godlygift1

Our Story

Our story starts with a bit of a  different beginning than most. It starts with God and with His guidance, will
continue until we go home to be with Him. To Him be the glory!

In the fall of 2010, Kristine’s brother-in-law Chris suggested to me that he  introduce me to his sister-in-law, Kristine. I respectfully declined and didn’t  give it any further thought until mid January of 2011 when Chris called and found out I was single and suggested again, that he introduce me to Kristine. I told him “ok”, but I wasn’t expecting much and to use his judgement. I had just
told God that I was good with being alone and if He wanted me to have a woman, He would have to choose her and drop her in my life, and then I began planning a two-week scuba diving vacation. Unbeknownst to me, God had other plans.

Chris’ wife Katherine, (beautiful jewel of a sister), Facebook friended me, and Chris texted me shortly after to tell me that Kristine and Katherine were on Facebook “checking me out”. We laughed and then something in my Spirit told me to check her out. I did and actually concluded that a woman as beautiful as her must be wrecked on the inside, and didn’t go back. Approximately a week later, a Facebook friend request arrived on my doorstep from Kristine, and I accepted. A week went by and Chris told me I should contact her and at least talk with her. I responded by sending her a very benign “Icebreaker” email from Facebook, (LOL!! Love you Honey!), and told her a few surface things about me and awaited a response.  I was surprised when a few days went by and nothing came back, so I assumed she really wasn’t that interested and God must have answered my prayers already. As it turns out, she was out-of-town and hadn’t been able to check her email.

On January 29th, Upon her return, she sent me a cautious, surface information email response to my icebreaker email and asked a few questions of which I answered and we exchanged a couple of more “get to know you” type of emails. During the email exchange, we noted that we both had read many of the same things, IE: 5 Love Languages, Boundaries and even Love and Respect.

On the 31st of January, she cut to the chase and dropped the bomb by asking me to tell her more about myself.  While intrigued up to this point, I didn’t want to date anyone, other than the one God would have me date, and prayed that very statement. So, I sent her a lengthy email and told her all about me, and I mean everything, ranging from past failures to my relationship with God and what a Godly relationship looked like to me. I was sure it would be enough to dis-interest her, but to my total amazement, she responded with an email that shook me to my very being. She was weeping and thanking me for being me, but that she was terrified, (as was I), overwhelmed, scared, tearful, hopeful, excited and thankful. It all seemed so surreal and unbelievable. To this point we had not even talked on the phone!

On February 1st I suggested we start fasting every Wednesday to know for sure if God was for sure orchestrating this relationship symphony that was being played note by note, and Kristine agreed. I also stated I didn’t want to talk on the phone until I met her in person as I wanted to hold her hand when she spoke to me for the first time. At this point in time, I was 100% in love with her heart and I purposed to not look at her Facebook page until I met her in person. Hey, I’m still a guy and we all know how visually oriented men are! I did not want her visual beauty to distract me from the heart I was desperately falling in love with. On the 3rd of February she wrote an email that stated I could be a Quasimodo for all she cared as she was captivated by my heart. I can only say it was extremely humbling to have a woman falling in love with me for my heart. Thank you God!

On February 4th, I could no longer take the swelling in my heart and asked if I could call her. Her response was an email with nothing but her phone number, the size of the page! I immediately called her and heard her sweet voice for the first time. I cannot begin to explain the joy that flooded my soul! The emails continued and we began praying together over the phone every night and have faithfully done so since.

On the second week of the fast, February  9th, I heard from God and knew in my heart that I was going to marry Kristine, though I had no clue when. I specifically saw a vision of her in a white strapless wedding dress, smiling at me. I was very overwhelmed and could not stop thanking God for the blessing He was pouring out over me with Kristine. We talked on the phone that afternoon and she asked me if I had “heard” anything from God, and I said yes, but I wouldn’t tell her until she “heard” as well. I felt like I was going to explode if I didn’t tell her soon! I continued to pray and seek God, and I shared with my mom what was going on. She laughed and said she had been praying for 5 years for the woman God had for me to come into my life and I wept.

I ordered flowers for Valentine’s Day and had them sent to Kristine’s work. Purple tulips in a red heart vase to be exact, and I eagerly awaited her response. I was overwhelmed when I went to my work mailbox and found two cards in it from Kristine! There was no mention of love, but they were beautiful. I immediately wondered if I’d shown my hand too soon in regard to love! I was rewarded within an hour with  a “BOO HOO!!” text accompanied by a picture of the flowers. I responded with ” I love you”, to which she responded with “GULP……..I love you too!”. I was on the moon at this point and thanking God every step of the way
for this wonderful gift!

On the third week of the fast, February 16th, God blessed me with another vision of Kristine and I together in front of a group of people, talking about how God put us together and sharing our symphony of love. We talked that day and she asked

me again if I’d heard more, and I said yes, and then asked her if she had heard. A faint “yes” came from her and my heart leapt in my chest. I shared with her that I also saw us in ministry together and she felt the same way.

We began feverishly getting to know each other through long phone conversations, prayer and by exchanging emails and text messages. Though we knew we were ordained to be the “One” for each other, we had also determined that physical attraction and the “kiss” were extremely important as well. At this point, I knew I could not wait until March to see her and asked if it would
be ok with her if I flew out to meet her in person on the weekend of her birthday, the 27th of February. Thankfully she said yes and we spent the next week sharing, praying and anticipating meeting in person. I also immediately purchased a ticket! I could barely wait for the next Friday to get here!

On the morning of the 25th, I prayed while packing, about whether or not to take an engagement ring I had purchased 4 years prior, but had kept locked in my safe. I heard a single “yes” and packed the ring. When I landed in Phoenix, I texted Kristine while waiting to disembark the plane and told her I would be out soon. I had shared our story on the plane with a man about my age and he was walking with me as he wanted to see this woman who God had blessed me with. When I rounded the corner and saw her for the first time in the flesh, my heart soared!  My new friend smiled and patted me on the back and said I was truly blessed. I
looked at Kristine as she came quickly to me and knew she was a bit nervous. She later told me she was worried I was going to kiss her in front of everyone in the airport, so she grabbed my arm and dragged me in the direction of the jetway. I told her we might want to go to baggage claim instead and we changed direction to get out of the crowd. Once around the corner, she stopped, looked
at me, and then kissed me.

The rest of the story is in the proposal portion of this site! I am truly convinced that by submitting all we are to God and waiting on His timing, we have been rewarded with the blessing of each other, that only He could put together, over time and distance, for His glory! I encourage all single friends who read this to not grow weary or faint, nor compromise His standards of purity and purpose.
We are living witness of the blessings that God can put together! I praise God morning and night for Kristine!!

There is more to the story…..

The beginning of our friendship and romance still amazes me.  The way Steve and I
came together and fell in love could only be orchestrated by One who knows our
hearts, our fears, our failures and our desires. We weren’t looking, nor could
we have ever made it happen on our own.   It took both of us getting to the
point of reckless abandon to our own will and “all in” for whatever it was that
He had for us.  Laying your hopes and dreams at the foot of the throne is scary.
We had both come to the place where we were really OK with whatever God wanted
for our future.

I have spent the last 5 years chasing after God, learning and growing.  Learning
to accept and love myself was the first step to healing.  I learned how to fall
in love with my Father, which is the best gift I could have asked for!  But it
does not stop there; He opened my heart to love another.  To say I was cautious
might be an understatement …  I was scared!  I saw what I hoped was the man of my
dreams being revealed to me line by line.  God showed me in every email that all
those things that I had prayed for, He had heard me.  Wow, could this be true?!
I fasted and prayed for direction.  I got the answer  “why are you so surprised
when a prayer is answered?”  OK!  I get it!!  That is when I knew that this was
the man for me.  Being the cautious woman that I am, I still wanted more!  OK
God, this man is amazing, and is an answer to prayer… but….  It would be sooo
cool if you could give me a confirmation….

Three and a half years earlier I had written a very specific prayer.  I asked God to
have my husband tell me a verse from the Bible.  That would be a really cool
confirmation!  So I asked!  Then I forgot about it and went about learning about
Steve and falling madly in love with him.  Well, I am here to tell you that our
God is good, and He hears even the smallest plea.  Today, March 30th I got a
loving text from my Gift, and it was the verse that I had asked God for!  I let
out a squeal and went to check the verse and version for accuracy.  He gave me
the entire thing, plus more!

My text this morning read “Good morning my love!  You are covered today.  “You are
altogether beautiful, my love, there is no flaw in you.”   “You have captivated
my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of
your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.  How beautiful is your love, my
sister, my bride!”  SofS 4:9,10 I love you Kristine and I wake up gushing for
you!  Have a blessed day!

Needless to say I am a complete mess, in awe of the One who has put this all together,
and excited for what is in our future!  Yea God!!