In honor of Valentine’s Day and our 8th dating anniversary on February 18th, I thought it would be fun to share a bit of David and I’s story – something I’ve wanted to do for years! It’s a long story, so I’ll breaking it down into three parts. Continue reading for Part One!
We met on August 1, 2015.
But for me, it all began a few years earlier
At one time in my life, I had desperately longed to be a wife and mother. But as a young woman in my early 20s, I had come to a place in my life and in my relationship with God where I was actually content with being single for the rest of my life. Truly.
I grew up in a christian home, going to church weekly. As a teen, I was often encouraged in girls youth group to right down a list of what I wanted in a husband. Numerous lists of shallow hopes for my future husband later (like, does height and hair color really matter?), something changed.
One evening, I sat on my bedroom floor and I asked God what he wanted for my life. It was a very raw, honest, total surrender kind of moment for me. I told Him I was fine with never getting married if that’s what he wanted for me. I was completely content pursuing Him and only Him for the rest of my life. But if marriage was in the plan for me, I didn’t want to write down yet another list of things that I wanted in a husband. Instead, I wanted HIM to tell ME the characteristics of that person.
I leaned against my bed in silence… then suddenly the silence was filled with very specific, detailed characteristics of a person flooding into my brain. I grabbed a pen and notebook and began writing, as quickly as I could, everything that was coming to mind.
I had three notebook pages filled with sixteen very specific detailed paragraphs of a person’s character. There is no possible way I could have come up with them, that quickly, on my own. I can’t explain it other than – it was God. God placed on my heart who I would marry one day. But I didn’t know him yet.
In awe (and also a little freaked out if I’m being honest), I tucked the notebook pages away in a keepsake drawer.
As the years went on, I kind of forgot about those pages tucked away. But still, I remained consistent in praying that the Lord would not let me settle for any relationship that was just good enough. I always had higher standards (“picky” as most people called me) and never seriously dated anyone. And though my high standards were met by many great guys over those years, I just didn’t want to settle for what I thought was good enough when I knew what and who GOD desired for me would be best.
FAST FORWARD TO AUGUST 2015
David and I met one Saturday evening at church when I was visiting with our mutual friends.
Unbeknownst to me, he was on stage rehearsing for worship and saw me walk in.
We briefly met after the service and invited him, along with some others, to dinner with us. He explained he already had plans and couldn’t come. To our surprise, as we were sitting at the restaurant, in walks David. Confused because he said he already had plans, we asked what he was doing there, and he made up something about his plans being canceled. Our friends knew in that moment that David had his eye on me.
He was immediately interested; I was completely unaware.
Through hanging out with our mutual friends together, and at some point exchanging numbers, David and I started to become friends. I thought he was a really great guy, super genuine and caring, funny and enjoyable to be around – but he was totally in the friend-zone. In fact, the thought of dating him was not even a thought that crossed my mind. After a couple months, and quite a few people making me more aware, I got the gist that he maybe liked me.
Now remember… I was working full time in a job I enjoyed, going to school part time, and running my photography business on the side. I was very content with my single lady life! Full transparency: I had zero interest in dating him.
But that didn’t stop his persistent pursuit to win me over – one out of his way coffee delivery at my work at a time – in a cup from Onyx that read,
“Never settle for good enough.”
Who are those pre-dating babies!?
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