Our story begins in September of 2024, the Sunday after Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina. Christian and Molly showed up to Perkinsville church the following Sunday, where they both attended, which only held one service that day instead of three because there was no running water. That weekend, our church in Boone partnered with a nonprofit organization and opened a recovery operation out of Perkinsville Church. Knowing there was work to be done after the service, many of us came dressed in old clothes and ready to help our community. Despite having mutual friends, attending the same church and gym, and living in the same apartment complex for a year, Christian and Molly remained strangers until they happened to sit in the same row at church that day. Through some mutual friends, they ended up in the same car on that first day. It is safe to say they were both interested from the start. That first day, they visited multiple places offering help to anyone in need. Toward the end of the first day, they were cleaning out someone’s flooded basement. The guys were pumping out the house, and Molly was assisting the lady to pack and relocate to a local shelter with some belongings and dogs. Christian immediately offered to let Molly drive his car on the first day they had met–which, if you know Christian, is very rare. The next day, they were tasked with shoveling mud out of another church that had about a foot of mud in its fellowship hall. During a break from shoveling, Molly and Christian decided to grab some snacks from the gas station, and he insisted on paying for hers. After that day, Molly started helping more at the church by coordinating and sending teams out, so they were not together as much throughout the day. However, Christian would somehow find reasons to call Molly to “check in about various projects”, and each evening, when the church served dinner, they would sit together with friends and debrief about the day's events. At this point, their feelings for one another were still unknown to the other. With some help from a few friends and many late-night talks, they eventually realized those feelings were mutual. Within two weeks of meeting, they went on their first date, walking on the greenway. Molly's brothers also came up to volunteer for a few days during that time and quickly realized something was going on between them. Christian's family met Molly before they officially started dating, and Molly's family met Christian shortly afterward. They officially started dating on November 1, and exactly one year later, Christian proposed on a hike they had done together when they were "just friends." It was pretty hard to fully comprehend the timing, but every time we think about the story, we are reminded of the Lord’s grace and divine timing in such a chaotic time in our lives. We have reflected on all the times we could have met, yet how we were kept for such a time as this to be placed in each other’s lives when we did. We know our loving God has created each person to fulfill a calling to live by and share His Word with others, and that we have the privilege to do that together. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiaties 3:11 NIV