My Story - Part 23

I was living with the Coopers...I had a great accountability partner in Christie...I had a beautiful mentor group...I had fellowship with other believers, people I could encourage and people to encourage me...and now I had this godly man in my life. This is where things got messy for me on the inside.

Jerome and I quickly gravitated towards each other when we were in groups. Within a few weeks we felt like we should be together. This surfaced all sorts of buried emotions where men were concerned.

I had never had a healthy relationship with a man...not even one where I was generally respected.

Jerome had been celebate for several years and had not dated for a long time either. He was as focused on God as I was. So us coming together was definitely God making him be with me :)

Our dating was really more like courting. I don't think we ever hung out by ourselves or went out one on one. We would ride to events or church together and then when he would bring me home we would sit in the Coopers drive way and talk. When we hung out it was always in a group. I had only been to he and his roomate's house once or twice before we got married.

He was sooooo safe and this scared me. Sounds like an oxymoron huh? It really threw me into an emotional tailspin. I did not know how to respond being so loved and respected. Jerome is very logical so I would share struggles and he would tell me about a bible story or share some verses. He prayed with me all the time. He was always talking to me about God. I really don't remember many converstations about anything but God. I loved this!!!

Just as much as he is logical, he is emotional in his relationship with God. Once Christie and I were getting ready and he was waiting in her living room for us. We had a worship CD playing. When we came out he was on the floor worshiping and crying so we sat and waited. When he was done he could barely talk because He was so overwhelmed by his love for God. (This still happens).

I quickly developed a deep love and respect for him.

In the first month and a half that we knew each other more and more tension grew. I needed to either be married to him or not date him at all. I could not handle his safeness. I had HUGE trust issues and did not want to invest my heart unless I KNEW we were going to be married. I thought surely when he realized what he was getting himself into with my emotional instability that he would want out. I also did not want to take my focus away from God in the slightest bit unless I was investing in something that was going to be life-long.

We met February 13th and on March 29th he asked me to marry him...

Stay tuned for details :)