We know it's long, but we think it's worth the read :)

This is from my (Samuel’s) initial perspective, and that matters because Reese had no idea who I was when our story really started. It was October of 2022, and I had just finished my last year of school in Birmingham the spring prior. I had a few connections to a church called Legacy Nashville, and they were putting on a conference that October. Reasonably, I ended up in the room at this conference, and spoiler alert: this is where I see Reese for the first time. I didn’t really see her in a movie-esque way though: the crowded room, time standing still, my future flashing before my eyes… nah, none of that. However, it was pretty cool in the way of it being random and definitely the Lord. Here we are at this conference of maybe 500 something people, and as I’m encountering God that weekend, I’m pretty much mush (this is important).

This lady gets up on stage and starts talking about something random. A lottery prize contest. A name gets announced and this girl shoots up with a whole lotta joy. That girl was Reese Lyn. She won Legacy’s ministry school’s scholarship for the following year. That part was cool and all, but what I really knew is that I was torched. I was brought into a Godly swoon I guess you could say. I felt funny feeling any type of way for a girl I’d not met, and the mush made it make some sense. We didn't get to meet that night, but I left there with a name and an unsure feeling that for some reason it was important that I saw Reese that day.

I used to think that seeing a person and having intuition towards a deeper relationship was dumb. That a heavenly matchmaking was somewhat false and unrealistic; you choose the one you want to spend life with. You pour love and sacrifice into a relationship and that’s what makes it golden, especially to begin with. But the experience I had in the process of seeing and meeting Reese definitely switched up any preconceived notions I had about relationships, and love as well.

So much happened from that October on. I stayed 9 months in Birmingham trying to make some way of life as best as I knew, but something was shifting and transition was coming. To keep a long story short, in the midst of things changing, I took a road trip out to Wyoming with some buddies. On our way there, we stopped at a church called Upperroom. At a Sunday service I got set up; not with Reese quite yet, but with God’s clear as day plans for me. In short, He told me to drop my planning and move to Nashville to start a school; Legacy’s ministry school. It sounds cute, but that was not what I wanted. If I moved, I wanted to establish myself, have a job lined up, and be calculated. The kicker was the school started 9 days from the time I got the word, and I had 7 ahead of me to be in Wyoming. None of that really mattered though. Not my reservation, and for sure not my fear, because for the first time in a long time I felt the peace to be irrationally obedient and abandon what I thought was best for me. I was trusting.

I moved to Nashville on September 4th, started a ministry school the following day, and that’s how I ended up meeting Reese. From there, all that intuition wasn’t dumb because she thought I was hot, and I took her on a date a month later. Yeah we fell in love, and that’s why you’re reading this. We’ve been together for a year and some months; the best I’ve had, with a lot of this and a lot of that. I’ll let her give more details of her side, and more about our last year and a half. See you in May.

Reese here now. It’s true. I thought he was hot, and I let him take me out. I think I may have been in love from the moment he said hey. Every friend around me at the time when I was first meeting Sam said that I’d look at him and be floating. My eyes would get locked and not much else mattered. I didn’t necessarily notice that, but apparently it was for good reason and great cause. One big, holy, party is happening now because of it. Woohooo!

There’s really so much that I could say. Maybe, one day, we could sit down and I could tell you all about how my heart felt– what the Lord was doing within the months leading up to that September, and how intentional every detail of God was through and through. I could tell you about the butterflies, the questions, the confirmations and the security my heart found from the start. I could dive in deep for quite a while, telling you about how I’m still shocked that I get to say I’ve been gifted with a love like this.

Long story short though, and many logistics aside, our story is a treasure. It’s everything I ever wanted and everything that I wept to the Lord for. Just like Sam said, I also never believed in “knowing from the start”. I never thought you could see a person and think that maybe that’d be the one you’d vow to, your forever. My experience has spoken much louder than the disbelief though, and I can now say that from the moment I saw Sam, a sliver of me knew. And I shoved that away for quite a while, until time clearly told me that this indeed was the one.

I was terrified to step into love. It really is quite the risk to take, but I’ve found that it is the most worth it when Peace is leading. It was something I found when I’d stopped looking. And since stepping into it, it’s been nothing but beauty. Not seamless or easy or undisturbed. It’s actually been the most refining and we’ve experienced some odd weathering that has proven a love true. We’ve walked through and faced some things that no two people should, but it’s been the most precious journey to walk with him. Maybe I could sum it up like this: this last year and a half has felt like a few, and they've looked a little less seemingly lovely than one would think. Life has really happened. Our relationship didn’t begin within the ease of life. It actually began and went when the both of us were stepping into some of our most stretching months. That right there though, is my favorite part. We’ve gotten to choose each other when our hearts maybe felt like they were partially wearing thin, and I know that we get a lifetime of that. I think that it’s within the unease, that the genuine, pure, and honest friendship can spring about. We got that.

I’ve found the dearest friend in him. One that cares deeply and loves relentlessly in the most tender way one could. One who’s honest and who’s committed to a vulnerable love, & most know that that’s not comfortable or innate. I’ve found one who’s sought joy in the midst of hardship and who knows how to seek for the precious face of Jesus in all things. I’ve found a lot of laughter in him and more contentment than I’ve ever been able to know with a person. I’ve found simplicity and goodness in the most mundane of things. I've found fun and I’ve found safety. It's cool to know that I will never go uncared for, nor will our future kids. I’ve experience the details within me, that had only ever been shut down before, be loved and encouraged back to life by him. He champions me a lot like how the Lord does, and that's something I’ll be learning to never neglect. I'm standing within lots of the prayers I prayed. I’ve found the person who I undoubtedly want to spend the rest of life with, and I’m grateful to share some of the details of that with you.

There's more to say, but I hope that gave you a glimpse into us. See you in May.