The Relationship
Best Friends. That’s what we had been all along. I remember the moment I sat across from Jesse at a Ihop studying for our Bible College classes, surrounded by a bunch of friends, and thinking to myself “I could never date this guy”. We were the best of friends for crying out loud! Little did I know, he would become my husband.
I loved everything about him! We were always together, always sharing our thoughts & dreams. We read each others minds! We could hold entire conversations without saying a single word. Everyone around us knew what we were trying so hard to deny.
I remember praying one day in the Chapel of Christian Life College, “Lord, I only want to date one person, and I want that person to be my husband.” And the Lord truly answered my prayer.
Fast forward a bit, we began dating the second semester of our Sophomore year (AFTER my dad had said no once..i’m his oldest girl, and a daddy’s girl, so it wasn’t easy to say the least lol) and got engaged the second semester of our Senior year.. IN ISRAEL! Oh it was a dream. Our senior class raised money to go to Israel for our class trip…
The Proposal
The morning of what would be the day we became engaged, we toured ‘Ein Gedi’, the caves where David hid running from King Saul! There were tons of caves and absolutely stunning waterfalls all around us! We came back to Jerusalem in time to shower and freshen up for dinner at our hotel. We had a huge Israeli spread of food! Delish!
Our Associate Pastor at Christian Life Center gathered everyone for a Bible study in a bomb shelter under the hotel. The Power of God was beautiful and so encouraging. How could the day get any better? Touring the Land of the Sunday school stories we all were taught growing up, eating delicious local food, and ending with a life changing Bible study! BUT.. it got better! It did! Following the Bible Study, our Pastor had announced that he wanted to take everyone out to Old Jerusalem for some ‘ice cream’ and to take some ‘class pictures’ as our trip was coming to a close. Secretly, Jesse was planning to pop the question, and our Pastor was in on it.
We all walked to the tram and rode down to Jerusalem. We all walked into this big dome with stringed lights hanging everywhere! Our Pastor announced that this would be the perfect spot for pictures! So we all lined up, guys on one side and girls on the other. As he counted “1, 2, 3, cheese!” Jesse came around the corner in front of everyone, dropped to one knee, ring box in his hand and asked me to marry him! He only told a few of the guys, none of my girlfriends knew! and so EVERYONE was surprised! Screaming, shouting, and crying took over the next few moments! ….and then all of the a group of Jewish young men, picked Jesse up and sang a congratulation song in Hebrew! It was the absolute most special and exciting moment! We were in Israel, the Land Jesus walked, surrounded by the closest people to us, with plans to marry my very best friend, my only boyfriend and my soon to be Husband.