Hey Friends,

Last week I finally shared the story of how Adam and I first met! It’s been so much fun sharing the special details surrounding our love story.

If you haven’t read the first part of our story…. be sure to read how we met, and then come right back here to read part two. 🙂

Our Story: How We Met {Part One}

I’ve often heard it said, that the longest stage in a couple’s relationship, ought to be the “friendship stage”. While every love story is different, and the circumstances leading up to each relationship is different, I do believe this is very wise advice. I’m very thankful that the longest stage in our relationship was the period of time that we got to know each other.

I know many of you are anxiously awaiting the second part of our love story… so I will stop jabbering and continue on.

August – September 2015

In the weeks after Adam left our church and returned to college, thoughts and questions about my future were really bothering me. It was a very real burden on my heart as I wondered if/when I would get married… and to whom? I’m not exactly sure why it was such a burden on my heart and mind at that particular time but I know God was trying to teach me just to trust Him.

Finally, in the beginning of September, I was done. I was tired of worrying and wondering about the future and trying to figure out who/when/and where God would reveal my future husband to me. I decided to stop worrying, trust God, and enjoy the remainder of my single days – no matter how many there were ahead of me. I felt like I could finally let it go and give the whole matter up to God.

Once I finally surrendered it all to God, I felt so free, so content. 

That was on Sunday.

On Tuesday, we were just finishing up our supper when someone brought up Adam’s name. I don’t remember why or who mentioned him, but then all of a sudden my dad mentioned that he got a phone call from Adam that day. I was immediately suspicious.

“What did Adam have to say?” I asked.

I think my question caught him off guard because he said, “Oh… I’ll tell you in later.”

Obviously, that response made me even more curious. Something was going on.

That evening I had to do some work for my brother, so off I went – without knowing what was happening. While working and chatting with my brother and my sister-in-law I kept wondering why in the world Adam had called my dad.

Were they talking about me? My heart was pounding just thinking about it.

Finally my evening at work ended. I came home, got my shower, and then my mom came to my room so we could chat and pray together (something we did every night until I got married).

When my mom came to my room I asked her if she and dad had talked about Adam’s phone call. She said they did and that she was supposed to fill me in.

I sat on my bed, stunned, as my mom told me that Adam had indeed called my dad about me! He had been praying about me since July and already believed that I was the girl for him. He called to ask for permission to pursue a relationship with me – but also (mainly) to ask that we all begin praying about the possibility of courtship and marriage.

As I listened, I realized all of sudden how little I knew Adam. Hearing that he already believed I was the one God wanted him to marry made me fearful in a way I never expected. All of a sudden, so much fear and confusion came to the surface. I had just reached a point of contentment and trust… and now this? I hardly knew Adam, I wasn’t ready to be pursued again… I didn’t want to make a mistake.

So there I sat with dripping wet hair, as I sobbed into my towel and told my mom I wasn’t ready. For some reason instead of feeling joy that God had brought a godly young man into my life who wanted to pursue me, I was afraid and confused.

I’m embarrassed to admit it took me several days to get used to this new idea. It was as if my world turned upside down in just a matter of days. I wondered why God would lead me to a point of complete peace and contentment only to have Adam call my dad a few days later and upset my little world of peace and contentment.

Isn’t it just like Lord to do something like that?

He knows what we need, when we need it. Just when we get to the point where we are ready to trust the Lord and surrender our will to His, He decides to give us that very thing we were desiring so much.

Because Adam was down at Ambassador for college, and I was up in PA. We didn’t immediately begin doing anything except praying about each other. Our parents decided to meet together to get to know one another and talk about the two of us. Our families even got together one Sunday (while Adam was still away at college) just so we could all get to know each other. Up until that point I had seen Adam’s family but really didn’t know them.

Because of my reservations, my parents and I decided it would be best to wait until I was 20 to begin an official relationship, and Adam wanted to be closer to college graduation before anything became “official”. In the meantime, we would continue to pray about it and get to know one other.

So for the next few months, we continued praying, and I anxiously (and nervously) awaited for Christmastime to come.

Winter 2015-2016

Once Adam came home for Christmas our families finally got together again – this time Adam was there too. We had a fun time but Adam and I did very little talking that evening – a big family setting wasn’t exactly the easiest way to get to know each other. So, the next week Adam and his parents came to our area and we went out to eat, explored a local farmers market and played games. This time we were able to really chat with one another.

We got together one more time that Christmas break. This time just Adam came to our house. One of my favorites parts of that evening is when we went to a local ice cream shop. Adam and I got our own table and talked while enjoying our ice cream. We shared our salvation testimonies and learned more about each other’s spiritual journeys.

A few days later, Adam left for college again and this time I felt like I knew him a whole lot better.

At the end of January I received my first hand-written letter from Adam. Because of the distance we all decided this was the best way to communicate – for now. We still were’t officially courting so this seemed to be a less emotionally involved way to get to know one another.  It took me three weeks to respond to Adam’s letter…. and I probably re-wrote that first letter a dozen times.

Those first few letters began something incredibly special that continued up until our wedding.

At this point Adam was in his Junior year of college. That January I was asked to pray about being a camp counselor for the coming summer. I prayed about it and decided to go ahead and spend my summer at camp. We continued to write letters that winter and spring.

Summer 2016

In the summer of 2016, just before I left for Servant’s Heart Camp, Adam asked me if we could exchange phone numbers. He said he had talked to my dad about it and he wanted to call me while I was away at camp. We exchanged phone numbers and said goodbye for yet another couple of months. Adam was off to Philadelphia for another pastoral internship and I soon left for Ramey, Pa.

Two weeks later staff training was completed and we were looking ahead to the next week when the first group of teen campers would arrive. Adam had sent me a text sometime that week asking if he could call me on Saturday night at 8 pm.

Up until that point, I did really did not like talking on the phone. I limited my phone conversations to my immediate family members, my best friend, and my grandparents. That was it. I avoided phone conversations at all costs.

The evening that Adam was supposed to call me, I grabbed my Bible and my phone and sat out on the porch of my cabin. It was a beautiful evening, the sun was going down, the air was cool because of the lake, and I was surrounded by trees and the sounds of nature. While my surroundings were peaceful, my heart was not. I was already getting tired, I was nervous about my first official week as a camp counselor, and of course, I was nervous about my first phone call from Adam. I remember flipping through the pages of my Bible and finding one of my favorite Bible verses, highlighted in pink…

“The LORD will give strength unto his people, the LORD will bless his people with peace.”  Psalm 29:11

It was just the verse I needed. I began to pray, “Lord, please give me the strength I need this summer, and please bring peace to my heart…”

Before I knew it, my phone began to ring.

(Our Story To Be Continued Next Week…)