Hello friends & family!

By the title you are probably wondering why did Trevor friend zone me? Well here is how our story starts...

Trevor and I grew up together in the same town but did not officially meet until high school. After sophomore year of high school I started working at Roths Fresh Markets in our town. This was my very first job and I was intimidated to start. In my first week working I met Trevor who was one of my co-workers. I instantly started developing a crush on him. All my co-workers knew that I had a crush on him by the way I would react when he would come over. I would act so nervous, stumbled over my words, and had a hard time talking to him. My co-workers would mess with me and pretend like they were talking to him about me. At one point Trevor came up to me at work and told me that he heard that I liked him and he wanted to let me know that he did not look at me in that way. He said he was not wanting to be in a relationship but he would be praying for me and my future spouse. Little did he know that he would be praying for himself!

5 years after meeting Trevor the Lord led me to Arizona to attend Arizona Christian University where I would pursue a degree in therapy. In the first year that I attended I told myself that I would not date in my first year, but that did not happen. I dated that year and did not have the best experience with dating. My last year at ACU I dedicated my time to the Lord and enjoying my last year in Arizona. I finally understood when people would tell me, "You will find someone once you are truly content in the Lord." My love for the Lord grew the most it ever has in that year and I remember thinking that I would be fine single if that is what the Lord had for my life. Towards the end of my last year at ACU Trevor reached out to me and we went on our first date that summer. Prayer after prayer the Lord answered. I prayed that God would bring me a spouse who would pursue me no matter where I was at location wise, someone who was patient, someone who would challenge me in my faith, someone who encouraged me in my faith, and someone who loves the Lord more than me. That is Trevor and so much more. He has shown me what unconditional love is and given me a glimpse of how God loves us. I am grateful that God brought us together and am excited to share more of our love story with you all at the wedding!

Trevors perspective:

Mattie and I’s story is one of redemption, one of grace, one of patience and of love. And, yes, a story of me being quite the fool for friend-zoning my bride to be.

I met Mattie in high school in our small towns of Monmouth and Independence. We were a couple grades apart so we knew of each other but didn’t quite know each other until we started working together at Roth’s fresh markets. At the time, I was working in the meat department for a while and Mattie had just started in the deli. And for those of you who are local, you would know that those two departments were neighbors at the old store. So, I had the honor of getting to know Mattie over the course of time I found out she was very kind, kept to herself, and was a strong Christian girl. I thought she was pretty, but I saw her as off limits for many reasons. One, I thought she was way younger than me and I thought that would be hard to navigate. Two, I knew I was not in a position at that time to be the spiritual leader that God has called me to be. And three, I didn’t have romantic feelings toward her, but I saw her as a sister in Christ.

Thus, upon finding out from coworkers that she had a crush on me I did the right thing in letting her know where I stood and that I’d be praying for her future husband. God sure has a sense of humor because that man I was praying for was me.

Fast forward about 7 years, I was in prayer and being brutally honest with the Lord about my desire to be married. It was in this time that I had recommitted my life to Jesus fully and completely. I was giving Jesus my whole focus. It was time for change in my life so I committed my time to Bible reading and to praying. All the while God was reshaping my heart and brought Mattie to mind.

I carefully prayed into this and eventually reached out to her over Marco Polo (a video messaging app). All I knew was that I wanted to get to know this woman more. She was different than all the others: who else was wishing me happy birthday other than my family? Mattie. We set up a coffee meeting in which we chatted for 4 hours and I pretty quickly knew 2 dates in that this woman was the woman I wanted to marry. What I had seen in those two first dates was a fun, genuine, God-first woman who I respected and could trust. And the more I get to know Mattie I see more and more of Gods grace and love in my life. She is truly a blessing and I’m glad God gave me a second chance. The rest is history.

Clearly there is more to the story than what we included. But our hope is that through our story that you would be reminded of Gods unfailing love for all of us people and how He is always faithful to provide our needs. Mattie and I almost gave up on relationships thinking perhaps God would keep us single for life. Yet, God in His faithfulness had a different plan. And yes, His plan is always one of grace, redemption of love. We pray that through our story that you would see His story. God has a story of redemption for all of us. We can’t wait to hear yours. Blessings.