SOMETHING UNEXPECTED - FINDING LOVE

Lottie shares what led up to a lovely God-ordained relationship.

Finding love was not something I

was expecting nor was I looking for. Quite happily unmarried, but intrigued by the thought of marriage someday, I aimlessly dated unsure of what I was hoping for, repeatedly failing to find that which was unknown. Until the day that I unexpectedly met the strange boy whom I now know as the wonderful man that is my husband.


My whole life I lived under the false assumption that when I met ‘the one’ there would be an earthquake in my heart, the sky would open up, light would shine down upon him,  I’d see a rainbow and then I would know that that person would be my husband. However things unfolded slightly differently. I met Josh at a birthday party. He told me that the flower in my hair was cute, which I disregarded having just heard him use that same line on another girl. Following the party he often asked me to hang out, go to sports games or watch movies. I told him that I wasn’t interested in a romantic relationship. He said he just enjoyed the company. As we spent more time together the friendship grew. We began to trust one another and confided in each other things which were unknown to the rest of the world. The day he asked me out, I said yes despite still being unsure. We hadn’t been dating long before I went overseas for 10 months. During that time we broke up …and then got back together. We both needed God to grow and change us before we were ready to love unselfishly. Josh later told me that while we were dating he had prayed for God to change his heart and help him turn from the sin in his life, two days later we broke up.   

Sometimes God doesn’t always answer prayer in the way that we hope for but God does answer prayer and he knows what is best for us. While we were apart I dearly missed the friend that I had come to know and love. With Josh I never felt obliged to be anyone other than who God had created me to be. I knew I loved Josh and I felt secure in his love for me, it was unchanging, without conditions, and it reminded me of how I felt loved by Christ. Despite my many flaws Christ’s love for me always remains. I couldn’t have been more excited to marry Josh. We recently celebrated our 1 year anniversary. I am grateful for God’s sovereign hand in our relationship as we trust him every day to grow us closer to one another and to grow us closer to him.

Thank you so much, Lottie, for sharing this beautiful example of how the Lord leads His children! 

TOTAL COMMITMENT

I asked Brielle, who has recently been married to Michael, how they met.

Michael and I met while I worked as a volunteer at a Christian music festival he was attending. My friends knew a bunch of his friends and pretty quickly we started hanging out as a big group between my shifts at the festival. Michael and I were both pretty similar and soon figured out we enjoyed each other’s company. 

Unfortunately we had both travelled to the town the music festival was held and lived in different cities about 12 hours apart.

We had to decide early on that we were either in or out, as long-distance relationships require a huge commitment not only emotionally and spiritually but financially as well. While it was a big decision it was an easy one because of the peace I felt when trying to figure it all out. The  greatest thing we shared was our love for Christ. We also established soon into our relationship that we both felt God had led us to each other in perfect timing and felt calm knowing we were eventually going to marry.

I guess the thing that I wasn’t completely okay with was realising I was going to be the one moving cities and states to be with him. Not only was I committing myself to Michael, I was also leaving my family, friends, church, ministry and job. Getting married to Michael was going to be the biggest thing to ever happen to me in all senses of the word. Thankfully, I wasn’t doing it alone. Moving states and marrying Michael has been hard but great. Even at the times when I felt overwhelmed and scared, I couldn’t help but understand things would work out all right and I wouldn’t break under the pressure of the situation because I was not doing any of this alone. 

Marriage was a joyful sacrifice that has so far refined me, brought Michael and I closer together, and strengthened us in Christ. 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.