(warning: this post is VERY long...read at your own risk!)Our Story!
During the summer of 2004, while I was working as a Youth Intern under, John Ferguson, he came up with this crazy idea to make ME an e-harmony page....its okay, go ahead and laugh, I did too!! :-) At first this e-harmony page was a huge joke, my closet friends and I looking at my "matches" and laughing...some guys SO far from being "right" for me and others having a few qualities, but none that even sparked my interest! During that summer, one of my friends jokingly said I should add my screen name to my profile, that way if the guys wanted they could communicate with me. So my screen name was added and after a few weeks, the whole profile being forgotten about on my part. A couple of months later, I got a random IM from a screen name "theserextremedays"....thinking it was just one of my students, I responded...only to find...it was in deed, not one of my students but instead, Christopher!
Christopher and I chatted for awhile, found out he lived in Texas....first thought...whew...I'm safe, I'll never even have to meet this guy!! But as the occasional chats turned into hours and hours and later on into late night phone calls, that feeling of being safe changed...more into a bit sad that I would never have a chance to meet this amazing man of God! Our conversations continued, often late into the night as he was working the night shift as a paramedic, they turned from the normal everyday stuff to digging deeper and truly getting to know who each of us really was. The more I got to know this guy, the more my desire for the Lord deepen, Christopher pushed me in ways no else ever had. Our conversations grew deeper and deeper, until one conversation lead to the question, "What if I came up there to visit you?"
December 6th, 2007, my best friend and I drove to the airport to pick up the most amazing man! We spent an amazing weekend together, went snowboarding, met the family, spent time with friends, it was ALOT of fun! His flight was supposed to leave on Monday morning, but was delayed and he HAD to stay for another day! :-) He left and we agreed that I would fly down and visit him in Texas over my Spring Break! Less than a month after he left....I was on a plane to Texas! I mean...Spring Break, was just TOO far away! So I flew down on New Year's Eve and spent a week with him and his family! I was very nervous about meeting his family and spending a week down there, but it was a lot of fun! The most memorable experience from my week there was the day that we packed up our Bibles and headed to the state park to do devotions together (I wouldn't know until a month later how much this scene would impact my whole life!) I flew our that Sunday night with a desire to not only get to know this man more, but to do a DTS with YWAM! God was starting to plan my future and I was in awe of Him!
A little less than a month later as I sat in a church service with my best friend, praying about the future and Christopher and DTS, the Pastor asked us to close our eyes and envision a place that brought us peace. As I closed my eyes the first thing that popped into my mind was that park where Christopher and I had done devotions...as I struggled to make myself focus on what God wanted me to hear and not think about Christopher, God spoke VERY clearly to me! You see that day when we were doing devotions we were both leaning against the same tree, I was looking straight ahead over the lake and watching the sun as in was setting in front of us, Christopher was off to the side of the tree, a little behind me......as I envisioned us sitting under that tree God told me that He was like the sun and that I needed to keep my eyes on Him and that every time I turned my eyes to focus on Christopher that I was taking my eyes off of Christ and the things that He had for me. (don't worry God didn't stop there ;-) ) He then went on to tell me that there would come a time when Christopher would be right at my side and that together we would walk hand and hand with our eyes focused on Christ and the things He had for us! As I drove home that night I was in tears, was this it? Was he really the man that God had for me? I couldn't believe it, I had finally found my prince charming! I wish that I could say it was perfect from then on out, but the Lord allowed us to hit some rocky roads between that moment and where we are today!
Our friendship continued to blossom, but deep in my heart, I knew he was it, so it was very hard for me to not desire more than just a friendship with him. I moved to Texas that September to do my DTS, shortly after Christopher and I decided to take a break, I was devastated and began to question what I had really heard, maybe I didn't really understand what God was telling me back in Feb, maybe He just spoke that to try and get my eyes focused on Him, maybe that last part about Christopher and I following Him together had just been my dreams and desires. I went through my DTS and tried to seek His face and figure things out, I fell in love with Jesus in a huge way and experienced things I never could have imagined, but was still at a loss as to what was supposed to be between Christopher and I. It wasn't until after my DTS and Christopher's SOE that we began to really talk seriously again!
"I knew it! Yes, thank you God!" Those were the emotions that I had when we started talking and Christopher admitted that he still had feelings for me! We spent that summer learning a whole lot more about each other, he was up here, I drove down there for a week and I was convinced that I really had heard God clearly that day a year and a half ago. Christopher was feeling very called to go and serve with a new DTS that was starting in Malta, as I prayed and continued to seek what God wanted for my life, I really felt like I was supposed to go to Malta with Christopher! I met him for breakfast that morning and told him not only about feeling called to Malta, but also shared with him my vision from under the tree that up until that point he had no idea about! I left Texas that August, convinced that in a few months I would be going to Malta with Christopher! I was convinced this was it...we were going to go to Malta, help lead the DTS, fall more in love with Christopher and someday marry that boy! Never would have ever imagined what would happen within a month of me leaving Texas!
Christopher is very in tune with God and so when Christopher says he feels like God is saying this or that I tend not to question it very much, however that night in September when Christopher and I were talking and he told me that he didn't feel like WE were a God thing, I could do nothing but question him....What do you mean we aren't a God thing? I told you about my vision, of course we are a God thing! After lots of tears and tons of heartache I decided I couldn't push it anymore, what if Christopher was right, what if WE weren't a God thing, what if that vision was really all me and yet again I began to grieve this relationship and try to put the pieces of my life back together!
In January of 2010, Christopher boarded a plane and headed to Malta, while I stayed here in the US, trying to figure our what it was that God was trying to teach me. I began to evaluate my life, watched my best friend fall in love with her soul mate, tried desperately to seek the face of the Lord and overall continued to grieve what I was convienced was my soul mate. It took me 7 months to finally convince myself to move on. I went on a couple blind dates, tried to push through the "but he's just not Christopher" thoughts on each date! The guys were good solid Christian guys, but were just not right for me, they were NOT Christopher!
Christopher and I had continued to stay conected the whole time he was in Malta on, we would catch up on facebook or whatever, never anything more than "hey what's up?....I'm praying for you!" In August, he told me before he flew back into the states that he was flying into Detroit at 1:30 PM! My heart raced that day, I couldn't wait to hear his voice, to talk to him! I convinced myself that he had to make the first move, I would not go after him, it had to be his move not mine! I washed my car that afternoon, one of my friends came over and we were laying out in the pool....I kept checking my phone...1:20....1:25....okay Emily, you know he has to like call his parents and stuff, he probably won't even contact you till this evening, just relax! 1:30....1:33 my phone goes off, a text from Christopher!!! He was barely on US soil for a couple minutes and he was texting me!!! My heart raced and raced!! I started praying right away, Lord somehow help me to guard my heart, this boy has already broken my heart twice, don't let me fall again, but the reality was I had never really ever gotten over this boy! We talked alot, almost every night, I tried really hard not to let my true feelings show, I tried to guard my heart and allow Christopher to pursue me and for him to making the phone calls and texts and not me always contacting him. The more we talked the harder it was for both of us to hide our true feelings. One phone call was him admitting that he still had feelings for me, but begging me to guard my heart, because he didn't want to hurt me again, he told me not to start planning our wedding...haha! I just kept praying, God if this is right and this is good and of you, than tell Christopher, cause I know that my heart is already completely in love with him! We spent lots of time catching up, talking about everything, we talked about each of our dreams of being missionaries in Africa and about what we felt like God was saying. I continued to just ask God to speak to Christopher and begged him to take away every feeling I had for Christopher if this was not His will for me!
In October, Christopher surprised me and showed up at my doorstep late one night! He asked me to officially be his girlfriend, which I knew meant that he was sure about all of this!! He had told me before that he wouldn't pursue any relationship unless he was sure that he was going to marry me! We went ring shopping that week and started dreaming about the future and all about US!!!
On Thanksgiving morning, Christopher woke me up bright and early and took me out to breakfast and for an early morning walk in the park. We enjoyed our breakfast and headed to the park. We walked for awhile before stopping at a pretty spot that overlooked the river. Christopher set up his camera on the brick wall and we took lots of "us" pictures, we laughed and talked and joked! During one of his times of getting the camera set just right, he set up the video camera and I knew this was it......He was going to ask! We continued to take pictures and I pretended like I didn't see the obvious video camera sitting on the wall. We took several more pictures, laughed and talked a lot! I was getting nervous, was he going to ask..this had to be it, there was a video camera set up.....why is he taking so long to just ask! After awhile he finally commented about needing to head back to my house soon as extended family was coming over for Thanksgiving dinner, he suggested that we pray and head back. I agreed, thinking in the back of my mind, he's going to wait until after we pray together! He prays over us as a couple and I feel so very much in love with this amazing man of God! He finishes the prayer and my stomach flips...this is it...he's going to ask, I was certain! He continued to beat around the bush and keep changing the subject, what in the world was he doing?!
Finally after what seemed like forever, I decided maybe if I suggested leaving he would get the hint and just ask already. I just very simply asked, "Are you ready?" Just like that he dropped to his knee and said, "Yes, I'm ready for you to be my wife, to be my helpmate, to be my baby-mama, to live in Africa with me, to serve the Lord by my side....will you marry me?" (and I'm sure I am leaving out several other really sweet things, this is just all I remember.) I said "Yes!" and we proceeded to take a couple more pictures before texting and calling all of our closest friends and family! It truly was a morning, that I....even the non-morning person in me.....will NEVER forget!!
