Some say that the key to finding the love of your life is to stop looking. Honestly, that is exactly what happened to me. Brooke and I had been friends for a while, but there was never anything more than that between us. We kept up with each other here and there but every time we would go a month or a few months without talking, we’d pick up right where we left off like no time had passed. Over time (and helping her through some really rough moments), I started to see how truly amazing Brooke was. Our whole friendship was based on a love of the Bible, and she just blew me away with how caring and compassionate she was, but I still was in denial about how I felt about her. It wasn’t until someone let the cat out of the bag that I finally had to 'fess up to how I felt about her, and as I expected…she turned me down flat. We still kept in touch though (much to my surprise) and one day, out of the blue, Brooke called me and had a very simple statement. “Remember how I said I didn’t have feelings? Well, that’s not true anymore.” Being a preacher, you have moments when you need to speak on the fly and I have been able to do that fairly successfully before, and in that moment I used that training to respond in the single…dumbest way possible. “What do you want me to do with that information?” Even though she was on the phone I could see the look that said, “You’re an idiot.” She recovered quickly though and got straight to the point. “Take me on a date, you idiot” (this is how I knew which look she gave by the way). Around this time, there were a lot of difficult changes happening in my life and every day seemed to find a new way to make things worse. One day, I was about to head out to lunch and who showed up, but the most beautiful girl in the world. She had come down because she didn’t know how else to help me at that time (that was the best thing she could have possibly done). A few days later we went on our “first planned” date and from there the rest is history. Eight months later, I was in a ring shop with my girlfriend and a few weeks later I took Brooke out to a waterfall near Cookeville and asked her the most important question of our relationship, and she didn’t turn me down this time! We found each other not from any of the ways that people try to spin, we both had a goal of serving God and it just so happened that we ended up on the same path. I am so excited for the day that we get to officially start the rest of our lives together!

Josh and I both had the privilege of growing up in the church and being involved with Biblical related activities for the youth in the church all over the place. We were in the same place so many times but somehow never really noticed each other, until the Memphis lectureship in 2021. I had just graduated from high school and Josh was a student at Memphis. We happened to end up hanging out together with some mutual friends of ours and I remembered thinking that he was one of the funniest people I had ever met! Josh was off his rocker crazy that night, but to be perfectly fair he had a fever of 100+ degrees (but we didn’t know that till the next day). After that week we lost touch but would keep in contact occasionally. No matter how long it’d been since I talked to Josh, he always made everything make so much sense. He has always been there to listen to whatever I had going on in life and prepared with some crazy fictional story to make it a little more light hearted. Time went by and by and by and by and things had changed a lot. I learned a lot of things about my life and myself! I had made some major life changes and my priorities shifted pretty majorly. I was prioritizing my spiritual life more than I ever had in my whole life and I was learning how important friends and family really were. Christian friends became the forefront of my life! I found myself being drawn closer to people that truly enjoyed studying the Bible regularly and talking about it! I started Bible studies with some of those friends and found how much it made my life better! Spoiler alert: Josh was one of those people! I was taking time focusing on myself and my relationship with God but I needed help doing that. Josh was one of those people who helped me every step of the way. As I began to get a grasp on what the future of my life looked like, I had no interest of dating anyone for a while and continuing to focus on my spiritual growth. I had several guys express interest or ask me out on dates but I turned them down. Josh had quickly become one of my closest friends and I began to suspect he had feelings for me and that scared me, because I didn’t have any for him. His friendship meant too much to me to put that in jeopardy. Somehow Josh knew that and kept those feelings to himself. Until someone outed him, and he confessed that they were telling the truth. I again turned someone else down but still found myself talking to him the next day. We stayed friends for a few more weeks until I prayed a specific prayer. I’ve always said be careful what you pray for because God’s providence is very real. And I got a real life example! I prayed that I would have the strength to recognize a good man and to let my guard down. I prayed that I would find a godly Christian man who would do whatever it took to get me to heaven and that I would be able to do the same for him. As soon as I spoke that I just stopped, stunned. It was Josh. Josh was the answer to that prayer. That was pretty much it (except with a lot more drama). I asked him out on a date, we planned a first date, I jumped the gun and surprised him with an impromptu first date, we finally went our first date we planned/ actual second date, Josh lost his job, we kept talking, kept dating, he kept asking for me to be his girlfriend and I kept saying no, he spent a weekend with my parents, we finally became officially boyfriend and girlfriend, we said I love you, Josh found a new job, my granny died, I got into nursing school, we talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked about getting married (and talked), we decided we couldn’t live without each other, we made an engagement ring, we got engaged and then I broke my foot! Life couldn’t get crazier but I’ve never been more thankful to have Josh by my side. He’s one of the most spiritually minded, generous, kind, caring, and wonderful person I have ever met. And I can’t wait to see what crazy things happen in our lives. But I’ve never been more sure of anything than this, I absolutely can not wait to marry Josh Kennedy because he will never ever not prioritize our spirituality and happiness.