately as I know how to love, isn’t real – that only God can love like that. If that were true, how could God have given that capacity to love in me? 

Am I the only person on Earth that gets it? Am I the only one who can love that deeply? Can you love like that, too, David? Can you love me like that? Can I finally give up always having to be strong and alone for being perfectly loved by someone who WANTS to be with me? Can you understand that I want nothing more in life than to love someone with my whole heart who I know loves me that way in return? 

Show me that you are that person, David. I don’t need space. I’ve had a lifetime of being shunned. You can’t love me enough. I will never get tired of being loved. Show me that you love me like God loves me, and you will hold my heart forever. 

I wish I could ask and tell you these things in person. I need to see your reaction – and you, mine. Until then, I will hold out hope that I may be perfectly loved someday. 

Thank you for giving me hope in something I stopped believing in long ago. Thank you for giving me hope. Thank you for not giving up on me. If you do, I will never bother you again. 

But if you don’t, if you will be the King David I know you to be – the man after God’s own heart – you may just find perfect love for yourself in return. 

In His love, Sara”

In response, David sent me the following message:

“Dearest Sara, 😇💞💋

What you have written to me is heaven-sent! I will cherish this forever! This is what I’ve been searching for my entire life as well.

When God completely entered my soul, and I felt unconditional love for the first time, I understood what had been missing all along. It wasn’t there in my family. When I felt that love from God, and I knew he was talking to me and not over me, or around me, or through me, but directly to me, with compassion and understanding, encouragement, fearlessness, determination, honesty, humbleness, and STEADFAST DEVOTION, He was telling me these were the foundations of loving with an open heart.

 I’ve been praying to meet someone the way we did, in a place where God was. I wanted to feel the beat that skipped in my heart when I met her. I wanted my breath to be taken away by her beauty, intelligence, compassion, love for others, and willingness to serve. I wanted someone where I would be safe to express my love of God, where it would grow and become stronger. I wanted to find that someone who understood and believed those same things, and we would have a Love built on the strength of our faith in Jesus and all that He teaches us.

As I got to know you during our deployment, I saw and felt ALL of these things in you. And I began to pray, Lord, is this the one? Is this the person who will have my back at all times, fight for me as much as I fight for her, who will support me in following the dream you have given me and encourage my creativity, will want to have a love between us as deep and as wide as is the universe you have created for us, someone who loves you with all her heart and wants to celebrate that love with me, someone that would wrap me in her arms of love and the pains and scars of my past would melt away forever – that she, Lord, would be the one I want to be with in eternity?

I know, with all my heart, Sara, YOU are her!! You are the Angel God has sent me, and I can barely see the screen right now though the tears of Joy streaming down my face. I thank God for the gift of you!

Scroll back through all of our messages to the beginning. My finger got tired of swiping; it took so long! We have a wonderful and beautiful connection! It’s only going to get stronger. With God at our center, we will be unbreakable. Set aside your fears, Dear One. I Will be your King David, and I will do everything in my power to honor that which has been given to me from God Our Father.

I U V. (Author’s note: This was David’s first not-so-cryptic way of telling me that he loved me without typing the words.) I guess that has been retired by now!

I love you so very much!!

With God’s Love

Your David💞”

Which prompted the following return message from me:

“Dearest David,

 Last night, I told you to add being a stone mason to your resume. This morning, I believe you may also add ‘bulldozer driver’ to your repertoire. How did you manage to obliterate my protective walls with one mailing? The truth is, you’ve been chipping away at them for some time now, even while I clung to the rubble you knocked down for fear of losing its protection. I don’t want to do that anymore.

What you’ve written to me through your tears is the perfect embodiment of all I’ve ever asked for. Your words can be nothing less than heaven-sent. They’re what my soul has been seeking, praying for, and envisioning for as long as I can remember. If your love is as you’ve described below, there is NO more extraordinary gift I could ever receive other than that from my Savior.

Unintentionally, I gave you an assignment that seemed impossible to complete. I asked you if you could love me as Christ does. I wanted to know if you even understood the kind of love I’m talking about.

I now know that you do. You were able to detail extraordinarily how Christ filled your soul with His perfect love. My heart soured as I read your words.

You said Christ was ‘talking to [you] and not over [you], or around [you] or through [you], but directly to [you], with compassion and understanding, encouragement, fearlessness, determination, honesty, humbleness, and STEADFAST DEVOTION. He was telling [you] these were the foundations of Loving With an Open Heart.’

That IS how Christ loves, David. You’ve entirely captured what God-given love is. That IS how He loves us.

And that is how I love, as well. Perfect love is modeled after our Savior’s. He demonstrated His love for us by dying on the cross for our sins, by caring for us since before we were born, since before time began.

‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ (Jeremiah 29:11)

That love story is captured in God’s holy Word. Ours is encapsulated here – but more importantly, it’s in our hearts.

Did your heart really skip a beat when you met me? Did I truly take your breath away with who I am? Can that be real?

I was called to Florida, David. God called me just as He called you. He asked us to give up a few days of our lives in utter abandon to His ministry, and we heeded His call. I had no idea what to expect, but it was beyond my wildest expectations. It still is. His gifts for me are still coming – from one single act of wholehearted commitment.

You said you prayed for someone like me. You wanted to find someone who also wanted to serve, even as you hoped you’d find that person while you were serving.

I did the same. That’s ALWAYS been my prayer.

But before this trip that changed our lives, I didn’t have that idea in my head. My only thought was, ‘Use me, Lord.’

Even so, just as I shut my door to begin my drive to FL, that thought entered my head. ‘Maybe you’ll meet him there.’ It took me back as that notion was not in my brain at ALL. I was so excited just to go, even as I marveled at how it all came together. I could barely contain my excitement. Every step, every mile, brought me closer to the mission God had ordained me for, even before I was born.

It also brought us to each other. Without knowing it, the perfect love story was revealed and put into motion the day I left GA. How the angels must have rejoiced that day!! What had been waiting in the shadows was being orchestrated on the stage of our lives. One act, one line, one piece at a time, was coming together. That story is ours. It’s our God-given love story, and it’s better than any I could have ever imagined.

I told you that if you showed me that you loved me as God loves me, you would hold me in your heart forever. I’m not going to say anything else until I see you, but you’re in my heart, King David. I hold your heart as my greatest treasure in return.

In His love, Sara”

David and me in VA Beach, summer 2023

What happened next was that David put into motion a plan to demonstrate his love to me so elaborate that it completely obliterated my walls. It’s so beautiful, in fact, that I will share its story in a separate post. 

For now, I end with a reminder that our God will break down every wall that holds us back from complete happiness and joy. All we have to do to find that jubilation on Earth is by surrendering our will to His. While I hadn’t yet found earthly love until God brought me David, the love of my Savior, Jesus Christ, was always with me. It carried, elevated, and sustained me throughout my life’s often perilous journey. 

In Christ, there is always hope – the kind of hope that only our Creator can bring. As David’s and my earthly pastor in VA Beach, Dr. Don Solomon of Kings Grant Baptist Church, told us today, “Hope in worldly terms is simply wishful thinking. Hope in Biblical terms isn’t wishful. It’s faith, assurance, and security in Christ. It can withstand trials, fire, and despair, God’s hope gives us security through Christ.” 

There is always hope, beloved. I’ve always felt secure in Christ. I soon discovered we can also have hope and security here on Earth. God walks before us, beside us, and with us. There is no better assurance than that we find in Christ. He is the ultimate wall breaker and love maker – every single day for all eternity.

Churches, challenges and COVID – Italian Honeymoon, Part 2

Churches, challenges and COVID – Italian Honeymoon, Part 2

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Travel opens doors of understanding, enhances one’s world vision, and expands the horizons of one’s mind. There is nothing else quite like it. Travel is also exhausting, exciting, and enriching in a way that few other things in life can ever be. Especially the way I travel – and now the way David and I travel together.

David and I onboard our first bus to Ostia, Italy.

Since my first European exploit with my mom to Italy in 2012, I was determined to create travel immersion experiences like none other. What first began as a one-week excursion with an Italian-based tour group quickly developed into an annual two-week adventure where the two of us traveled from city to city – staying in local apartments, shopping in regional markets, cooking our own meals – all the while driving across the country and back again. While the planning for such events was an ordeal unto itself, we ended up with unique experiences that tour companies can never replicate.

Using this same theme as my guide, I began orchestrating David’s and my honeymoon after the second trip my mom and I took to Italy in 2015. The “Team Olson” travel itinerary follows:

  • Day 1 – Touchdown in Rome; move to Ostia along the Roman coast, where we would stay for three nights, and then travel by bus and two trains into Rome to visit the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps
  • Day 2 – Journey by three trains into Rome to visit the Colosseum and Roman Forum
  • Day 3 – Travel by three trains to visit the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica
  • Day 4 – Return to the Roman airport to retrieve a rental car for the next 11 days; drive 3+ hours to Assisi, where we would stay for four nights.
  • Day 5 – Visit Assisi; tour the Basilicas of San Francesco and Santa Clara
  • Day 6 – Visit Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio.
  • Day 7 – Visit the Basilica de Santa Maria degli Angeli; return to the historical region of Assisi to celebrate the Feast Day of San Francesco and witness the religious pageant from the lower to the upper basilica (on my birthday)
  • Day 8 – Leave Assisi; drive 1.5 hours to Siena; tour Siena; move to Certaldo for one night in an agriturismo apartment.
  • Day 9 – Leave Certaldo; drive 45 minutes to tour San Gimignano; drive 3+ hours to Cinque Terre, where we would stay for two nights.
  • Day 10 – Hike the cliffs of Cinque Terre National Park between Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza; take the train to visit the rest of the towns of Cinque Terre; swim in the Tyrrhenian Sea
  • Day 11 – Drive 3.5 hours to Impruneta, near Florence/Firenze, for our next 3-night stay; take the bus to Florence for the afternoon; tour the Galleria dell’Accademia; and walk the town to sightsee.
  • Day 12 – Take the bus to spend the day in Florence; visit the Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Basilica San Lorenzo, the Duomo, the leather market, and Giardino di Boboli.
  • Day 13 – Bus to Florence to tour the Gallerie degli Uffizi, Santa Croce, and the Palazzo Pitti
  • Day 14 – Drive 4 hours to Focene for our final night’s stay; take three trains back into Rome to visit St. Peter’s Basilica
  • Day 15 – Move to the FCO airport in Rome to return our rental car, then travel back to Philadelphia and Jacksonville before heading home.

Altogether, we visited 15 cities during our 14-day journey to Italy – including the towns we stayed in overnight. If we were to combine all the steps we walked, miles we travailed, and total flights of stairs we climbed (Italy is incredibly hilly!), we end up with the following statistics:

  • 172,657 steps
  • 75.32 miles walked
  • 394 floors ascended
  • 29,819 calories burned

Needless to say, David and I were tired yet invigorated every single day of our journey. The things we saw, the encounters we had, and the beautiful love we shared along the way were unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. While capturing every aspect of our trip would fill volumes, I will endeavor to share a few of the most exciting occurrences here – and there were plenty of thrilling incidents to detail!

David and I waited for an hour and a half with hundreds of other travelers in the Roman FCO airport while bio-metric-controlled Customs machines were brought online to help with the delay.

Few plans proceed perfectly, and there’s so much more that remains to be orchestrated on the ground, even with the best-laid strategies. For example, on day one, with little sleep on our overnight flight, we landed in Rome at 9:00 am local time. Our bodies, of course, thought it was 3:00 am due to the time difference – a strange time to start such a venture. “You just have to push through it,” I told David.

After a boondoggle with Customs at the FCO airport that kept us waiting in line for an hour and a half, we needed to buy bus tickets to get to our first apartment in Ostia, along the western Roman coastline. Easier said than done. After walking inside and outside the airport, I stopped at a coffee shop on the exterior perimeter to inquire about tickets. I was finally able to purchase what I needed – despite no signs detailing the same and, of course, the perpetual language barrier.

After exiting the bus in Ostia, David and I pulled our luggage over eight bumpy and cracked city blocks to find our first apartment.

After a long walk to another terminal, we found a stop for our bus and were soon on our half-hour journey to this remote town. Absent international data on my phone for GPS guidance, David and I used the Tom-Tom GPS unit I brought for our rental car to help guide us to our first apartment. From previous experience, I knew I wanted to avoid driving in Rome. Instead, we would use trains and buses for our 3-day stay near the city. That meant lugging our suitcases up and down steps and along local streets for eight challenging blocks and eventually up and into a tiny elevator that was more like a closet. We had arrived and were extremely grateful for that fact, just the same.

After a quick change of clothes and some minor guidance retrieved from the internet in our new apartment, we went to the Ostia Centro de Lido station to buy train tickets to venture into Rome. An hour and a half later, having taken a regional train and two bus rides (one of which was wrong), David and I chanced to hop off the bus to an area that “looked familiar” to me, only to find we were a few blocks from the Pantheon – which few people in Rome seemed able to help us locate.

Exterior of our Ostia, Italy apartment.

Rome is not like it appears in the movies. The ruins and significant sites are all at different parts of the city, embedded deeply into areas that are not quite “safe” and surrounded often by graffitied buildings with cars, buses, motorcycles, and pedestrians walking, driving, and rushing around in a frenzied pace that seems more like an ant hill than a world-renowned tourist zone. There are seldom any signs advising anyone where to find the attractions – and without being able to speak the language, bus drivers can’t help.

Which is why it’s such a miracle that we found the Pantheon at all. Despite my online guidance regarding which buses to utilize, we soon discovered that the drivers couldn’t help us. One even advised us – in Italian – to return to the central train station and start over.

By the grace of God, we found the ruin, nevertheless, and were so grateful! We also chanced upon a beautiful local church where we thanked our Creator along the way. Although we later found the Trevi Fountain – which we were hoping to visit – we were so exhausted by that time that we gave up on locating the Spanish Steps and decided to turn back.

David and I were privileged to visit Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain. Situated atop the historic Acqua Vergine – an ancient aqueduct – the fountain was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII in 1629. After the pope’s death, the work was abandoned. It took two additional architects and another Pope – Clement XII – to recommission the work for its ultimate completion in 1762.

Somewhere along our route, we found a Tourist Information booth and a kind gentleman who gave us directions to utilize trains instead of buses for our return journey. Everything was going well until we disembarked from our first train. It was there that we followed the crowd and ended up outside the turnstiles by accident. Unable to reenter the station without buying new tickets, we purchased new ones outside the station and then rushed back into the platform we thought would take us to our regional train for the return trip to Ostia.

Unfortunately, in our frenzy, we ended up on the right platform but on the wrong track. Jumping onto the rapidly departing train, we soon realized we were going the wrong way: back into Rome. Exiting at the next station, we waited for the right train to move back to our previous stop, where we’d mistakenly left the station. Having learned from our past mistakes, we rushed down and back up to the right side of the tracks to catch the correct regional train to our apartment. Arriving back at nearly 8:30 pm, we still had to purchase food for a meal at the end of an extremely long day.

As exhaustion set in, David and I became quieter and quieter – very unlike our usual jubilant selves. I could feel the day’s tension becoming more and more profound as hunger and fatigue became an oppressive force. It would have been easy for tempers to flare, disappointment to rule, and frustration from the day to overshadow what should have been a beautiful start to our long-awaited honeymoon. While I fretted that David was disappointed in our first day’s activities, he remained silent, and I was so grateful. We had vowed to each other long before this trip that we would not let the devil get to us. On this day, the first of our journey, he had been using every weapon in his arsenal to do so. We couldn’t let him win. 

Instead, David and I chose to hold our tongues and remain as positive as possible in our lethargy. 

After gathering a few essentials from a local store near the train station, we walked back to our apartment in quiet submission to the day. I remember praying for God to keep us strong and help us end well. After baking our fantastic find of a salami and provolone cheese pizza, David and I crashed in grateful surrender to a comfortable bed in utter exhaustion from our less-than-perfect but still remarkably blessed excursion. 

The following morning, I awoke to a beautiful sky and a fresh new day – with no mistakes in it. In our languor, I slept for 9.5 hours and David for over 13. Although we couldn’t figure out how to use the apartment’s automatic espresso machine, we YouTubed advice on how to make stovetop espresso and started our morning with laughter and joy, once again, at God’s grace and provision. We were in Italy, we were learning new things, and we were on our honeymoon. Nothing else mattered but each other and the God who had brought us together. 

David and I enjoy our morning breakfast on the beautiful garden patio of our Ostia apartment on the start of our second day in Roma.

And so, we continued our adventures with a new perspective on that bright, blessed morning – our second day in sunny Roma. Love conquers all – which is all that really matters in the end. 

What we started on day one of our trip, David and I would continue throughout our Italian honeymoon. We vowed to stop at every church we could along our pilgrimage to constantly thank God for bringing us on such an incredible trek of unexpected joy and triumph. We know how blessed we were to take such an extraordinary journey together. 

Even so, our trip was all the more remarkable due to God’s incredible love gifts of perfect weather, good health, and safe passage every day we traveled. As further evidence of the same, once we returned home to America, I was battered by an aggressive case of COVID that I could have contracted at any point during our expedition. I never did. 

If that wasn’t enough, we later learned that the Italian weather took an abrupt turn for the worse – with high winds, torrential rain, and cold temperatures – just a few days after we left the country. Had we traveled a week later, we could never have completed even ten percent of all the walking, hiking, standing in line, driving, and sightseeing we accomplished every day of our journey. We would have had a completely different trip had either of us been sick or if the weather had been wretched. These facts serve as additional reminders of our Savior’s grace and protection. 

In hindsight, David and I know that whether we’re at home or traveling, touring churches or facing challenges, fighting COVID or just muddling through our regular workdays, God is always with us, always blessing us, and always providing just what we need at precisely when we need it. We will always be grateful to our Heavenly Father for every trial and triumph that He places in our lives. Nothing that touches us is ever wasted, and we will never stop praising Him for His mercy and provision.  

God will make a home with you

God will make a home with you

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Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and We will come and make Our home with each of them.” (John 14:23)

David and I recently celebrated our 5-month wedding/10-month meeting anniversary on August 12th. Although I realize we’re still considered newlyweds, our love and appreciation for each other are timeless.

How many people marry and tire of each other in just a few weeks or months? Far too many, I fear. And yet, David and I can barely stand to be apart. We’ve waited a lifetime to be together, so every moment is a gift.

That statement is far from hyperbole. With my full-time, remote employment and David’s general retirement status, we are blessed to spend nearly every hour of every day together. We couldn’t do that if our lives weren’t so harmonious. Time apart is as minimal as we can muster. Togetherness, in my estimation, is the truest test of enduring love. We could easily tire of one another if we weren’t well-suited.

David and I share a smile as we kayak together near Jekyll Island, GA.

As someone who was previously married for 14 and then 12 years, respectively, I’ve lived on the opposite side of the spectrum for far too long. As a Christian woman married to professed believers who turned out not to share my faith, I used to feel it was my duty to be the best spouse I could be – all the while praying for hearts to change that had no desire to do so. For 26 years of my life, I endured physical and psychological abuse believing God would convert souls that were both immovable and unrepentant. Pray as I might, our incompatibilities and unequal yokes made for decades of misery that I’ve worked hard to forget. I never had five days or five even hours of anything good in those relationships – let alone five months.

All of that changed when God brought David into my world. My life, my entire existence is different with him. David and I thrive when we’re together and never tire of each other. Before every meal, we consistently pray – thanking God for the miracle of our love. Every day, we laugh, affirm, hold, kiss, and cherish each other more profoundly than the day before.

Every day, we gaze into each other’s eyes and celebrate the incredulity of finding one another. “We met on a bus” or “We got married” are our frequent refrains as we revel in the joy of such blessings. Simple as they sound, these declarations never cease to astound either one of us. We know the Originator of our happiness, and we are so grateful for the same. Our meeting, our compatibility, and our love for one another are all based on our joint devotion to God. We met because we both surrendered to our Savior. Two strangers from different states met under seemingly random circumstances to serve God – never imagining that in doing so, we would find our long-sought soulmates.  

And yet, here we are.

Still, David and I didn’t just meet on a bus, nor did we just happen to get married. I told David we need to refine our simple declarations to better reflect the magnitude of God’s magnificence.

The day after David proposed to me in Fort Myers, FL, the two of us served again with Samaritan’s Purse.

David and I met on a Samaritan’s Purse bus after surrendering our lives to our Heavenly Father’s calling. In response to a natural disaster and in joint service to our Creator, it was there that we found the other piece of ourselves that we’d been searching for since birth. Had we not surrendered, we would never have received the blessing we hold in our hands and hearts today – true love and absolute compatibility. How else can we explain how we can love the same music (from contemporary Christian to classical), the same food (from spaghetti to seafood), and identical taste in movies and TV shows (from period dramas like “All Creatures Great and Small” to epic motion pictures like “Lord of the Rings”). Thankfully, there’s never any fighting over the remote control in our household.

A metal bird bath David and I acquired at an estate sale needed cleaning and sanding before it could be repainted.

David and I understand what it means to work hard – which is a good thing as we’re continually doing so. With the heavy responsibilities of maintaining our GA home as well as my mom’s when she is in CO, our yard work never ends. Two weeks out of every month, we travel back to VA Beach – where we are now – to work on David’s former house or renovation jobs that involve massive, manual labor. I often ask David if he could have ever imagined working with his wife in such a way. He always responds with a resounding, “Never!” Whether we’re digging ditches or re-shingling a roof, we still take the time to kiss, hug, and say “I love you” a thousand times a day.

Our freshly repainted bird bath.

Most importantly, throughout our hectic, helter-skelter existence, we cling to one another and God – celebrating the gift of true love presented to us by our Savior.

Although David and I didn’t do anything special on our anniversary, just being together was reason enough to celebrate. We both worked on renovation projects in our GA yard that day – me sanding a metal bird bath and David spreading epoxy on iron chairs – prepping both for repainting. As I began my project, I paused to turn on one of my favorite contemporary Christian music channels to praise God while I worked.

The first song played was one from our wedding – a favorite of ours by Jeremy Camp, entitled “Getting Started.” As the opening chords began, recognition dawned. David and I immediately gravitated to one another, as we always do, dancing and singing the lyrics to one another and God.

Formerly rusty iron table and chair set David restored and prepped for repainting.

Looking up at the sky while we danced, I was struck by a 2-year-old memory of crying out to my Creator in a rare moment of abject loneliness while formerly working alone in my yard. I still remember the emotions that flooded my spirit as I looked up and told God how much I loved Him – even as my heart despaired at the absence of earthly love. As the cleansing tears streamed down my face, I recall surrendering my despondency to my Heavenly Father. In complete submission to His will, my Creator filled my spirit with His love and faithfulness – as He always did – providing me with everything I needed to go on.

Flash forward to our anniversary. As David and I danced in my yard, singing to God and each other, the tears fell anew as I realized how God always knows what I need when I need it. Two years ago, God knew then – as He always has – what He had in store for my future. I could never have imagined my resounding joy in finding David. Never in my wildest dreams could I have foreseen the beauty that would fill my soul at the reality of being loved.

And yet, here we are.

The repainted table and chairs that David and I restored now graces our GA screen porch.

God’s promises are real. God has always made a home for me and David. Whether we have five years or five millennia together, David and I know how blessed we are. Every day is a gift from God. All we did was heed our Creator’s call. In doing so, our Heavenly Father fulfilled His promise to us. As Christ said, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and We will come and make Our home with each of them.” (John 14:23)

To that, I can only say, “Yay, God!”

Teach me to number my days

Teach me to number my days

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Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12) 

Three weeks ago, David and I flew to VA Beach to meet with his urologist to receive the results of his prostate biopsy. We only stayed for two nights as my mom was visiting GA – so we couldn’t be gone long. During our return flight, I wrote a blog on my phone – one painstaking letter at a time. I wanted to capture my thoughts while they were fresh in my head and had the time to do so.

Clear skies surrounded our plane as David and I flew back from VA Beach.

Since we’ve been married, our days are so full that little time remains for me to write – and I miss doing so daily. Between a full work week, evenings and weekends are always spent catching up on yard duties before we return to one or the other of our houses to do the same there. Twice monthly travels between VA Beach and GA make me feel like a bit of a vagabond, but the trips are necessary. Until David’s VA Beach house is ready to sell or rent, we generally spend two to two and a half weeks at either location.

This evening, I was determined to write. At a minimum, I wanted to post the blog I’d written on the plane but never had a chance to edit and upload until finally claiming the time to do so.

And so, it was with great disappointment that I learned the words and emotions I’d captured three weeks ago were gone – vanished, deleted, irretrievably lost.

For a writer, losing words ostensibly secured in the heat of heady sentiment is tantamount to experiencing a knife wound to the gut.

And yet, I know I am exceedingly blessed. Lost words mean nothing compared to what David and I gained during our last trip.

Despite David’s grim potential cancer prognosis, what we’ve been praying for all along has been confirmed – David is cancer-free! How he went from a high probability of stage 3 or 4 prostate cancer to not one cancer cell in his body can only be laid at the feet of Christ. David is healthy, happy, and whole. Upon hearing the results in his urologist’s office, all the two of us could say was, “Yay, God!”

As we hugged and wiped the tears from our eyes before leaving the exam room, one of the staff members poked her head in to make sure we were alright. “Yes, ma’am,” I said. “We’re just happy!”

“Tears of joy,” David confirmed.

Indeed, our Heavenly Father delivered what we’d prayed and trusted God for. The Divine Physician had healed David’s body from the inside out. There’s no doubt in my mind as to the veracity of that claim.

Even David’s urologist seemed stunned. To be confident of the results, the doctor who’d performed the procedure made 24 cuts in 4 regions of David’s prostate – far more than are usually taken.

“I knew it,” I exclaimed as David’s urologist revealed his surgical findings. God has always been in complete control – and David has much more Kingdom work to do than the original prognosis seemed to allow.

Cloudy skies prevented me from seeing below our plane’s wing.

While flying above the clouds on our return journey to GA, I remember looking out and being struck by the cloud structures beneath us. What began as a clear sky quickly became overcast, and I could see nothing beneath us.

And yet blue sky prevailed. Above the clouds, God sees everything.

Our Creator has already foreseen what we can often only discern one foot at a time. Clear, turbulent, or stormy skies aside, God is always with us, and nothing ever takes Him by surprise. As the Apostle Matthew reminds us, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.” (10:29)

Partly cloudy skies offered only a partial view of the ground beneath our plane.

I’ve always said that every day is a gift – even more so now that I have David to spend the rest of my days with. While every gift may not always be what I want or hope for, I’ve learned to appreciate each offering as a gesture of love presented by someone who cares. If I believe that sentiment to be true – and I do – how much more should I appreciate what my Heavenly Father gives me?

While I may have lost the words I first captured weeks ago, I know how I feel now. I am blessed beyond measure and thank God daily for his unspeakable gifts.

No matter how many days I have left to spend with my beloved husband, I value all of them. I spent too much of my life without David to ever underestimate the great worth of having him beside me now.

David and I celebrate every moment we have together with a shared smile as we visit Jekyll Island, GA.

May we never forget how precious our loved ones are. Each of us has only been given a defined number of days here on Earth. May we spend each of them praising God and serving our Creator.

God’s perfect timing

God’s perfect timing

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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. 

The only “C” word that matters is Christ

The only “C” word that matters is Christ

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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.  

I worship Father God – not Mother Earth

I worship Father God – not Mother Earth

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“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

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

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“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

God is in this story – Part 2, The dress

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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 12th. Stay tuned!]

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