"My Beloved is mine and I am his" - Song of Songs 2:16

If you pull up the date for August 22nd, 2021, you will see that it was a Sunday. Like any Sunday, Alex and Elise attended church regularly and this was the Sunday they finally met. Elise's Version: Earlier in the week, I was at home quarantining due to my mother contracting covid and i had spent the weekend prior with her. I put in a prayer request in our young adults GroupMe chat to be praying for my mother and that was it. On Saturday, I went to go get tested for covid and when my results came back negative I was ecstatic. I could finally re-enter society and my first place to do that was church. Eager to see my friends and to fellowship with them, we all tended to sit together. One of my friends motioned to me that he was saving me a seat. I make my way down the aisle to the row and there was Alex, sitting in the seat that was saved for me. I was livid "how dare he steal my unassigned assigned seat" I thought all throughout service. I gave him the death stare every now and then, which means I was barely paying attention to the sermon. Once service ended, I figured I'd introduce myself to the seat thief. "Alex" he said and "Elise" I said. We were then separated and met again at Bible study that Thursday. We had a pleasant conversation. I then noticed that Alex had Uber and Lyft stickers all over his car and I was going out of town that weekend so I asked him for a ride.... and we have been inseparable ever since. Alex’s Version: (the actual version). When I came to the Bible Church of Little Rock, I was struggling with much sin in my life and had been disobedient to my Savior and His Word in so many ways. Months passed by of discipleship, counseling, and growing in the Word and overcoming sin through the Holy Spirit. God became in living my sure and steady anchor. I learned so much about how evil and wicked I was and the depths of the depravity of my sinful heart. That made my love for Christ grow even more, because I learned the enormity of what it meant to be saved by grace alone. An enemy of God saved by God Himself, who sent His Son to die for me on the cross and rise again on the third day. Saving me from His wrath and hell which I justly deserved. Throughout this period from February of 2021 to August of 2021, I had never once seen Elise Ellen Fullwood at church (though we were both there). God had been growing in me a desire to fellowship more, so I decided to sit next to people now. So on Sunday, August 22nd (the very next Sunday after this conversation with Benny) I sat next to a friend, but on the way in, I passed by Elise, who I had seen on GroupMe asking for prayer regarding her mom and work. We made eye contact, and I kept walking on to my destination to sit with my friend. I sat down. And shortly after, Elise came to sit next to me and couldn’t keep her eyes off of me. I looked forward and focused on the sermon but couldn’t help but notice the stare I was getting the entire time. Me thinking, “wow she’s really into me”. So after the service she spoke to me and we introduced ourselves to each other. We got separated by others talking with us individually, and that Thursday after young adults Bible study, we all went to Bible study where Elise and I got to talk and know each other. She eventually asked me for a ride to the airport (and there are many in between stories here that I’m missing), but my heart was stolen. I began falling in love with her and couldn’t help but love her. And that is how we met and fell in love. He allowed me to be placed here in this church to meet His child, Elise Ellen Fullwood, who (at least in Alex’s head) fell head over heels in love with me and I with her.

Elise and I started marriage counseling around March (before our engagement). We had discussed our plans in Christ and we had been sharpening each other throughout our relationship. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” One of the many traits I was looking for in a woman was to ask, “does she love God more than me” and “will this relationship grow my relationship”? With Elise, the answer to both questions was yes. I had watched her grow in her spiritual walk with Christ from the time I met her to now and the changes were evident. I knew this was the woman for me. So I began planning and ring shopping. I would bring her along to get ideas of what she wanted. She went from wanting birthstones, to white gold to yellow gold. The desires were all over the place but eventually she told me she wanted a simple yellow band. I worked with Danwerke jewelers and they helped me design one like she wanted. Once I had the ring, I had to keep her on her toes and the bombardment of “so when is it” questions were coming. She got her nails done every two weeks so she’d always be ready for whenever the proposal was. She would say things like this (paraphrasing) to me, “Alex this is expensive! Hurry up!”. It was fun seeing how eager we were to marry each other! So the night of the proposal I read her proverbs 31 and reiterated that I was looking for a woman who loves the Lord. I then proposed in a spot where a few months earlier we had been talking about the future of our relationship after a meeting with our marriage counselors Benny and Julie. She said yes! And we were both full of joy! I get to marry this child of God and love her. It’s an amazing privilege!