We're getting married!

The theme of both of our lives these last few years has been one of God's timing and God's plans rather than our own. Whether it was applying for college, finding a job, understanding how God wants us to live, His plans have always proven better than our own. If we had followed our own dreams and wants, our lives wouldn't be as rich and full of God's blessings as they are now. His grace has been, and still is, more than enough for us. We both moved back to Houston for work and attended the same church. We became friends as we served in youth and children's ministry together. From the outside, it's easy to think that being in proximity, ministry, and the same stage of life is what brought us together. But God works on a much grander scale and in more subtle ways. As young adults, we were each intently asking God for guidance in approaching the idea of marriage. We didn't know what kind of person He wanted for us, or who He was trying to shape us into, and we certainly weren't looking at each other (at least at first). We wanted God to tell us and to make it clear. Little did we know, He was growing and preparing us for life together even then. As we've spent time together, we've remembered what we each asked God for in a spouse. We saw how God had put certain qualities in our hearts to look for in a spouse, and the more we got to know each other, the more we saw those qualities. We both prayed for a person with Godliness, love, faith, and diligence, but also someone with the same specific calling to walk as our own. We surrendered our preferences as well as our own hearts for what He wanted. Even now, we are remembering prayers from long ago in our youth and singleness where we asked God for specific things in our spouses and married life, and we are delighted to find that those prayers are being answered in each other. Love is patient, and love is kind; we have seen God's love in Jesus Christ, and we are seeing it in each other. We ask that you continue to pray for us as we prepare for our wedding day and married life. We want to reflect the love and grace of God that we received in singleness even more in our marriage, both to each other and to those around us.