I came to the church in October of 2015, and when I attended my first service I saw Keela for the first time. I was with one of my best friends Greg at the time and asked him who she was. She was on stage doing transition and I said to Greg, "who is that?" and he replied, "That's Keela Craft, the Pastor's daughter." He briefly told me her story and I was interested immediately. I thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. However, she was on a journey of restoration and I knew that the timing wasn't right for me to pursue her.

God had also spoken to me on several occasions that I was her husband. I almost couldn't believe it. I had never received a more clear signal in my entire life.

On January 8th 2017, Keela commented on a video I had posted on social media and I responded back not expecting to have a conversation. Nonetheless, it started a conversation and we haven't stopped talking since. God has brought so much peace to my life with her. The saying in life is "when you know you will know." That was something I thought was just for movies to be really honest for you. There isn't a handbook on how to distinguish what that is supposed to feel like. However, when I met Keela for the first time I IMMEDIATELY knew it was right.

She is God's greatest gift to me and beyond what I could have ever dreamed of. Today I am happier than I have ever been in my life and engaged to God's best for me. I get the opportunity of a lifetime to marry my best friend, and not many people get to say that. I will forever be grateful that she chooses me and chooses to love me.

It is my life's greatest honor to be able to be the man that God has appointed to be her forever.

I treasure her and always will. My heaven on earth has begun.

Honestly, I had seen Cole from afar but never spoken to him. In October 2015 was first time I noticed him... my sister was leading worship one Sunday - She hurried down off of the stage came straight over to me on the front row & said, "Look to your left - you see that guy standing next to Greg?" I was like, "Yeah..." She then stated, "He's here for you!" I actually laughed & smiled at her & just said, "okay." Over a year and a half went by... I was on my own journey of healing & restoration. & he was new to the church, busy with building businesses & figuring out what he wanted in life.

Little did I know - all along, since the first weekend service he came to... He had seen me too! & I also came to find out that God had spoken to him multiple times about me. :) I had no idea, all along God was preparing both of us for each other. I fully believe now - that God sometimes puts 'blinders' on us, until the time is right. Because I had seen Cole, others had talked to me about him even, but to be honest; I had no idea we would even ever connect.

We didn't talk at all until one day around May 2016, I invited him to our Young Adults service at the church & that was all - Months passed... & we never even spoke. Then on January 8th, I added him on Instagram, & thats where it all began...

Theres this feature on Instagram that plays personally streamed videos. I was falling asleep (probably at 3am or so)- :) & was just scrolling on those videos. I came across Coles video unintentionally... It was the funniest thing! He full on was in his car singing, "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain. I never knew he was that funny! & the song was such a great throwback... So I commented & said, "Great song man." I wasn't trying to start a conversation with him... But that next morning on January 9th at like (8am - I am NEVER awake then).... I get a message, starting a conversation based on my comment. I felt nervous to be honest because I wasn't sure what his intentions or thoughts were - in responding back to a simple comment I made. But I responded... I mean HE IS THE MOST ATTRACTIVE MAN I HAVE EVER SEEN! :)

Well - Cole & I talked all day that first day & at the end of the day he asked if he could pray for me. I tend to get awkward kind of when I talk to a man I think is attractive, so when he asked me that I quickly responded, " Well, of course you can... We are both Christians, aren't we?" Hahah OMG, what was wrong with me?!? I guess it made me nervous. As soon as he began to pray for me, I started to cry. So I quickly put the phone on mute, pointed at myself & said, "GET IT TOGETHER KEELA!" I didn't even know this man, & here I am crying...

I realized that night; I have never had a man so intentionally pray for me. So that was the start of the crying... Since the first day & even up to now... All I feel like I do is cry. There has been so many "God moments" & confirmations about him in my life, & I have never experienced feeling Gods love through those moments like I have with him.

We continued to talk all that 2nd day... & finally I say, "If we are going to keep talking, I need to actually meet you in person." He laughed & agreed. So that night we went outside of his apartment on a bench & talked. Not much time had passed in us knowing each other (A WHOLE 2 DAYS) - He then grabs my face & says, ON THE 2ND DAY... "You need to know, I am going to marry you."

I literally laughed nervously & responded back, "haha umm okayyy." He was so confident in his approach & communication to me...

Quickly we realized that what we felt for each other was not fading, it wasn't even just growing at a steady pace... Our feelings were progressing so fast, & it felt completely normal to both of us. We were always on the same page about it. Which was even more weird... haha. One month into becoming friends, we told my parents we knew we for real wanted to get married... I expected them to tell me I was crazy. But they didn't... They BLESSED us. We wanted wise council - We wanted to honor God in it all... & so thats what we did.

Together we decided we wanted to experience all the seasons together, getting to know eachother | dating | & engagement... & while it has all been fast tracked, I WOULN'T CHANGE ONE THING!

I see Gods hand in it all... I am so blessed that I GET TO LOVE COLE!

How I truly feel about Cole, how I feel about our life together is:

"We were together - I forget the rest."

So, growing up I always thought about how could I plan the perfect proposal? Truly, it was something that frequented my train of thought. I thought it would be so nerve-racking trying to plan the "perfect" proposal. You don't want to be the guy who pops the question in the most cliche way. When I met Keela I knew she was the one I wanted to spend forever, and I immediately broken into a panic attack because I wanted it to be beyond perfect. I said to myself, "what in the world are you going to do for your proposal?" As time went on I was talking to her family about things that she really liked and what her ideal proposal was.Then I was able to gather some really good information to plan the "perfect" proposal.

Originally I wanted to propose on May 1st, because of the significance of the number 1 in Keela's life. It is her spiritual number. My spiritual number is 3. We began dating on the 1st, and I wanted to propose on the first, and get married on the 1st. Which would equate to THREE ONE's. As time passed I grew more and more anxious to propose to her. I wanted her to be my fiancé as soon as possible. I had waited my whole life to meet the woman BEYOND my dreams, so I didn't really want to wait any longer.

I started to thinking to myself - "Why are you waiting to marry the woman beyond your dreams? You have waited so long, and we are not promised another day - so you need to do it." Those are the types of conversations I have with myself. I knew in that moment it needed to happen.

Thank God for the entire Craft family because without them I wouldn't have been able to execute it the way that I wanted. I collaborated with Whitney and started to search for beautiful places in Dallas. We came to the Crescent Hotel in downtown Dallas, which was a place she specifically told me she wanted to go to, not long ago. It had a beautiful area that I knew Keela would absolutely love. Plus it would serve as a special place where we would always go back to and celebrate.

The theme to my proposal if you will was THREE different surprises. The first of which was a surprise date to the restaurant NOBU. Keela LOVES sushi and I don't so I wanted to surprise her with one of her favorite meals. We don't go out and eat sushi very often, actually hardly ever. So, I told her to be ready at 5:15 and I would be picking her up. She had no idea where we were going. When we got there she was so excited because she loved the area and was elated to know that we were eating sushi.

Meanwhile - Whitney had orchestrated for the entire Craft family to be there at 6:45 to set up for the proposal. I had made a reservation for 6 p.m. and I figured it would take us AT LEAST an hour to eat. But of course it didn't. We were done by 6:30 and I got a text at the same time from her sister Whitney that they were in HORRIBLE traffic and were running late. So panic started to set in. Whitney said you need to stall her. I didn't know what to do. So, the best thing that came to my mind was to take pictures because I knew Keela loved Pictures. So, I literally asked every single waiter that walked by to take a picture of us. Keela began to get uncomfortable because I was asking everyone in the restaurant to take a picture of us. By the time that we got done with our "photoshoot" it was still only 6:53 p.m. I texted Whitney saying "I have no ideas left to stall her, where are you guys??" lol. Finally, Whitney and the family were pulling in. About 10 minutes later I get a text from Keela's mom - "We are here, READY? GO!!!" So, at that moment I got up and I said "Lets go walk around outside it is beautiful." As we were walking to the courtyard area of the Crescent Hotel Keela saw the entire set up and asked, "What is that???" I just said, "Keep walking with me." Then that's where I turned to the woman BEYOND my dreams and asked her to marry me and spent the rest of her life with me. She said yes of course :) Her whole family was able to catch it on video and experience the whole thing live. I also had my man Al Torrico Photographing the entire moment.

The night of surprises was not over. I had already surprised her twice and it was now time for the third surprise. With the help of her entire family (again whom I could not have executed this night without) I planned an engagement party. With the wedding coming up on June 1st - Keela was sad that we weren't going to have enough time to have an engagement party. So, I knew that I needed to make that happen for her. As we are driving back from the dinner and proposal - Keela thought we were just going back to her parents house to celebrate with her family. When we got there all of her closest friends were there to surprise us and celebrate this amazing night with us. It was the perfect ending to an unbelievable night. The 23rd of April will forever be engrained in my mind.

My BEYOND dreams have come true and until I get to say "I do" to the woman BEYOND my dreams - this was the single greatest day of my life. Keela DeShá Craft getting to marry you is the SINGLE GREATEST honor today and forevermore to be the man that gets to love you. Thank YOU for loving me and choosing me. I'm going to spend the rest of my life making you the happiest woman on the face of the earth. I can't wait to be YOUR husband.

First of all - I had no clue a moment could be that amazing... Cole is the most incredible man. I had no reason to feel like I was getting engaged, but the night before I was journaling & reading my bible... & I felt like I needed to look up the meaning of the numbers 20 & 3.

So thats what I did... I love #'s & so does Cole, & I had the strangest feeling that April 23rd was going to be a special day. The # 20 means a few things but the main meaning is, "A complete or perfect waiting period, the time of redemption." & the #3 means, "Divine fullness, completeness, or perfection." Finally the #23 together signifies, "The number of death and resurrection-life."

When I was researching this - I began to get emotional. Cole & I, in our own right have been through many difficult things. The thing I love about this is that we both have been made stronger & more mature through our process. & I truly believe that everything we have both faced has led us to each other.

But for me, in my bed that night - realizing & seeing what tomorrow meant, I was already amazed at Gods intentionality. My dad has always taught me that, whatever we make important to us - God makes important to Him. So it doesn't fully surprise me that God has continued to use dates & days to speak to me... But I am & was still in awe that already God was preparing my heart for a God moment once again.

I had no reason except that God wanted me to be aware that April 23rd would be a special day for me... He began to stir my heart. & so that night when me & Cole went on a date, I truly expected nothing like a proposal... But I did expect God to do something GREAT!

& HE DID.

Cole & I ate dinner in Dallas at a place called The Cresent Hotel. I had recently told him I wanted to go there sometime on a date... He took me to a restaurant, & after he asked if I wanted to walk around I said, "Of course..." so we did. The whole time he was kind of annoyed because I kept wanting to go outside & take pictures by these flowers in a courtyard area. & kept telling me he wanted to go back inside...

After dinner, we were going to walk around & all of the sudden says, "You wanna sit here & talk for a little bit?" & once again I was like, "SURE..."But I told him it was getting dark & wanted to go outside before it was too dark & we couldn't take more pictures... haha :)

So we get up, towards the EXACT place I was trying to get him to take pictures with me outside before dinner... & I ask him - "Do you know where you are going? I thought you've never been here...?" He looked at me & said, "Just walk with me." I look in front of me & there are white rose petals all over the floor, candles everywhere & a painted canvas. We walk right up to it... & he turns to me.

He began to say how much & why he loves me... & gets on one knee. It felt like we were in our own world. (Which is kind of normal for us.) - but this was different. It was like NOTHING existed outside of that moment. He asked me to be his wife - I OF COURSE SAID, "YES!"

I knelt down with him & cried & thanked him for loving me. It was the BEST day of my life. He is the GREATEST love I have EVER known! I didn't know it was possible to have a love like this...

& then to make things even better - MY FAMILY was watching the whole time!

Cole Madison Ambrose - You are the man BEYOND my dreams. You are MORE than I knew to pray for... & the fact that I GET TO BE YOUR WIFE, is still so surreal!

I will forever remember the 23rd... It is the day God showed us that He LOVED us enough to give us to each other. It truly was a day of completion... It was a time of redemption. & God, in his perfect time gave us divine fullness, completeness, & perfection.

I LOVE YOU COLE!

Love,

{Future Mrs. Ambrose}

Keela's Instagram

Cole's Instagram

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For tagging photos of us or at the wedding- Please use our hashtag:

#ColeAndKeela

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Keela's Facebook

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