I Love LOVE Stories!

When I was fourteen-ish I made the choice to live my life set-apart. I wanted to wait for God to bring the man who was going to be my husband into my life.

Not date.

I know that sounds crazy…and yes, it is crazy. I knew God had someone really special for me. Someone HE created just for ME. Why waist my time and feelings on anyone else? I wanted my heart to be fully his. Now, I will say that it was way easier said then done.

Every girl has that longing/desire to be loved. It’s a good thing. That’s the way God created us. When we take that longing/desire and place it in anything or anyone other then Jesus Christ, it fails. You get broken hearted and feel all alone. That’s why we need to make Jesus the lover of our soul. Keep him as our foundation and build off that.

While waiting I had ups and downs. Sometimes it was easy to surrender and other times it sucked! Seeing friends have boyfriends and dating looked so good because they had someone there with them. I felt alone at points but then I had to remind myself I wasn’t alone. The enemy was trying to creep in my head telling my lies. Replacing lies with truth was something I did on a daily basis. Reminding myself about the one prince God had for me, His princess. I am so loved and cherished by God. Not only was God preparing my husband, he was also preparing me. Looking back on it now, I am thankful for the choices I made.

4 years after I made that choice to pursue Christ with all my heart, I started to go to a church that my youth pastor started, Mosaic Church. While there, I met Christopher James Bryant and his super cool car ;) During the 4 years of waiting, whenever I met a new boy, I would ask myself if this was “the one”. Dork right!! Well, when I first saw Chris I thought the same thing. I told God I wouldn’t be mad if this was my husband. After months of going to Mosaic, Chris started hanging out with some of my inner circle friends. Shortly after that I found out how old he was and it pretty much squashed all my thinking of him being “the one”. He was 9 years older then me! How could he ever like me? I was 18 and he was 27.

A couple of more months went by and he asked to be my friend on Myspace!!!! Oh those were the days :) My heart was fluttering! Chris asked if I wanted to go to a Sun’s game with him. I of course said YES!! He also said he couldn’t get anyone else to go so he called me. That made me feel great….Nothing says husband like last resort! Hahaha

That was the beginning of us hanging out as friends. I was starting to get the feeling he was liking me. Again, heart fluttering! Chris asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with him because he wanted to talk. AAAHHHHH I was freaking out! A million things were going through my head and I’m thinking he’s going to tell me he likes me. Well long story short, he said he wanted to make sure we were…..JUST friends. Ugh…my hearts fell to my stomach. I felt so stupid. I put a smile on my face and said. “ Oh ya, we’re just friends!” I was super bummed but knew God had someone for me.

Couple more months went by and our “friendship” seemed to be growing. I was starting to like him. I could also feel something in him too. I knew we need to have another talk. We were outside of my second parent’s house and we both agreed that we like each other. He knew where I stood and respected that. I loved that! Shortly after that we were labeled.

Boyfriend and Girlfriend.

When we both told each other we liked each other, in my head that was him saying I could see you as my wife. He knew I didn’t want to date. I just wanted to be with the one God made for me. So by him saying that….I knew, He was the one. We started dating, officially, in December of 2006 and were engaged one year later to be exact. Engaged for 7 months and then tied the knot on July 27, 2008.

I love my love story not just because it’s mine but because God gets Glory out of it. He is the one who carried me through the years of waiting. Preparing my heart, as well as my husbands’ heart to be one. Go though this journey of life together, pursuing Christ with all we’ve got.

All that to say….I love my God….I love my Husband….I love the story we get to share together!