The Lord is sovereign and He works all things for the good of those who love Him. Although this is a story about our love for each other, it is also a story about God’s love and goodness towards us.


Madi and I met through a weekly Bible study we were both a part of while attending the University of Florida (Go Gators). I always sort of knew I would meet my wife at church. We very naturally became friends. I have been blessed with many wonderful friends but at the end of the day, she was always the one I wanted to be talking to and sitting beside. Thankfully, she felt the same way. So after a few months of being good friends, we decided to explore the idea of entering a relationship with each other. Our first date was January 31st, 2020, right before the world shut down. I, like many others, was let go from my job at the beginning of quarantine and decided shortly after that I would give myself one day to find a new job. If that didn’t happen, I would move back to Pennsylvania for good. The Lord blessed me with a job that day and allowed me to stay in Gainesville. All of my friends left Gainesville but Madi stayed. So, living in a ghost town together, our relationship blossomed.


Madi and I dated each other for almost three years before breaking up. I can’t exclude that from this love story because it was a crucial part of God’s sovereign plan for us. Madi and I loved each other a lot and we walked through some very challenging seasons together. We went from being two kids falling in love to being two young adults trying to figure out life together. We had some transformative years together filled with lots of love, laughs, and memories. But, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. He knew we weren’t ready for each other yet.


Madi and I spent over a year apart. We lived completely separate lives on opposite sides of the country. I struggled to understand what the Lord was making of my life during this season. I just knew He kept telling me to wait on Him. He was preparing me and teaching me. The Lord was also telling Madi to wait on Him in that season. He was preparing her and teaching her too. In December, after being broken up for over a year, two very special people to us were getting married and we were both in the wedding party. After the wedding was over, we spent about an hour talking to each other. Two things were very evident to me in that conversation – that we were still best friends and that I didn’t want the conversation to end. Luckily for me, she felt the same way. We still loved each other and had become much healthier individuals. So, we decided to explore the possibility of entering a new relationship.


And now we are getting married! We realized very quickly why the Lord had instructed us to wait. He had this wonderful, redeemed, and renewed relationship waiting for us after He had finished working on us as individuals. I have found myself consistently amazed at the wonderful godly woman Madi has become. He has shaped us both into two people worthy of sharing such a deep love and amazing love story, perfectly written by Himself. We are ready for a lifetime of love together and can’t wait for all of the seasons the Lord has in store for us in marriage!