How We Met

The best love stories are the ones we could never write ourselves.

I know this because I tried to write my own story many times over, but each crumbled up piece of paper and every trial and error lead me to further surrendering my heart and plans to God and deepening my trust in the only one who COULD write my love story.

I moved to Nashville, TN January 11th of 2017. I came on a gut feeling that The Lord was leading me here.

I had been live-streaming The Belonging Co church’s messages for a couple of years prior and every service was strengthening my relationship with God in new and incredible ways, so whenever I felt the Lord calling me to move to Nashville, I was excited that I would already have a home church there.

I spent the next year getting settled in and finding my footing in a brand new city, when all of the sudden a year had flown by and it was January of 2018.

The Belonging Co was doing a church-wide prayer and fasting for 21 days to kick off the new year and had recommended that we all make a list of things we were praying and fasting for.

So I made a list and one of those things I wrote down was finding my future spouse.

Rains was in a similar phase of life at this time, currently living in Kansas City, MO and playing with a band out there and traveling a lot when The Lord began calling him to different things and new places, which just so happened to be Nashville, TN. In January of 2018.

I was on guest services at my church one Tuesday night which allows me to greet and talk to new people before and after the service, when I caught sight of a guy wearing a “KC” hat. I had some friends in Kansas City so I made a mental note to find him later and see if he knew any of my friends there.

After the service I turn around and see the guy wearing the KC hat coming toward me, and we instantly started chatting

“Hey! I think I know you!” “Hey! I know you! Or.. I have friends who know you!”

“Wait what?” “My friend was showing me your music video the other day!” he said, (I also play music) and I laughed, realizing that my friends in Kansas City had actually showed him one of my band’s music videos and told him to find me so we could connect, since he didn’t know a whole lot of other people in Nashville yet.

The next night was a worship and prayer night at Belonging and I was surprised to see him there too.

I had just started dating a guy at the time so I didn’t have a lot of thoughts about Rains except that he was extremely unique, VERY kind, and had such an amazing spirit. He drew everybody to him like a magnet and left every room more joyful than he found it. His presence was honestly captivating and he treated every single person he encountered like they were IMPORTANT and valuable.

A couple of months later I had my heart broken for what seemed like the hundredth time, and it felt like the last straw.

The following months were an excruciating blend of heartache and surrender for me, and I remember being on my knees before God, asking how I could ever trust someone with my heart again. I continuously drew near to Jesus and felt myself coming to terms with the fact that I had to completely open up my hands and give Him every desire in my heart. Even those foundational desires. The ones you assume are a given. Marriage, A family, etc.. But I was in a wrestle with God over it because these were hopes I was born with. Grew up with. Held onto. But The Lord began to ask me wether or not I trusted him and would love him regardless of if those things ever came true or not. I cried and prayed for a couple of weeks over this, when little by little I felt my heart letting go. My hope for marriage someday was simply too huge and I didn’t know if I was promised it or not and the uncertainty was too much to bear. So I surrendered. Like I had meant to and tried to little by little over the years growing up. But this time it was real. I felt a release in my spirit. I honestly didn’t know if I’d ever get married, but it was honestly OKAY. I finally had come to a place in my heart where my trust in the Lord far outweighed any unmet desires. No matter what happened, He was with me and He is FOR me and He LOVES me. His love came in and healed all.

A couple of months after I felt that giant white flag had been raised over my life, I was sitting at the coffee shop where Rains worked, talking to my friend Hannah about everything that I had been wrestling with over the last few months and the new found freedom I had from the weight of it all, when Rains walked over to our table and began talking with us for a while.. He always left people happier than he found them because his joy was just so strong.

After he walked away I turned to Hannah and jokingly said “I just wish Rains would fall in love with me and marry me. He’s literally my dream guy.” and given the topic of our previous conversation, I said that mostly to remark on the type of guy that Rains was, and less because I actually had any feelings for him at the time. I didn’t know him that well and if you’d asked me I don’t know if I even had a crush on him yet.

I just really admired him for his character. It was the first thing I saw in him. And his joy. He carried the joy of the Lord with him everywhere he went.

The weeks following I began seeing Rains more frequently at coffee shops and at church. I was definitely developing a crush on him but I was in such a sacred space with Jesus, having finally found peace after my last breakup that I was honestly afraid to acknowledge the crush to myself.

I wasn’t ready to let someone in yet.

But I would go to his coffeeshop to read the word, mostly to see him, but I told myself I was just going to read.

One of these times when I was there and Rains was working, he asked if he could sit at my table during his lunch break.

I was nervous and we talked for half an hour, and later that week he invited me to a worship night that him and his friends were doing, and then the next day to get dinner and ice cream. 

We continued hanging out and talking every single day for a couple of months, and there wasn’t any room for fear in my heart because our friendship had become the most refreshingly beautiful adventure. We started to realize that we not only had similar passions and callings on our lives, but we were obsessed with being around each other and everything felt so perfectly balanced. We both realized we could be ourselves and got so comfortable being exactly who we were in each others presence. He finally asked me to officially be his girlfriend near the end of June and I said yes.

Then fast forward to January of 2019, and I am standing on a bridge where we first held hands, thinking I am modeling for a photoshoot with a local clothing company here in town called Oil & Lumber, when Rains, who had been in the studio writing with a band here in town all week, comes running up the bridge, and since he wears their hats all the time they had asked if he’d just jump in some of the photos with me, only to get halfway through the photoshoot and see Rains bending down on one knee and asking me to marry him. He’d set the whole “photoshoot” up, down to the last detail and I was shocked! He then rushed me to “dinner reservations” which turned out to be a surprise party with about 75 of our dearest friends who were all cheering and laughing and celebrating us. It was one of the most amazing nights of my life, and only later that night did I notice the date. January 11th. Exactly two years later from when I first moved to Nashville.

But the most amazing part is that a few months into dating Rains I started to get curious about what day we actually met, so I went back through my calendar and saw that we'd met on Tuesday, January 23rd. Which happened to be the very first day of the 21 day fast. God brought Rains into my life on that first day that I began fasting and praying for my husband, only, I didn't know he was the answer to the prayers I was praying during that time. He showed up as just a friend with a unique and beautiful spirit, who I instantly admired, but I wouldn’t realize until months later that God had chosen him as my husband because the story that God was writing had to unfold in perfect timing, not my own.

God already knew what he was going to do. But He was kind enough to lead me through the process of total surrender in my heart, otherwise I wouldn't have been ready for the miracle. My heart would've been misaligned and my hope would've hinged on a person, or a promise, a marriage, or something other than God alone. Which is the essential key to living this life in a healthy way. Christ must be the cornerstone of our hearts. It is the only safe foundation upon which to begin building our lives. But his plan was perfect, and patient, and with so many surprises along the way.

Rains was undergoing a similar story of surrender and waiting on The Lord's timing for everything to unfold, and now to see how God brought us together is something that we could never have imagined.

Our wedding was the most insanely perfectly magical beautiful peaceful wonder-filled day of our lives, and I can't wait to share more pictures and videos from that special day.
I know without a doubt that God's presence was filling that entire place and the beauty of it was just so tangible. Tears would flood my eyes at random because I was just so moved by His kindness toward us.

Our story is a testimony of God’s goodness, His faithfulness, His Kindness, His attention to detail, and most of all His LOVE for his children. I hope hearing our story inspires you to draw near to the Lord. To petition heaven for God to work in your own life. And to surrender your ideas and plans to Him, because His ideas are far better than any we could imagine.

"Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!" -Psalm 34:3