One thing I’ve learned in life is that incredible things start happening when I let go of my need to control everything and let God do what He wants to do. There’s a saying “Let go, and let God.” That’s exactly how it happened with Tommy and I. Here is what happens when God writes your love story: how we met.
In April of 2016, I was in a really bad place. I had just gotten out of a relationship, and I was trying to find my way back to God. I had been ignoring God for a while and I knew I needed to get my act together. When I came home from college for the summer, my dad was talking about how the mission trip that he and my brother were going on had changed from Paris, France to Skid Row, Los Angeles because of all the terrorist attacks. He told me how they needed a woman to chaperone the girls, and asked me if I wanted to do it. I said yes right away, before I could even think about it.
I knew this “time with God” was exactly what I needed to get my heart right.
A month later, we all arrived at the high school ready to head to downtown Los Angeles. By that point I had talked myself out of wanting to go on the trip. I really wanted to just stay home, watch Netflix, and relax by the pool. I knew this trip was going to force me out of my comfort zone (I’m a major introvert) in more ways than one. But I didn’t bail. I just prayed and prayed that God would give me strength, and I ended up having the most amazing trip of my life.
We made it to Skid Row a few hours later, and pulled up to the Fred Jordan Mission. We stayed at the mission for a week doing outreaches, leading chapels, organizing rooms at the mission, feeding meals to the homeless, etc. I had been on five other mission trips, but this one was my first time as a chaperone.
A few days into the trip, the President of the mission came to speak to our group. Her grandson, Tommy, came with her. After the Bible study, Tommy gave us his “tour of skid row,” and we passed out flyers for an outreach the next day. I stayed in the back of the group, doing my “chaperoning” job, but I observed him from afar. His cousin, who was on the trip, and the other high school boys were pestering me about talking to Tommy and I tried to ignore them.
The last thing I needed in my life at that moment was a guy to take away my attention from God!
I learned later they were doing the same thing to Tommy, and he was thinking the same thing. The last thing he wanted was some girl taking his attention away from God! We didn’t really meet that day, but all the boys on the trip were trying to get us to talk for the next few days. I can’t explain it but there was something about Tommy that I could not shake.
We hadn’t even spoken yet, but I just remember praying one night on the rooftop of the mission that God would get this guy out of my head so I could focus on Him.
The very last day of the trip, I was upstairs trying to get everything ready for us to leave and I ended up arriving late to the chapel service. Instead of disrupting the service, I posted up in the front desk area next door. Halfway through the service, out comes Tommy escorting his grandma to sit at the front desk. Coincidence? I’ve learned there’s no coincidences when it comes to God.
As the service went on, we went into our own little world talking about college, the beach, random stuff, but for some reason we both walked away from the conversation feeling something for each other. Once chapel was over, it was time for our group to head back to the desert. Tommy and I properly introduced ourselves to each other and then went our separate ways. I honestly thought I would never see him again.
On our way home that day, his cousin asked if he could give Tommy my number, and I said yes (of course). Tommy texted me right away that night. We talked on the phone the next day for EIGHT hours. I’ll say I honestly knew I was going to marry him during that phone conversation.
I had never met someone whose values, beliefs, everything just lined up so perfectly with mine.
Our conversation was a series of “me toos.” We both kept saying “if” we dated it wouldn’t be for a while because we both wanted to focus on our relationship with God. Those “ifs” quickly turned into “whens.” Two weeks later (the self control haha) Tommy asked me to be his girlfriend. We were engaged 6 months later, and exactly a year from when we met on June 17, 2017 we got married.
I wanted to tell the story of how we met not only for you to get to know us, but so you could see how God’s hand was in it all. I always think about if I had bailed on that trip like my flesh wanted to, when would God have brought him into my life?
God’s timing was so profoundly perfect.
We were both in a place where we were ready to be serious about God and put him first instead of our flesh. I love that God gave us such an amazing story.
I never felt like I deserved this kind of love story. My life wasn’t perfect up until meeting Tommy. I wasn’t following God with all my heart. That’s the amazing thing about God’s grace. He sees our faults and He sees our sin, but He also sees our hearts. He covers all of our mistakes and gives us the chance to have a beautiful life when we decide to put Him first.
I hope you enjoyed our love story. Thank you so much for reading. If you want to know more, you can check out my testimony here. Let me know in the comments below the highlights of your love story or where you are at in your journey.
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