Sixteen years ago I had found out my ex-husband had gotten remarried to the person he had left me for. After seven years of marriage and a very painful three year process of standing for my marriage it was now over. Those three years however brought me into such intimacy with the Lord. It was as if the Lord had taken my ex-husband’s place and had filled me to overflowing. Yet when my ex got remarried I finally felt released from my commitment to him. Yet what did that mean?

At the same time God was doing a deep healing in Bruce’s heart. He had given up dating, telling the Lord he wanted Him to choose his wife. In the fall of 2006 God took him up on this offer. 

Worship came to an end and as he sat the strangest thing happened. His vision went completely blurry. Bruce rubbed his eyes, looked around, rubbed his eyes again but still the entire room had gone blurry. Just as he was about to reach out to the guy stilling next to him for help the church doors all the way across the sanctuary opened. His vision was clear only to the woman that came through the doors. 

“It was as if an angel had just walked through the door. Her curly blond hair glowed and bounced. Everything else around her still was blurry yet she glowed and was crystal clear. She looked like an angel.” Bruce stated. 

Just as this “angel” began walking out the door the Lord spoke again “Bruce that is your wife.” The doors closed and everything went back to normal. Bruce was in shock and was ready for the sermon to be done. 

Service was finally over and Bruce hurriedly ran out of church. Calling his brother he shared everything that had happened. His brother stated mater of factly. “Bro, I know who she is. She runs a discipleship home and I’m going to cut wood there tomorrow. Come with me and see.”

The next day they arrived at my house. I opened the door to a very handsome man and my heart skipped a beat. They cut wood and I gave them cookies. After they left I told the girls that lived in my home that he was so cute!

A couple weeks later Bruce approached me after church. He asked if he could come and make lunch for the girls in the discipleship home and I. Panic overtook me. The “idea” of dating was nice but I was still not ready. Fear clung to me. I sat there in the pews of the church, eyes huge, asking him questions in a rapid fire manner. The panic on my face triggered one of our pastors to come and “rescue me”.

After Bruce left I burst into tears. Some of the church staff asked what happened. I stated “He asked to come over to make us dinner.” They all started to laugh. I didn’t. I just stood there in shock. Realizing I had so much fear to work through before I could ever date again.

As time went by I found out Bruce was a bartender and I decided he was not a right fit for me. I longed for the Lord to show me who my husband was. So I wrote him a “Dear John” letter, telling him thanks for his interest but no thanks. I even went as far as to say that I believed the Lord had a perfect woman for him some day. 

Unbeknownst to me God had told Bruce to buy me a diamond. He was in shock because I wouldn’t even talk to him. Yet he was obedient and bought me a diamond with money God had been asking him to save. 

Over the next couple months I began to pray and ask the Lord for specifics. “Lord I want to marry a passionate worshiper.” The next day our worship pastor came and told me that Bruce was a very passionate worshiper.

“Lord I know I’m called into missions, I ask for someone that is also called into missions.” The next Sunday one of our pastors, who had lived in Papua New Guinea preached. At the end he asked people to stand that were called to be in missions. Bruce stood. 

“Lord, I ask for someone that has a heart for at-risk youth.” A few days later I found out Bruce was a ‘Big Brother’ for an at-risk boy for over a year and he was going to Royal Family Kids Camp to work with foster youth for a week. 

You’d think by now I’d give in and talk to him but I was still nervous. 

A few weeks went by and I was heading out to go serve a low income area. A friend of mine laid hands on me and prayed. As she prayed she began to weep. She saw a vision of me holding hands with my husband with multiple children surrounding us and reaching out to us in a large field. I walked away from the prayer happy that one day I would be married again.

When I came back from ministering to people on the streets I was excitedly telling one of our pastors what God had done during our ministry time. Then out of the blue he told me that Bruce really loved children. I was annoyed that Bruce’s name came up AGAIN. Didn’t he realize this guy was a bartender? 

Later that day the Lord convicted my heart and told me to apologize for being rude to the pastor. So I did. I also began to share the vision my friend had of me holding hands with my husband and multiple children surrounding us in a field. Our pastor stopped and looked at me strangely. 

“So I normally wouldn’t share this but my wife was praying for Bruce last week. During their ministry training course everyone was practicing hearing God’s voice and getting pictures for each other. As my wife prayed for Bruce she saw him in a field holding hands with his wife surrounded by children.” Pastor Don shared.

I was floored. No way could this be true. And yet it was. I decided to grab Bruce’s phone number from our church directory and I was going to call him that night. But the Lord had already told Bruce that morning to call me and he did.

Our first date was in May. Then on August 12th, Bruce’s birthday, we got on an airplane. We went up to about 20,000 feet and Bruce turned towards me and asked.

“Just like we are about to take a leap of faith and jump out of this plane will you take the ultimate leap of faith and marry me?”