Ryan: Our love story is not the typical. It’s the love story that reminds me that we serve an individualistic God. Yes, there were standards that were followed, but the end result of following God’s still, small voice was a journey which neither of us could have dreamed of in the beginning.

In many ways our journey was a journey that neither of us would want to repeat but neither of us would change (other than submitting my weak, un-Christ like self to God earlier on) because it grew us in so many ways. Our relationship, our path, forced us higher and drove us to pursue God more.

We first met on a mission trip to Honduras in 2009. I don’t remember much about Glesni from that trip other than being impressed by the caliber of my female peers who went on the trip. Their spirituality and emanating purity raised the bar in my mind about the woman I would want to end up with.

Our lives really didn’t cross paths again until I saw Glesni on stage at GYC (a Christian conference) in Phoenix. At the time she was in charge of logistics—a position which I highly respected secondary to the often thankless work it involved. As her title flashed across the screens I decided to text and thank het for the work that she was doing. She politely responded—and with that our journey began.

Glesni: I honestly don't remember much about Ryan from our first encounter either, and when he texted me out of the blue, I thought it was a nice gesture and responded accordingly. As we caught up on life and what the other was pursuing at that point, the thought crossed my mind that he seemed like a nice guy. But I was adamant that I was not ready for a relationship, and in fact, I would ensure that no interest was sparked by taking a minimum of three weeks to respond to any text.

Ryan: After the first several texts, I didn't know whether Glesni's life was so busy that perhaps she didn't have time for texting or if something else was going on, so I played the game as well and waited at least three weeks to respond back. My curiosity was piqued, however. Even though our texting continued this way for awhile, I appreciated how our texts focused on Christ and encouraging each other. Our communication remained occasional for the next seven or eight months until both of us started our intense school programs—I was starting my physical therapy program, and Glesni was starting her nursing program. As we delved into our studies, we started texting more frequently, asking for prayer and sending encouraging texts. Around October, I realized we needed more clarity but was waiting for Glesni's family to finish a move between houses before broaching the subject.

Glesni: As our communication frequency increased, I began to have more questions and thoughts about Ryan. I didn't know if he texted all girls like he texted me, or whether he was thinking of a more intentional friendship. After talking with my parents and praying about it, I decided I needed to have that "define the relationship" conversation. Amidst moving boxes, I composed an email and sent it off with much prayer not knowing the outcome.

Ryan: The morning that Glesni was composing her email, I had just brought up our texting history with my parents and shared with them my thoughts concerning our friendship and the potential of it becoming something more. I had been wrestling in my mind about wanting to have the "something more" dialogue with her, but also not wanting to kill our friendship since I knew it would change the way we texted—especially if she wasn't interested at all. After my conversation with my folks, I spent time in prayer pleading for wisdom regarding the future and what to do. I also felt a strong burden to pray, so I started praying for those on the top of my prayer list—especially Glesni. Little did I know that she was writing an email to me at the exact same moment.

Glesni: The time that ensued before Ryan's response felt a lot longer than it actually was, and I was happily surprised when he emailed and told me that he had been planning to talk with my parents about exploring a relationship together, and had just been waiting for us to finish our move between houses. And thus began our relational journey...

Ryan: Because we hadn't really spent any time together since the mission trip, we decided it would be best if I went and visited their family over Thanksgiving. My initial impressions were positive, limited and rushed, but my curiosity continued to move me forward.

Glesni: After Ryan visited, we continued texting and occasionally talking on the phone before both arriving at GYC in Louisville. I had asked Ryan to be my assistant during the conference, but really didn't want our exploratory friendship to be public knowledge at that point since we had only just started talking and spending time in person. This, however, caused for several awkward moments and also left Ryan a bit confused at my behavior at times.

Ryan: At the end of the conference I remember finding an empty room and pouring out my soul to God in prayer. I didn't know if Glesni was interacting with me like she was because she was contemplating stepping back from our friendship or whether something else was going on. As I was praying, her mom texted me and said that she would like to share something with me in person. Was this going to be a motherly "softening the blow" kind of conversation? I submitted the entire dilemma to God and felt his peace overwhelm me knowing that He held everything in His hands. The next morning I was able to meet with her mom and my fears were relieved as she shared that the reason Glesni was acting the way she was came largely from the stress of GYC and not having time to process everything regarding our friendship.

Glesni: Because of our busy school schedules, the next time we had to interact, besides a short weekend at a wedding, was during my spring break when I flew to Michigan to spend time with Ryan. Although he still had classes, we were able to carve out time together for visiting my grandparents, picking blueberries and taking a picnic supper to the beach. We were definitely newbies in the relationship business and overly structured the visit with formal "question sessions" (which we later realized greatly inhibited any chance for us to bond emotionally and just enjoy the journey). Just as I was starting to feel more peaceful about potentially moving into a deeper relationship we encountered several challenging discussions and revelations which resulted in an atmosphere of tension as I departed to head home. My mind was spinning as I attempted to process everything, yet I wanted to still attempt to keep the communication channel open.

Ryan: After Glesni left, our communication frequency decreased but eventually we were able to work through quite a bit. Knowing that we hadn't spent too much time together, my parents and I made a weekend visit en route to an Alaskan vacation during one of my breaks. It was nice to spend time walking along the lakeshore while we talked and were able to process things to a greater extent from our previous time together.

Glesni: Although I was still unsure of our future together relationally, connecting again in person over the weekend was a positive thing. I was nervously looking forward to spending a week and a half in Alaska with Ryan and his parents later that summer and didn't know what our time together would hold. I continued praying for wisdom to know how to move forward.

Ryan: We made lots of special memories in Alaska from watching bears catching fish to riding a hand-propelled cable car and taking in the beautiful sights of the Kenai Peninsula. During the entire time I was thinking and praying about our relationship. At one point I even wrote down a "pros and cons" list and was reminded that the pros of continuing our relationship outweighed several questions I had in my mind at that time.

Glesni: We flew back from Alaska to Michigan together and spent another week there while Ryan started back into his busy PT class schedule although we managed to squeeze in a backpacking weekend with my cousin, Kari! A couple weeks afterward, I was back in Michigan again, this time with my family for my cousin Beth's wedding and invited Ryan to attend as well.

Ryan: That wedding weekend held more ups and downs—this time more in relation to the questions I had in my head. There was so much I had grown to appreciate about Glesni, even in our limited interactions. Still, there was this pit in my stomach—a feeling that I couldn't recognize until I looked back afterwards and saw God leading us out of a relationship just as clearly as He had lead us into one.

Glesni: Beth's wedding weekend was difficult for me as I was trying to process so many thoughts and emotions. After lots of prayer and discussion with my parents, I decided to send Ryan an email on our drive back across the country to Idaho that ultimately lead to our breakup. However, we were able to have a phone call a couple days later to help answer questions and leave things on the best possible note.

Ryan: The time surrounding our breakup was hard for both of us but even through that experience I saw Glesni's maturity and godly wisdom. I knew I could trust God through this time, and His presence made it so much easier than it otherwise would have been. I also realized that being single was a gift to invest the time that relationships take to serve God in other ways; yes the breakup was hard but I couldn't complain as God gave me light in the darkness.

Glesni: Fast forward ten months later and both of us had been on separate journeys seeking to discover God's will for our lives. I had explored another relationship and Ryan was also contemplating other options. Both of us experienced tremendous growth spiritually and just generally as we continued to mature. Looking back on that time, I don't regret for a minute how God lead us apart because we both needed it to become more rooted and grounded in who we were as individuals.

Ryan: That time apart allowed us to come back together with a healthier and more balanced outlook concerning our relationship, but I'm getting ahead of myself. During our time apart I had never fully crossed Glesni off my mind—rather our time apart led to her becoming a background thought as I contemplated others.

Glesni: I hadn't completely closed the door to the idea of a second relationship with Ryan in my mind. Our time apart had led me to appreciate more of his personality and character traits and after various circumstances and encouragement from my parents, I decided to email Ryan to request that we clarify and process through a few things still lingering from our previous relationship and hinted that I would be open to the thought of exploring something together again.

Ryan: I knew there was a mission trip to Haiti coming up that we both would be participating in and figured it would be good to start a little dialogue since Glesni's email made me rethink that possibility of something happening between us. I knew there would be things to work through, but I also knew that she was a true gem and didn't want to close the door until I knew for certain that she wasn't the gem for me.

We definitely sought to be intentional on the mission trip and by the end of those two weeks, I became increasingly excited at the thought of getting back into a relationship with Glesni. Thankfully, shortly after the mission trip ended, I was able to stop by her house in Idaho on the way to one of my clinical placements. While there, God very clearly led us back into a relationship.

Glesni: Over the next several months we were very intentional in visiting each other and spending more time together. We realized that our prior relationship had lacked in the area of quality time that was so important to deepening our friendship romantically, and so we prioritized this as much as we could while still being long distance. From visiting Ryan in Reno at one of his clinical assignments, to spending time in Tennessee during another clinical, to capitalizing on trips planned for other reasons, we managed to see each other basically once a month until Ryan came out for his third clinical placement out in Idaho. I still had many questions and was struggling to know whether this relationship was God's will for my future, but I kept praying that He would make His will clear. And I knew this concentrated time together could be the real test...

Ryan: With how drawn out our relationship appeared to some, I knew that both of us were seeking clarity while also wanting to be fair to the other person. In my ideal world, I was hoping that we would find that clarity quickly and I would be able to propose to her shortly after that clinical in Idaho. But God had other plans... That time together was the most positive extended interaction we had experienced and I kept seeing lots of potential and small glimmers of God's leading, and all of the moments of uncertainty made us have to turn to God more. As nice as it would have been to know God's will for the future immediately, He used these experiences to draw us both closer to Him.

Glesni: Our time together those two months definitely felt the most promising as I contemplated our future and whether God was leading us together. However, our months apart that followed allowing for limited time together caused more uncertainty in my mind. I was earnestly praying for God to make things absolutely clear since I knew we couldn't just continue in relational limbo much longer, but that clarity seemed slow in coming. I just couldn't seem to find peace in either solution which was extremely frustrating to me as I sought to try to communicate my confusing thoughts and feelings to Ryan. I almost broke up with him again several times, but counsel from my parents and others that I trusted led me back to trying to work through things again and again.

Ryan: I could have been very frustrated at this point but it wasn't like everyday was a cloudy one. Furthermore every time I journaled and submitted it to God it seemed as if He was telling me to continue forward—whether it was for continued personal growth or to marry Glesni I didn't fully know—I simply trusted in God.

I had been planning to move to Idaho and start my first job as a licensed physical therapist, and even though I knew that things were uncertain, I knew that God had clearly opened this job opportunity for me and trusted that even if we did break up, God wanted me to be out in Idaho. I still had my hopes as I knew that a lot of Glesni's uncertainties and the limitations of our relationship rested in the fact that she hadn't fully decided in her mind to move forward. I trusted others who knew her best that once she made up her mind on something she would be 100% committed. I just continued to pray and wait with excitement to see how God would lead one way or the other (although I hoped He would lead towards things working out!)

Glesni: It was fairly stressful at the time having Ryan move out to Idaho with all the uncertainty still in my mind. I didn't want to feel obligated to make a decision one way or the other just because he was out here, but I also felt a bit guilty knowing that one of the main reasons he moved to Idaho was because of me. I continued earnestly seeking for God's wisdom to know how to move forward. It was definitely a slow journey, but I gradually started to feel increasing peace about our relationship, despite the ups and downs along the way. And I am so thankful to my parents and close friends who supported me through that difficult journey.

Ryan: It was wonderful to see that Glesni was experiencing growing peace and joy in our relationship. I couldn't help but fall more in love with her as the weeks marched on out in Idaho. The ups and downs of our relational journey showed me that no matter what the future might bring, we could face it together with God at our forefront. He had lead in very clear ways and worked so many miracles to bring us to this point that I knew He would continue to guide us as we sought to follow His will, and I was excited to enter a new phase of our relationship! I sensed that we were ready to take the next step...

Registry

We are so grateful for the support of our family and friends as we embark on life together.