Engagement Photos

Isaiah and I were engaged October 28, 2010, 

but I did not get my ring until July 24, 2011.

Here are some Engagement Pictures:

When God Told Me Whom I Was To Marry

Some of you reading this may think I am crazy, (I would gladly admit to it) but it is true; God told me the name of the man I was to marry and it was a guy that I really didn't like at the time. It was during my first year of college that God told me that I was going to marry this man and from then on, God appointed me to pray for this man. God would show me things about Isaiah that I didn't like and I would complain to Him about the things that I saw. God told me, "Then pray that I change him." So anytime that I saw something that was not becoming for a Christian in Isaiah, whom I knew without a doubt was a Christian because I could tell that He loved God more than anything, I would pray to God that He would change that character trait. And as I prayed, I watched God work and change my husband to be.

God did not tell Isaiah that he was to marry me until May of 2010 and I didn't find out that he finally knew until October 28, 2010, which was when we were engaged. We didn't marry until May 2012. So we both played the waiting game for a while.

Okay, so that was the cute little intro of a long story. ;)

Let's see. Where do I begin? Well, I suppose I will begin with how I viewed the male species when I first went to college. Lol. Before college, I had given my heart away to a guy that didn't deserve it and he had given his heart to me; I also didn't deserve it. We were young, dumb and uneducated about how we should be treating each other like brothers and sisters and guarding each other's hearts. I wish I would have known about the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris; it would have helped me not to get myself into such a mess.

Well anywho, I went into college pretty much hating guys and not wanting anything to do with them and definitely not interested in having a relationship EVER AGAIN. I didn't want to get married. I was content with just God. He was the only guy that I felt was worth living for. So I made it my task to keep guys from liking me. I told God that if He was going to make me get married then at least don't have anyone like me unless that person is the one that I am stuck marrying. I had a pretty horrible view and many guys can testify about how nasty of a girl I was in college. I got my wish, none of the guys liked me, they thought I was very annoying. Including the man I was to marry, Isaiah.

I would discuss getting married often with God, because during college God told me that I was going to get married. I didn't want to and I began to get upset that He was going to make me get married. I just didn't get it. I thought God would be pleased with me being content to just have him. Why did God want a man to get in the way of our relationship? I just pushed that thought aside for a while.

Eventually, God began to soften my heart about marriage as the weeks went by. The reason I really didn't want to get married was because I thought that all men were jerks. I hadn't met a godly guy my age, so I thought they didn't exist. But after being at college for a while I began to see that godly men did exist. Every meal, I sat across from some guys that had a genuine love for God. I began to reopen my heart and be okay with the idea of getting married again but I didn't think that I would marry any of the guys there at college. I thought it was going to be somewhere far in the future when God would bring that man into my life. I wasn't too concerned about getting married. I just wasn't worried about it. It was something that I gave to God and didn't want to deal with. I was consumed with knowing God and didn't have room for anyone else at the time.

Somewhere a long the line, God began to share some things with me about Isaiah. For some reason God wanted me to pray for this guy and He would tell me things about him and how I needed to pray for him. At first I was like, "Why? I don't even know this guy and everyone says he's a jerk. Why do you want me to pray for him?" I didn't listen at first. I just brushed the thought out of my mind. But God kept bugging me with him. He kept telling me to pray for him and that he needed prayer about this and he needed prayer about that. It was so annoying. One evening I couldn't sleep so I lay in bed talking to the Lord and again He told me to pray for Isaiah. I responded with "Why, am I gonna marry this guy or something crazy like that?" God replied "Wait and you will see, but for now just pray for him." So I finally gave in and began to pray for him. As I prayed for him, God began to show me the good side of this man. Most everyone else just saw how much of a jerk he was, and he was a jerk, but I began to see the good in him. I noticed that he cared for different things than most guys did. He had no interest in girls or relationships. He loved God. He didn't like talking about nonsense. He wanted to use his time and words wisely. He spent time memorizing scripture and had books memorized. This man, though he was a jerk, was a godly man and loved God. I fell in love with this man's preaching and God used his preaching greatly during my time in college. It was as though he and I were going through the same struggles and God used his preaching to tell me so and to help me change. Needless to say, I became okay with this man and he began to grow on me. So one night as I lay in bed I asked God just matter of factually if Isaiah was the one whom he wanted me to marry. God's answer to that question was "Yes." I couldn't believe my ears. I asked God again and again just to make sure I heard right. So it was then that I knew I was to marry Isaiah. 

But that's just the beginning of the story. It was the beginning of a long wait and a long road in which my faith was tried over and over again.