Mitchell and Grace met back in 2016. Growing up in the same town, going to the same schools and eventually becoming involved in the same crowd. They met through mutual friends, started to date and began following a path that would ultimately lead to emptiness. They dated between 2016-2018, going through the motions of living in a fallen world and not knowing their identity or even their purpose. They moved to Milledgeville, GA and attended Georgia College. Soon, it fell apart. They broke up while in college and began their journeys separately. Mitchell transferred to Georgia Tech and Grace stayed at GCSU. They were apart for 5 years total. BUT what happened in those 5 years were the most crucial string of events that would change each of their lives forever. Grace started attending a college ministry in 2019. She originally started going for the free dinner but found much more. She ended up surrendering her life to Jesus at the start of the pandemic in 2020, after many attempts at “finding happiness” and at satisfying her soul. She saw the need for a savior and what she needed saving from. She stayed in contact with Mitchell but cautiously as her heart had changed. Mitchell moved to Arizona and began to see the quality of life he was searching for was not being met by the standards the world had taught him. Feeling lost, he began to explore and meet new people, and ended up surrounding himself with a group of men who inspired him like he had never seen. In search of finding what these people had that he did not, he started to attend a church where he proceeded to sign up for every serving event possible. He found that the one and only answer was Christ and Mitchell submitted his life to Jesus in the beginning of 2023. After becoming new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), the two began to have gospel conversations and gave life updates but kept it platonic. It wasn’t until the end of 2023 when the Lord put it on Grace’s heart that there were still some possible feelings for Mitchell. This chapter of the past either needed to be closed or allowed to be made into something new. The two prayed fervently and specifically. They reunited and began to have their eyes opened to this very obvious open door. The biggest roadblock to get through would be the distance. They may have been 2,124 miles apart, but they were close in heart and spirit. Having to work through bad WIFI connections, lagging facetimes, a 2–3-hour time difference, only being able to see each other a couple days per month and spending hundreds of dollars just to see the other in person was a battle. But they kept their eyes fixed on the hope of Jesus and what He was soon calling them into. Mitchell proposed on May 25, 2024. Only God could write a story like this. A story where even in the middle of it… He creates a #newBEGGinning.