Our story

Jackie’s Perspective

The Beginning

Jackie was heartbroken. She desired to be loved and deeply understood, but after pouring herself into relationships that were not Godly, she started to wonder if it was even possible. She decided to give up on trying to find “the one” and instead give her all to the Lord. What that looked like at this moment in her life was going to Passion alone. So there she was, sitting alone in Dickies Arena as everyone poured in. She had gotten there 2 hours early to be as close to the stage as possible so that she could be fully engulfed in worship.

Despite being alone, she knew why she was there. Exactly a year before, God had a personal encounter with her, and she came running back. Now all she had to give the Lord were the pieces of her broken heart and the emptiness she felt insideafter running back to the world again. But yet even in her loneliness and heartbreak, God had plans laid out for her. Far better than she could ever imagine or comprehend.

She had no idea that God was going to heal those deep-rooted wounds of the past, heal her of addiction, cleanse her speech, change the way she viewed relationships, give her a love for children, and ultimately change her heart. All she knew was that she needed Him…so she showed up.

The twist in this story is a silly country boy who grew up getting his hands dirty in the middle of the plains of eastern Colorado was going to walk into her life & love her as no one on earth had ever loved her.

So here’s how it went:

She called Wyatt, who was the brother of her friend Colton who had originally invited her to FCA a year prior, and he answered saying they had just gotten in. She looked around at all the people saving seats and turned to the people next to her, asking “Are these seats saved for anyone?” And in a moment they said, “Actually our friends just ditched us, howmany do you need?” *This was God’s plan all along*

Wyatt told her 4 people so she got them seats and then waited for them to come down.

The first time she saw Lain she was shocked. Not out of love at first sight—but bc Colton had always mentioned him as his “younger brother” and so she thought he’d look young. Nope. He had a full beard and was wearing jeans and a hat, looking like all the boys she knew growing up at home in rural PA. She was so surprised when he didn’t look young at all,but older than all of them.

She didn’t pay much attention to him, but as they all were waiting, he and his best friend Josh started telling all kinds of jokes, and she joined in on it.

She started to feel a childlike innocence come upon her, like when she was back in high school before college had wrecked her view of relationships. Through the worship and messages, she felt herself being poured out before the Lord and was deeply encouraged by the lyrics of the songs and the teachings.

By the last day, she was surprised by the fact that she secretly wanted to sit next to Lain for some reason. She has gotten his number to let them know where she was. She liked the idea of him sitting next to her and tried to convince herself thatshe didn’t have a crush. (Bc she wasn’t attracted to him).

When the conference was over, she didn’t want anyone to suspect that she liked him, so she hugged him the fastest out of everyone and went on her way.

Our Friendship

After leaving, Lain texted her asking if she could send him the notes, so she rewrote them all and sent them to him. Then they began texting back and forth about all kinds of things. Whether it was what Jesus was showing them, what they were reading in the Bible, what events happened that day, or what food they liked, they talked to each other about everything. It was the first time she felt she could express how much she loved Jesus without being shut down, but instead encouraged and built up!

With balancing taking care of her dad after a hunting accident, coaching his volleyball team, doing things around the house, and growing her relationship with Jesus, she found having a friend comforting in this trying and transformative time.

The friendship grew ever closer, and when she discovered Lain would be coming to visit his brothers, she was overcomewith excitement! He had asked her to go to lunch and she was so nervous she asked her kind friend AJ what she should do. He simply told her, “He asked you to lunch. Just go to lunch and talk to him. It’ll be okay.” His words helped alleviate some of her nerves. So when the day did come when he pulled up to Schyler House in Colton’s old, green car, she ran to meet him in childlike excitement, so joyful to finally spend time with her newly discovered friend from afar. They walked down the hill to the Starbucks that used to sit on the corner of Ithaca Commons, and Lain realized as they walked in, that he had forgotten his wallet. All nervous, he stuttered “Oh NO! I forgot my wallet.” Jackie felt relief because she never liked when guys would pay for her food anyway, and liked the idea of blessing him instead of being paid for the“traditional” way. Throughout the weekend, they went on three dates, including a stop at her favorite froyo spot in CTown, Jason’s. Little did she know that dairy made Lain’s stomach hurt. He joyfully ate it anyway.

When Lain was leaving to go back home, he dropped Jackie off at Bartels. She knew she was not ready for any relationships and still had many things to bring before the Lord, so when Lain said “Jackie, I want you to know my intentions with you are pure", she immediately thought “Intentions for what?”

She then suggested that they should pursue the Lord wholeheartedly, fixing their eyes on Him and that they can see where they end up in the next few months. She got out of the car, hugged him, and then headed into her locker room.Immediately, she began to tell her teammates about this poor guy who likes her, and the fact that she didn’t know what to do. Plus in the back of her mind, she knew he was far too innocent and loving to be with her, a far-off life of the party who had been in plenty of unholy “relationships” to know she wasn’t worth much to most.

But then the Lord showed up on the scene and rewrote the entire story. The Lord began healing her, growing her, guiding and leading, and rewriting the pages of pain she had scribbled for herself. She decided that year that she would eat, sleep, and breathe Jesus. She attended a Christian event every night of the week except for Saturday. At an event called BraveLove, a woman prayed for her masturbation addiction to be broken off and to fast from all music, TV, and social media, and she did. She didn’t realize just how much what was coming in her ears and eyes was impacting her. When she removed those things and relied on the Lord, he healed her. This was just one of the many things the Lord healed during that time. She was given a love for children that she had never had, almost as if God had gifted her eyes to see children as he sees them.

Lain was there through all of this and he never stopped building her up in faith. They tip-toed around the word love as April rolled past into May, and through a series of events, she had become accustomed to the idea of being with Lain, growing in anticipation to see him.

Dating Unto Marriage

Then suddenly Jackie was out of school and Lain flew out to visit her!

They drove down from Ithaca to her family’s farmhouse in Central PA, where Lain would ask her dad to date her. It was a beautiful time of sharing testimonies, introducing her sisters and mom to him, and talking around the fire after the sun went down. She waited patiently after Lain and her dad went out to talk, and he came back with a big smile on his face. He asked her to be his girlfriend, and though she was scared if it was the right answer, she said yes.

Then the rest is history! They went on a road trip across the country to move Lain into Stanford, which grew them ever closer. Throughout their first summer together, they went to a house church where they met their now-church family, and discovered many of their favorite spots including Salmon Creek Falls, hundreds of coffee shops, and Shark Fin Cove!

Then, Jackie went back to Cornell and though they longed to be together, they prayed and sought the Lord, knowing they were on mission together at their campuses.

Then in a blink of an eye, a year passed and they were spending the summer working at a church in California together! It seemed like Jackie couldn’t remember a time not knowing Lain, what a friend he had become, and she couldn’t imagine life without him by her side. She learned so many small things about him that being apart didn’t reveal. Such beautifully crafted details like the way his face looked when he was about to laugh, how he loved holding her hand, and the way he played with the kids at church. She noticed the shade of his eyes in the summer sun, how he loved to surf, and the heart he had for others in the mundane moments of the day, whether that was looking to share the Gospel on the street or serve someone in the grocery store. She also noticed the way he took care of her and drove her to the ER, staying by her side through it all, comforting her. These were all things she kept in her heart, realizing that God had given her a gift she was so undeserving of, a gift far greater than anything she ever prayed for or sought after, God had given her Lain.

Then September 2024 came and went, and they were engaged!

To make a very long story short, this is a story not of two lovers finding one another, but of two people finding the Only One who could mend their broken hearts, restore them & redeem them, and His name is Jesus.

He brought them together. He worked miracles and healed wounds from past relationships, mistrust, and addiction.

So there she was, running after all the things she thought would fulfill, and yet in her sins stained scarlet, Jesus washed her white as snow.

He clothed her in righteousness and dressed her as a bride.

She never thought she’d be a bride, but Jesus had other plans…

Far better, far higher, far greater, more wonderful, more glorious than what she planned for herself.

This isn’t about anyone but Him.

To Him all the Glory forever and ever, Amen.

Our Story

Lain’s Perspective

The Beginning

Lain had been wanting to be at the Passion Conference since he was 16 years old, and finally, the time had come. It was December of 2022 and he rallied together his best friend Josh, his brother Wyatt, and Wyatt's fianceé at the time Libby, now wife. They decided to drive to Dallas, Texas from their hometown, Byers, Colorado. Lain was notorious for being a heartbreaker in high school, along with being broken over the years by searching for the wrong type of love in this world that could only be found in Jesus. This meant this conference was not a match-making trip for Lain, rather it was a place to encounter God. By the grace of God, they were able to drive down and reach Dickies Arena where the conference would ultimately be held. Lain was deeply impacted the first night by the love of Jesus, which then followed the morning session the next day. Wyatt said that there was a fellow Cornell student who was at the conference, which was familiar as Lain's 2 older brothers went to Cornell during that time. They decided to go find this mysterious lady who was there, she told Wyatt there were 4 seats available right next to her. As they walked down to the ground level, there she was, standing and jumping from her excitement, seeing a familiar face in Wyatt. Lain might have been embarrassing himself as his mouth dropped to the floor of how magnificent her beauty was and he later found out her name was Jackie, but he wanted to make sure his heart was at this conference for the Lord so he did not make anything of it. With there being a time before the worship would start, they all started to talk. Josh was sitting next to Jackie and Lain was next to Josh. They all started to speak with the first question being “What is your favorite dog”, followed by “What was your first encounter with Jesus.” That second question stopped Lain’s mind at that moment as he had never met a woman who only cared about Jesus in the way she would speak about her faith. She was not only the most ravishing woman but most beautiful was her heart that shined for her love of Jesus. The conference continued into worship until later that night, when they all went back to their Airbnb and Jackie decided to come with them to play board games. They were playing Josh’s favorite game called “Risk”, and this game takes such a long time during the game, Jackie was across from Lain on the table where she was smiling at Lain in a way that seemed very flirtatious. Lain was so taken aback that he started to wrestle with questions like “Is it okay if I like her, or “God I thought I was here for you alone.” And God with His love and compassion so gently reminded Lain that his past hurt in relationships and one could say a bad track record was washed white through the blood of Christ and now Lain was a new creation in Christ Jesus. Lain and Josh dropped Jackie off at her hotel that night with the final 2 sessions being the next day, as Lain and Josh drove back to the Airbnb Josh knew Lain had a twinkle in his eyes over her. Lain and Josh stayed up that night while Lain chatted about what to do if he got her number, but they decided to pray together and ask the Lord to guide Lain. The next day came and Jackie needed Lain’s number for us to find seats with her, this was a blessing as Jackie would have put Lain in a box of guys who were trying to date her. The last session was around the afternoon on December 29th, 2022 and Lain was longing to finally sit next to Jackie; he asked Josh to sit next to her, and finally, he did. Lain was very nervous as they chatted but he was now next to the one his heart was drawn to, they worshipped the Lord together until the session ended. They all departed with goodbye hugs, Lain was hoping to hug her a little longer but she hugged him very quickly to his surprise. Lain and Josh started to talk on the drive back to Colorado, and Lain had such strong feelings for Jackie. Lain was the designated driver on the way back for the 12-hour drive, and during this time Lain and Jackie were talking and texting back and forth. This was the start of their friendship for the rest of their lives or at least this was what God had planned, but not in the way they could have ever imagined.

Friendship

After Passion, there was a huge change where Lain and Jackie now became wonderful friends. They went from strangers to best friends overnight, this began the chain of long threads of text messages to late-night calls. Being a senior in high school who was ready to leave for Stanford University in a few months Lain was eager to move across the country, along with Jackie being a sophomore at Cornell University she was now turning from all things of the world to chase after all of the heart of Jesus. It was a few weeks after Passion when they had their first Facetime call and Lain was now starting to believe this was the person that he might spend the rest of his life with. Fast forward to February 2 months after they met, Lain was visiting Cornell to watch his oldest brother Colton wrestle in a match, and on this trip, Lain decided to ask Jackie out on a date. The first date was at a Starbucks in downtown Ithaca, New York where they walked from her dorm and Lain’s heart was racing so much that he even forgot to bring his wallet. The date was wonderful as they talked for hours and then the wrestling match was starting later that day. They went together and spent a lot of time together laughing, smiling, and talking about their favorite thing in the whole world, Jesus. A few football guys at Cornell decided to give Lain a pep talk when he arrived about how they had a plan to position him in a spot where Jackie would sit right next to him. This ended up happening wonderfully and this trip was followed by 3 more dates, one where Lain and Jackie talked for hours about their faith and all things in life. The trip ended when Lain was dropping Jackie off at her lift, where he would eventually say “I want you to know my intentions for you are pure.” Jackie’s face was relatively shocked and took a moment to then say “Let us chase after Jesus with everything we have, and we might run into each other along the way.” Lain agreed and they departed as Jackie was still at school at Cornell University, and Lain would fly back to Colorado to finish his senior year. There were so many prayers and questions in the heart of Lain after that trip, yet as Jackie had said they chased after Jesus. It was the end of February by now and Lain was taking a cruise with his mom and younger brother, which meant they would not be on calls for over a week. Lain would try to call while on the boat, but the calls would fail so Lain decided to put his phone away and enjoy the cruise with his family. As it ended they returned to the hotel in Florida before they flew back to Colorado, where Lain would call Jackie at 10 pm and she was flabbergasted as she would tell Lain later “You were so attractive to me at that moment.” She explained that she was now finally attracted to Lain, and Jackie then decided to take a 30-minute break as she went downstairs to be with her roommates Lain was waiting wondering what had happened. Neither of them knew that this would sprout into something so beautiful, or even think that this would be the person that their souls loved.

Dating Unto Marriage

Now a couple of months later it was in April of 2023 and Lain was very certain this was who he would be dating to marry, which then meant he would need to wait till the end of May to officially ask in person. Lain and Jackie believed it would be most honorable for Lain to ask Jackie’s dad for permission to date her as this was a decision to pursue marriage together. Lain flew out to Cornell University, followed by them driving to her hometown in Lebanon, PA where Lain would eventually ask her father for permission to date her, which then he followed by asking Lain “Will you marry her.” Lain knew this would be the one he would spend the rest of his life with as his best friend, wonderful love, and the all-around person who made him more like Jesus every single day. Lain asked Jackie to be his girlfriend on May 25th, 2023 which led to the most radical memories of them driving across the country together to Stanford when Lain would start his freshman year. They now were embarking on the most joyful and exhilarating journey together as they did long distance for the first year of school, followed by working at a church together in the summer of 2024. And for that whole summer, Lain was starting to put the plan together to propose in September 2024. Which later happened on their favorite waterfall near Cornell University, with a celebration afterward with so many of those who walked with them during their whole relationship. After this Lain and Jackie would deeply be led by the Lord to enjoy the season the Lord has them in. Their story is only one that can be described through the lens of Jesus, as they never would have expected to have found each other, but Christ through His mercy guided them to each other as they were chasing after Him. Now Lain can say as Song of Solomon says in 3:4 “I

have found the one whom my soul loves.”

All to the Glory of Christ Jesus, Forever and Ever Amen!