Neither Steven nor Lydia were actively looking for someone when they were introduced to each other through a mutual friend. While both of them had desired marriage for a long time, both also had their fair share of bad dates and lessons learned from trying to find "the one” without the Lord’s explicit leading.

Thankfully, the Lord forgives, restores and has more perfect plans than either could have possibly imagined for themselves.

For Lydia, the How Lok Met Liou story officially began on September 3, 2024 over dinner with Jill, a dear friend of over 11 years. With great hesitation, Jill brought up the topic of Lydia's then very nonexistent dating life. Jill had someone on her mind, someone whom she was baptized with, and a friend of 15+ years. To make matters more intriguing, she refused to share a name, even initials and the way she advertised this nameless man could not have been more perfectly tailored to pique Lydia's interest.

Jill asked Lydia if she would prayerfully consider her dear friend who:

1) Loves the Lord and is very involved in his church community

2) Would fly from Seattle to meet her in person (would be intentional in his pursuit of her) and

3) Would ask Senior Liou for permission to date her

Lydia was flabbergasted at Jill's pitch. It was as if the Lord was reading her heart and providing someone who would meet her dating "wishes." Even so, past lessons taught her she needed to approach with caution. She would be prayerful about Jill's nameless friend and see how the Lord would arrange things for them. He was, after all, a Seattleite, and she was not making any first moves.

Jill concluded her introductory remarks by reassuring Lydia that this friend would be a worthy suitor should the Lord make something happen. After all, on top of previously mentioned qualities, he was also open to food adventures, funny, and similar to Jill.

Lydia nicknamed him Mr. Seattle for simplicity's sake (not to mention easy referencing during conversation) and filed additional musings about this guy to the very back of her mind. She was not going to allow her mind to entertain hypotheticals until the Lord made it clear He was involved and wanted something to happen. Plus, Mr. Seattle would have to make the first move.

46 Days Later

Jill called Lydia Friday afternoon to ask if she had heard anything from the Lord concerning Mr. Seattle and if she felt peaceful about sharing her number. Lydia had not heard anything from the Lord about him up to this point and promised to get back to her soon.

After a day of more intentional prayer, Lydia felt a sense of peace from the Lord about sharing her number and whatever may come of it. Her sense of peace was also confirmed externally by her prayer partner. With no red flags in sight internally or externally, Lydia permitted Jill to share her number. As a follow-up question, Lydia asked Jill if she would be willing to share his area code in case he called before texting. Jill agreed. Lydia noted he had the same area code as Amazon's customer service phone line.

To Lydia's complete surprise, Mr. Seattle reached out the very next day with a well-thought-out introductory text where he encouraged her to pray about getting to know him and bring in other sisters in Christ and her father in her seeking. He even owned his nickname! Apparently, word got out about that one. Lydia gave him 5 stars for his text.

He was making a good first impression thus far.

He also shared his contact photo with her along with this text…

S&L