Our story

So I'm getting married. Didn't know how to come out and say it, but I thought I'd type out the low-down if anyones listening! 

His name is George. He's a nut. The "yin to my yang," so to speak. He's funny, engaging, sensitive, and health-conscious. He's an intense story-teller, deep thinker, dedicated family-guy, and an endearing teacher. He never puts himself first, recommends himself, or speaks before he thinks things through. He has a good balance to his successes, don't get me wrong, he's not "Mister Perfect." 

George and I met at a church called "Luke 4:18" in the fall of 2014, the fall of my freshman year at college. I thought he was charming and funny- one of those popular boys I would never imagine getting! He seemed to have a million friends and almost everyone at our college knew him! It was his senior year there, at University of Mobile. In the following Spring he started being pretty intentional about getting into my friend group and sticking close, but I didn't catch a clue until my friends started making comments! ​He finally asked me out on a date at the end of January, for the following Friday, February 6th. We had a fantastic date and I was so impressed! What a catch! He took us out for hibachi at the local Shogun, then to a park where we watched the moon rise, then back to his dorm (with the door open, guys- it is a Baptist college!) to chat. He told me about his ambitions and all these crazy goals he has for himself: he wants to be an actor, a theology professor, a counselor, and get a doctorate in Theology! He prayed with me at the end of our first date, asking that God lead this where he wants it to go. A few months later, G graduated and I went to Africa for the summer. We got to see each other after the summer was over, but that was a growing experience! After spending a year together, he and I started talking about marriage- back in February of this year. I thought he was kinda crazy. "I'm still a kid," I thought, not ready to trust God in the future he has planned out for me if only I'd have faith. After a few more months of prayer, a missionary came to speak to my Intercultural Leadership class at school (I was minoring in Intercultural Studies) and told his story. He painted the picture of life out in Los Angeles as a church planter, with his wife. God spoke to me then, opening my heart to ministry in America- something I was dead set against for my whole life. I'd always wanted to be a missionary somewhere exotic like my great missionary heroes did- Burma, Africa, or China. Staying in America was like settling in my mind! When this missionary spoke, I realized the message David Platt always preached to us at Brook Hills of giving God a "blank check-" to be willing to do ANYTHING for God finally clicked. LA, here we come....whenever that will be. 

The next summer came and I went to work in Ecuador for a month or so and G had a proposal waiting for me when I came back. Things became harder as we tried to navigate where God wanted us to settle for now- "Do I finish nursing school here in Alabama?" "Does G keep working in Louisiana?" -etc. Pressures from family and friends came too, but we finally had the revelation to come back to what God called us to. He hadn't been opening any doors for us in the Southeast because he had already told us the plan and where he wanted us to be. 

So here we are, heading out to Gateway Seminary in Los Angeles, CA (Really Ontario, California!) to be missionaries to our own people, to study nursing and theology. I plan to attend California State for my last two years for my Bachelors and G is getting his Masters in Divinity/Christian Theology for now. He and I have agreed to just getting through his Masters degree and my schooling until we reassess and ask the Lord if he wants us there longer. Who knows what he has planned!

Please be in prayer for us as we set off on this journey, friends. Pray for us to receive God's Will for our next steps whole heartedly and not to shrink back when he asks us to do other hard things. 

In Christ, 

-My heart is not afraid