The story of how Maureen Wrightson and Andrew Sammons met, fell in love, and committed the rest of their lives together is typical of many testimonies of Christ’s mercy, grace and forgiveness and redemption in full display toward His children, and those who purpose in their heart to serve and love Him above all else. Only Christ can create beauty from ashes. Only Christ can reward us above what we want, far beyond what we deserve, and supply all that we need. It’s impossible to tell “our story” without first acknowledging how we arrived single in 2024. In fact, the similarities of our brokenness, insecurities and failures of our past marriage echoed an all too familiar sound when we first shared our life story on Christian Mingle. (Yes, another couple who met online). Drew would tell you online dating was a way to keep things moving slowly and controlled. Mau might say she just wanted to broaden her net and trust God by tossing in on the other side of the boat (or bay in this case). The advantage of meeting online was clear. It forced in-depth, honest and detailed communication about the good, the bad and the ugly of our past hurts and mistakes which led us to this unexpected stage of dating again at this point in our lives. Immediately in our conversations it became obvious that the prior few years of single, self-reflection and looking within more than looking without, had created an open and humble spirit within each of us that Christ was going to use to build something new. It’s this "something new" that has been the motivating factor in us to grow, pray, learn and listen so that our future can be shaped by how we might be used by God together, rather than apart. I’ve heard it described as the Kingdom Paradox: when we stop trying to create our own happiness, give up and give it all to God, then He gives it back in abundance. I think that’s Christian Living in a nutshell. True, deep happiness comes when we stop looking for “it” and start looking for "Him." From our earliest conversations on CM, then email, then texting, our stated goal was to help show each other what a Christian spouse should look, act and talk like. Is it any surprise after demonstrating this to each other for several months we fell in love and needed look no further? It really was as simple as that. We could ramble on about the boxes we checked, the attributes we appreciated and all the things we enjoy about one another, but it really boils down to each of us demonstrating for the first time what a real, mature, Christian, loving and giving relationship looks like. God said it is not good for man to be alone, and it is our desire to demonstrate the reasons why for the rest of our time here in this temporary home. Together, living out what we have learned, and displaying the grace God has lavished upon us, to the best of our abilities, is our lifelong calling and purpose. Having someone you are crazy about and love doing life with is just the extravagant, overwhelming grace and goodness of God.