I first met Lauren early in the summer of 2019, when she came to the house church I was a part of. I don’t remember much about that night, how our introductions went or anything, though I think it is safe to say I was probably pretty awkward. But there is one thing I do remember... At the end of our gathering, we were sharing different prayer requests, and she offered to pray for mine. When she started praying, it became very clear that this was a woman who loved God and had a close relationship with Him. Listening to her, I remember feeling moved and left with a feeling that this was someone I wanted to get to know more. The weeks passed by through the summer, and we saw each other on a regular basis, both at church and during a seminary class we were both sitting in on with a couple friends. We were able to become friends, and stayed in touch when she left at the end of summer to go back to school. Over the course of the next year, we saw each other off and on and remained friends who encouraged each other and helped each other in various ministry capacities.

Throughout this time, I had begun to ask the Lord about Lauren, to see if He nudged me towards her in any way to become more than just friends. But she was still finishing college, I was finishing up grad school, we lived in different cities, and the timing just never seemed right. I would hope to see her at other ministry events, though she wouldn’t be able to make it, or I wouldn’t be there when she was. I kept hoping to see her, and praying about pursuing her. But nothing ever seemed to move forward.

In spring of 2020, Lauren finished school, then moved to Oklahoma City a couple months later with some friends. She started coming to our house church again, and we began seeing each other very often. We were still friends, but at times she seemed very distant and uninterested, so I assumed we would only remain friends (I later learned this was her way of trying to hide her actual interest). I still prayed about her often, and kept reaching out to her from time to time to offer prayer and encouragement. Then came the dreaded ice storm of October 2020…

Both of us lost electricity on a Tuesday, during one of the worst ice storms Oklahoma had faced in years. I came home from work to find the power was still out, and had heard hers was too from one of her roommates. Prior to this, I would normally have called one of her roommates to check in on them, since it was usually one of them who initiated conversations between our group of friends. But for some reason, I decided I wanted to call Lauren this time. So I called her to ask how they were doing, and what their plan was since their power was still out. What I thought was going to be a 2 minute conversation turned into almost 30 minutes… I was left wondering a whole lot more about Lauren. The next night we met with a group of friends at the home of one of them who still happened to have power, and I spent most of the night talking with her. It was hard to stop thinking about her at this point, but I continued praying, asking the Lord for guidance and clarity about what to do. The morning after, she sent me a video message on Marco Polo with a joke about the state I had moved from.

One Marco Polo led to almost non-stop talking for the next few days, and on the following Monday I asked her to meet for coffee. She promptly said no, because she already had plans with her roommates. I was confused, but only until she asked me to meet for coffee a couple days later. We spent about 3 hours talking, and only stopped because the place we were at was going to close down for the night. But I was hooked… I asked her to join me at a brunch with some friends on that Saturday morning, which she did. Afterwards we went for coffee again, and I asked for her thoughts about us dating. To my relief, she too was interested in this, and so we began our relationship. We spent a lot of time together over the next few months, seeing each other almost every day. Our feelings for each other quickly grew, and in a short time we began to talk about future plans. It was not long before I was pretty sure this was the woman I was going to marry. So after a few months and feeling affirmed through prayer, I asked my best friend to marry me.

What attracted me initially to Lauren was how clear it was that she loved God, as I saw this in her actions, her attitude, in the way she prayed, in the way she cared for others, in her zeal for the Lord. This was a woman of God. As we grew to know each other while dating, I learned more about her story and how Jesus had changed her life. She told me of her former struggles, of living in darkness and feeling alone. But also of how when she learned the truth of who Jesus is and what He had done in giving His life for all people, she submitted to His authority and gave her life to Him. This is what changed her life radically, and she has never looked back since. Her story is my story, because I too once lived in darkness, feeling as if my life was meaningless. And when I learned of who Jesus is and what He did, I too had given my life to Him and was freed from darkness. As we look to our future together, our greatest desire is to serve God wherever, whenever, however, and with whoever He wants us to. Our lives are bound to Christ above all, and will be bound to each other second. Our lives belong to Him because He gave His life for us.

I met Ben while I was interning with a church in Oklahoma City the summer after my junior year of college. That was in 2019. When I first met Ben, I remember immediately liking him--no on can deny that Ben Clark is a likable guy. I think it's safe to say that we were friends from the beginning. I wasn't necessarily interested in dating Ben at the time. However, I did admire his love for God and his love for people. It was clear from his lifestyle that he was truly giving his life to follow the Lord.

Over the next few years, God was continuing to draw me closer and was speaking to me about working and living in OKC during and after college. Ben and I ran in the same circle, so we saw each other over the next year until I moved to OKC in the summer of 2020.

When I moved to OKC, I honestly still wasn't interested in dating Ben. Because I was now living in OKC, though, we were around each other a lot more. One night, Brooke and I made a cake at Ben and Micah's apartment (please don't ask about how the cake turned out thanks), and I remember talking to Ben one-on-one. For some reason, I began to wonder if he was possibly interested in me. Soon I began to realllly admire his love for God, for his family, for his spiritual brothers and sisters, and for the lost. I began desiring to see him. When he didn't show up to an event or a gathering, I was disappointed.

So what did I do with these newfound feelings? I began avoiding Ben at all costs, and I probably confused him a lot. I began noticing him paying me more attention, though, and I couldn't really avoid him forever. I also began noticing that he messaged me once a week to see how he could be praying for me (good move, Ben). I asked my roommates if he was messaging them as well, but he wasn't. I took this as him probably being interested in me. He messaged me a lot, so I prayed one week that he would call me instead. It was the week of an ice storm, and our power was out. He called me to see if we were doing alright, and we ended up talking on the phone for a while. That night, we ended up at a friend's apartment and also talked there.

That same night, we also introduced everyone to a messaging app called Marco Polo. Ben downloaded it and immediately added me. The next day, I decided to Marco Polo him and we've been talking ever since. About a month after starting to talk, Ben asked me to go to a brunch with him and his friends. Sold.

And then a few months later, he asked me to marry him. I said yes.