We're getting married!

We met through Watered Gardens when I started volunteering and Justice entered the Forge program (one of Watered Gardens' ministries) in January of 2023. I volunteered in the Mission Market (and sometimes other areas) and the Forge guys would walk through part of the market to get to the kitchen for lunch, so that's where it all started. It wasn't until around August of 2023 that we started talking and getting to know each other more. Justice had known from very early on that God had told him that I was going to be his wife, so he was patient and waited until the time was right. I knew God told me there was a guy for me at Watered Gardens but I didn't know who it was. Soon enough, God revealed that it was Justice. In September of 2023, we made it official and started dating. We decided we were meant to get married later in life and Justice gifted me a promise ring in October of 2023. Since then we've had our ups and downs, our struggles and times of joy; but in the end, I can tell you that it was all worth it. It was all in God's hands and I am forever grateful for the commitment Justice has for following God's plan for our lives. He is a strong man of God and I am so blessed that God brought him to me. Our God is so good.

I met Sarah for the first time while I was a student in the Forge program. I was in service phase and serving at the Worth Shop. I would see her on Tuesdays and Thursdays volunteering in the kitchen and Mission Market. The first time I met her I thought about how beautiful she was and how awesome it was to see someone of my generation serving the Lord like she was. About six months went by and I was officially towards the end of my education phase getting ready to go upstairs. I was riding in the Forge bus one morning and God said to me "You’re going to marry this girl" in those exact words. That was the first time in my life that God spoke to me so vividly. Eventually, I made it upstairs and started working and I was given a phone. Sarah was the first person that I asked for her number. We didn’t begin to text each other back-and-forth for about two weeks or so and we just got to know each other really well. I never felt so blessed I have never been able in my life to that point have such meaningful conversation and just be so impressed with what a woman of God she was. About two weeks went by and we officially went on our first "date" at Buffalo Wild Wings. We went to a movie afterward, and that was the first time that I got to hold her her hand. Up to this point, we talked about a lot of things, but one thing that didn’t need to be spoken very much was that we were meant to be together. A week later, sitting in a Walmart parking lot on September 10 I told her about what God said to me and she also told me a similar voice of what God told her about how she was meant to marry someone in Watergarden. I never before felt so confident in our relationship, or felt so blessed on that day we decided to officially be "dating". We both made the promise to each other that I would graduate the Forge before anything else happened. At this point in my life, I have never felt closer to God nor more blessed than I do right now. I thank God for Sarah every day and will for the rest of my life. I am just so blessed to have her and to be able to marry her soon. After September 10, I eventually met her family and it was confirmed to me even more that I was in the right spot. Fast forwarding through about the 10 months up until I’m writing this. There have been some up-and-downs that God has carried us through in our relationship, and in our lives that Sarah has always stayed steadfast to the Lord and stayed steadfast to me by my side and I couldn’t ask for a better woman of faith. She has always been encouraging to me in the Lord and has given His confidence to me through her in so many situations. There are no words to describe how good our God is and how blessed I believe this marriage is. I just keep seeing it every day and a constant reminder that I will never backslide to the man I used to be. Our God is a God that gives second chances; and me marrying the most beautiful, loving and intelligent woman I’ve ever met is a testament of that.