Our love story

Since our anniversary is rapidly approaching, I thought that now might be a good time to fill some of you in on the details. (Warning!!! This story relies heavily on God's faithfulness and direction!)

David and I met when I was three years old and he was six. We attended the same church for a few months until my dad started a church in the little town we live in. Both of our families home school and so our moms hit it off really well and even did several classes together through the years. We also discovered that our dad's shared the same birthday and so for twenty years now we have been having a giant joint birthday party with both of our families called "The Daddy Dinner".

Growing up I wasn't very fond of the King boys. They were very much boys and weren't very sensitive or compassionate to younger girls! Many years passed, without having very much contact other than our "Daddy Dinners".

When I was thirteen we got involved in a home school band and choir and also joined Bridgeport youth group. David was also involved in these things. All of the sudden I found that I liked this guy. A lot. ( My youngest sister is thirteen now and it blows me away to think that I was her age when I fell in love with David!). We became very good friends. We were involved in so many mutual things that we ended seeing each other almost every day, and because his family had now moved to where I lived we (My sister and I and Him and his brothers) carpooled almost everywhere.

This went on for several years. We both really liked each other, and though we were very close friends we never shared how we felt about each other. Time felt like it dragged by. The summer after I turned sixteen David decided to go work in Alaska with his brother Jonathan for six months. I thought my heart was broken. That was such a horrible time. And yet God used it in amazing ways in both of our lives. A verse was written on my wall board all that summer and it stayed there until I got married.

Psalm 37: 4-7~ Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

Finally he came home. I was so nervous that things would be totally change between us. It was a little awkward, but not too bad. He was leaving again in a month to go sell Christmas trees down is California for six weeks. The day that he was going to leave he asked my dad if he could talk to me, alone.

I'd better back up here and add another detail I left out. Because our families spent so much time together we had developed "The Rule". Even the youngest in our families knew what "the rule" was. The rule simply stated that no boy from one family and no girl from another could be alone together, just to keep a standard of being above reproach at all times. So for David to ask to talk to me alone was a big deal!

We went out to our barn where we each awkwardly sat on our own separate hay bales. There he told me that he liked me, that he had liked me for a long time and that he wanted to marry me. The problem he told me, was that he didn't know if God wanted him to marry me. We decided to take the time that he was away and any following time we may need to pray for a answer from the Lord before started any sort of relationship other than friendship.

That again was a very hard and yet very precious time praying and relying on the Lord for His direction. Finally he came home, but without an answer. So we continued praying. And praying. And praying. God always works when we least expect it! One evening while I was at a youth group event at the church David went to my parents, told them that God had given him an answer and asked if he could marry me. They had been watching this unfold for several years and were ready with their answer. Next David came to the church and asked if he could talk to me. We went into our church sanctuary where he told me that God had given him an answer and that it was a yes. That is such a precious memory to me. I remember sitting about two feet away from him on the pew and having him say that someday we would be getting married right there in that room. This all happened a month before my seventeenth birthday.

We entered into a precious "courtship" period, already committed to marriage, but getting to know each other (even after years of friendship!) and preparing for marriage. I can't say enough how thankful I am that God let us know that we were supposed to marry each other before we even started our relationship. It was an incredible time for us. We went with a team to Romania that summer ( my second trip) which gave us an extra special time to get to know each other.

By the end of that summer our parents and us all knew that it was time to start planning a wedding! We set the date for June 5, 2004 (06-05-04 pretty cool huh?) and got to work! That spring I turned eighteen, graduated from high school and got married a month later! I look at eighteen year-olds now and I am blown away! It wasn't that I was more mature or wise than most, but God had been preparing us every day of our lives, and this was His timing. I am so so so thankful. God is so good and does good and amazing things. I'm sorry that this is so long. If you made it all the way through, please be encouraged. Romans 8:28~ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.