In August 2018, I started my first job as a Physical Therapist and figured this transition to adulthood should be complemented by me investing more in my faith. After a quick Google search, I discovered a Bible study group near me. During our weekly meetings, Bonnie (my group’s leader) suggested that we need to pray about every single thing in our lives. At the time, I wasn’t necessarily on the hunt for my future husband but a thought struck me- never have I ever prayed for a man of God. So I figured- why not?! I made it a point to include a prayer for my future husband on my morning commutes to work. Meanwhile, being the social butterfly I was at work- I enjoyed never meeting a stranger and always tried to say my hellos to unfamiliar faces. One of the medical students I had met, Kudo, seemed to notice this. One day he brought the new med school student (my future husband!!) to me, and I was introduced as the friendly PT. Trever and I would make small talk for the next few weeks. One afternoon, I was trying to finish up my patient notes, and Trever approached me to ask if I had a lunch break. I was confused as to why he was so curious about my lunch break especially because I tend to work through it. It wasn’t until after several attempts during this conversation (oops!) that I realized he was interested in eating lunch with me haha. My co-worker Akena witnessed this whole scene! Soon we made plans for lunch and I met with Trever after my co-worker Kenny convinced me to give this good man a chance :) As we sat down to enjoy subs at a park, I noticed that Trever did the sign of the cross and the blessing before he ate. I asked if he was Catholic and he then proceeded to explain how he was in the process of RCIA and would officially become Catholic soon. I couldn’t help but look up at the sky because the prayers I had been saying on my morning commutes worked since God had quite obviously sent me my answered prayer :)

The first time I met Tanya was in the therapy gym. She came to see the patient I was visiting, and we talked for a moment. She was nice and pretty, and I noticed that she wore a cross necklace, so I figured she was probably a Christian too. As she pushed the patient’s wheelchair away, she stopped and turned around to talk to me some more. I thought that might be a good sign, so I ran it by one of my best friends. Joel said it might be a good sign, but then again, she might just be nice, in which case, it might not mean anything at all. The more I ran into Tanya, the more I got the impression that she really was just nice to everyone, but I worked up my courage and decided to ask about her lunch break. She told me that she really didn’t eat lunch because she liked to write her notes then. At that point, I figured she probably wasn’t that interested, so I made peace with it and went on with things as usual. Still, we seemed to keep running into each other. I prayed and thought about it, and ultimately, I figured I should give it one more try. I made sure I had finished all my clinical work on time then went downstairs to the gym with all my papers so I could sit at one of the tables and pretend to read through them while I scouted for an opportunity to chat Tanya up. Finally, my chance came, and just as I walked over and started talking to her, one of my patients called out to me because he wanted to have some candy, and the nurse wouldn’t let him. Given his amputation from a diabetic ulcer, she had a good point. He got one piece of hard candy (and some insulin), and I hurried back to try to resume our conversation. Somehow, Tanya seemed to finally realize that I was trying to ask her out, so she wrote her number on a sticky note and gave it to me, and the rest is history. God has a way of working things out in His own good time, even for people who don’t eat lunch or don’t have very much confidence in themselves.