I have to start this post with some background story. Please bear with me as I eventually make my way to the meat of the story.
Jarrod and I first met in high school on a double date - but not with each other. He was with a girl he had been dating for a couple years and I was with his best friend (our first and last date). Jarrod graduated, went to the Air Force and continued to date his girlfriend for 3 more years. I finished high school and went to college in our home town.
In March of 2007 (Jarrod and his girlfriend had been broken up for a while at this point) Jarrod "friended" me on MySpace, I accepted, and we messaged each other for about 2 months.
We were like silly little school children, waiting impatiently for each others' next message. After messaging each other on MySpace for 2 months, we exchanged phone numbers and I text messaged him a couple days later with a simple message...testing the waters. We continued to text message for 2 weeks when he started calling me. We would talk at night when he was done flying until the early morning hours when I'd hear my mom getting ready for the day.
Jarrod was starting to get things ready for a 4 month deployment and I really wanted to see him before he left (I felt silly that I was falling for this guy and hadn't seen him in over 5 years). He however did not want to start anything with me until he got home because of something that happened in the past with that last girlfriend. I was having a really hard time accepting this but I decided to give it over to God and let Him handle it. I realized I needed to let Jarrod lead our relationship and trust him in his decision to not see each other.
On May 26, 2007, I had just gotten off work and I knew Jarrod was in town seeing his parents. I was having a hard time with this because he was SO close and I wasn't allowed to see him. I decided to celebrate my 7 year 4-wheeler wreck anniversary by leaving town to shop in Weatherford. I figured it'd help me so I wouldn't awkwardly run into Jarrod in town or something.
Even though we had started having conversations on the phone at night, we continued to text message each other all day every day. I was shopping at Kohl's when we were texting and we realized that Jarrod was shopping at Target with his dad...in the same exact shopping center as Kohl's. If that wasn't God's work, I don't know what is. Despite ourselves and our own opinions, He pushed us together. We realized that divine intervention had happened and Jarrod asked me on a date. His dad gave me his movie ticket and drove Jarrod's truck home while Jarrod and I went in my car to the movies.
It is so amazing how God has continued to work in our lives. Our relationship started with his hand in it and it's been there even since. We saw each other as much as possible for the next two weeks and he deployed for 4 months. We emailed as often as he was able to and continued to date for a year when he proposed in September of 2008. I couldn't wait to be married so we set the date for December 2008, got married, honeymooned, and he moved in with me in Brock where I was teaching.
When we were dating, Jarrod became more and more curious about my faith and couldn't get enough of God's word and cultivating a relationship with Him. When we got married he started going to a mens group with my dad. I was shocked at his initiative and desire to learn more about our Heavenly Father. I knew I wanted to marry someone who had a relationship with God and I figured we'd live a normal life as normal church members, but Jarrod soon realized he had a call on his life to shepherd people. He had several prophetic words concerning this and felt he had no other choice but to pursue his call.
I grew up as a preacher's daughter and had no interest in being a preacher's wife. HOWEVER, I knew the importance of being called and I knew that no matter what, I'd support my husband in whatever he did. I put away my own expectations of what I thought life would be and we started actively praying about what to do. We felt like Jarrod needed to finish school as quickly as possible and start training for the ministry.
When he graduated college, we went to countless conferences, attended all the meetings we could at church, and prayed endlessly about where our lives were headed. We moved back to our hometown to be closer to our church family and began our journey as ministers.
Our relationship has grown and changed over the years and we've been through a lot, spiritually and emotionally. We have grown from God pushing us into what He wanted to us seeking his opinion in every area of our lives. And despite my initial fear of Jarrod's call into the ministry, I soon felt in my heart that I needed to join Jarrod and have a ministry together. (You can read more about this in "My Journey")
We've found that we are a team - we stick together no matter the circumstances and if nothing else seems to be working right in life, we do. I respect and trust Jarrod with everything in me and he loves and supports me more than anyone else in the world. We structure our marriage the way the Bible says to and it works for us. Our relationship is a seamless bond that gives and takes at the right times.
Without God, our relationship would be in shambles and our ministry would be non-existent. I'd be fighting him every step of the way and he would resent me for everything I did. I'm so grateful God made this man for me and I'm also thankful he healed our hearts and hurts along the way to make us stronger and more in love with each other. We are totally different people than who we were when we met, but with God's holy blessing, he's grown us together spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.
We don't do anything without praying and we choose to love each other no matter what. We desire to please our Heavenly Father and in return we please each other. Our relationship is based on God's love and our faith and devotion to him brings us through everything that comes our way.
Our prayer is to reach and create meaningful relationships with God's children and pour out his love on them. We pray that our love will continue to grow and that all hindrances in our ministry be broken away. We thank God so much for what he's created in us and are honored to do his work on Earth.
Jarrod and I first met in high school on a double date - but not with each other. He was with a girl he had been dating for a couple years and I was with his best friend (our first and last date). Jarrod graduated, went to the Air Force and continued to date his girlfriend for 3 more years. I finished high school and went to college in our home town.
In March of 2007 (Jarrod and his girlfriend had been broken up for a while at this point) Jarrod "friended" me on MySpace, I accepted, and we messaged each other for about 2 months.
We were like silly little school children, waiting impatiently for each others' next message. After messaging each other on MySpace for 2 months, we exchanged phone numbers and I text messaged him a couple days later with a simple message...testing the waters. We continued to text message for 2 weeks when he started calling me. We would talk at night when he was done flying until the early morning hours when I'd hear my mom getting ready for the day.
Jarrod was starting to get things ready for a 4 month deployment and I really wanted to see him before he left (I felt silly that I was falling for this guy and hadn't seen him in over 5 years). He however did not want to start anything with me until he got home because of something that happened in the past with that last girlfriend. I was having a really hard time accepting this but I decided to give it over to God and let Him handle it. I realized I needed to let Jarrod lead our relationship and trust him in his decision to not see each other.
On May 26, 2007, I had just gotten off work and I knew Jarrod was in town seeing his parents. I was having a hard time with this because he was SO close and I wasn't allowed to see him. I decided to celebrate my 7 year 4-wheeler wreck anniversary by leaving town to shop in Weatherford. I figured it'd help me so I wouldn't awkwardly run into Jarrod in town or something.
Even though we had started having conversations on the phone at night, we continued to text message each other all day every day. I was shopping at Kohl's when we were texting and we realized that Jarrod was shopping at Target with his dad...in the same exact shopping center as Kohl's. If that wasn't God's work, I don't know what is. Despite ourselves and our own opinions, He pushed us together. We realized that divine intervention had happened and Jarrod asked me on a date. His dad gave me his movie ticket and drove Jarrod's truck home while Jarrod and I went in my car to the movies.
It is so amazing how God has continued to work in our lives. Our relationship started with his hand in it and it's been there even since. We saw each other as much as possible for the next two weeks and he deployed for 4 months. We emailed as often as he was able to and continued to date for a year when he proposed in September of 2008. I couldn't wait to be married so we set the date for December 2008, got married, honeymooned, and he moved in with me in Brock where I was teaching.
When we were dating, Jarrod became more and more curious about my faith and couldn't get enough of God's word and cultivating a relationship with Him. When we got married he started going to a mens group with my dad. I was shocked at his initiative and desire to learn more about our Heavenly Father. I knew I wanted to marry someone who had a relationship with God and I figured we'd live a normal life as normal church members, but Jarrod soon realized he had a call on his life to shepherd people. He had several prophetic words concerning this and felt he had no other choice but to pursue his call.
I grew up as a preacher's daughter and had no interest in being a preacher's wife. HOWEVER, I knew the importance of being called and I knew that no matter what, I'd support my husband in whatever he did. I put away my own expectations of what I thought life would be and we started actively praying about what to do. We felt like Jarrod needed to finish school as quickly as possible and start training for the ministry.
When he graduated college, we went to countless conferences, attended all the meetings we could at church, and prayed endlessly about where our lives were headed. We moved back to our hometown to be closer to our church family and began our journey as ministers.
Our relationship has grown and changed over the years and we've been through a lot, spiritually and emotionally. We have grown from God pushing us into what He wanted to us seeking his opinion in every area of our lives. And despite my initial fear of Jarrod's call into the ministry, I soon felt in my heart that I needed to join Jarrod and have a ministry together. (You can read more about this in "My Journey")
We've found that we are a team - we stick together no matter the circumstances and if nothing else seems to be working right in life, we do. I respect and trust Jarrod with everything in me and he loves and supports me more than anyone else in the world. We structure our marriage the way the Bible says to and it works for us. Our relationship is a seamless bond that gives and takes at the right times.
Without God, our relationship would be in shambles and our ministry would be non-existent. I'd be fighting him every step of the way and he would resent me for everything I did. I'm so grateful God made this man for me and I'm also thankful he healed our hearts and hurts along the way to make us stronger and more in love with each other. We are totally different people than who we were when we met, but with God's holy blessing, he's grown us together spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.
We don't do anything without praying and we choose to love each other no matter what. We desire to please our Heavenly Father and in return we please each other. Our relationship is based on God's love and our faith and devotion to him brings us through everything that comes our way.
Our prayer is to reach and create meaningful relationships with God's children and pour out his love on them. We pray that our love will continue to grow and that all hindrances in our ministry be broken away. We thank God so much for what he's created in us and are honored to do his work on Earth.
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