Tuesday, June 25, 2013

My Love Story

Wow... it has been F-O-R-E-V-E-R since I last wrote on my blog. I am definitely LONG OVERDUE. I went through a pretty rough patch during my last few posts and even though I TRIED to write about it, I just could not gather all my thoughts and come to put things into words. Now that that season has come and gone, I can share with you the beautiful story that followed my pain, and how faithful the Lord truly is, when you let Him have full control.

TODAY is a special day in more ways that one. It marks two months until I MARRY the man that has become the best friend I ever dreamed of. The one who I absolutely adore and treasure with all my heart, and love beyond what I can truly describe in words. And I wanted to share my "Love Story" with you all and fill you in on my life and walk with Jesus.

So, here is what we wrote on our wedding website to explain things, but I will give a few more details after the fact on how the Lord truly has blessed me.

Shawn's view:

I guess technically we first met in high school. We had one class together, which was during my senior and her sophomore year. I do remember where she sat in speech class but we rarely exchanged words because the groups we hung out with were VERY different.

Fast forward 13 years...

I had fallen away from the Lord and was in a huge transition period in my life. I had become "friends" with Nicole again through Facebook around 2009. Of all my friends, I only really remember her posting scripture and other positive things on her page. So like I said, I was in a transition period so I went to my Uncle Brian for some good ol' fashion wisdom and advice. I asked him for a suggestion as to what the next step would be for me in changing my life. He suggested that I start praying for a different group of friends, so thats exactly what I did. That night I prayed HARD for someone to come into my life and help me get connected back in. This is where it gets interesting...

Back in High School I was dating a cheerleader, and Nicole's best friend at the time was also a cheerleader named Whitney, who I was pretty good friends with. Sometimes when I would go to pick up the girl I was dating, some of the other girls would need a ride home as well, so I would take them where they needed to go. A few times I drove Whitney home, but never went into her house, let alone her back yard. Okay so now back to me praying for a new group of friends.

So after praying long and hard, I went to bed. That night I had a dream that I was back in high school and on my way to pick up my girlfriend from cheer practice. When I got to the school, Whitney, Nicole's best friend needed a ride home. So when I dropped Whitney off at her house, for some reason I decided to follow her into her house. I followed her into the back yard and there was a large trampoline with Nicole jumping up and down on it. And that was the end of the dream.

I woke up the next morning, and remembering about Nicole posting scripture numerous times on FB, and so I reached out to her on Facebook explaining my situation and how I wanted to get back to walking with the Lord. In my message to her I explained my dream and how I had seen her jumping on a trampoline at Whitney's house. She replied to my message and said how she loved that trampoline and jumped on it quite a bit. Now remember I had never been into Whitney's house or backyard, pretty crazy right?

So how did we meet you ask? Through Divine Intervention.

Nicole's view:

Like Shawn stated, we went to High School together, but we honestly never said more than maybe a "hello" to eachother. In 2009 I specifically remember getting a "friend request" on Facebook from "Juan Pelayo" and recognized Shawn's face but not his name, and was instantly confused. I spied on his page and saw the name I knew him by (Shawn Cartwright) in parentheses and realized it was him. (The story of his two names is a story for another day.) Occassionally Shawn would comment on posts or pictures from my page but the story did not start until October of 2011. I had just returned home from a mission trip to Haiti in October and during that trip, God had laid it on my heart to end the current relationship I was in. It was extremely hard... heart-breaking actually, because it was as if my dreams were all shattering. Ending that relationship was God's way of me giving over all my dreams in life to Him, and letting Him have FULL control of every area of my life. Dating relationships were the one thing I had not completely given over to Him until that day.

On October 28th, 2011, Shawn messaged me as he stated above, and I offered for him to come to church with myself and some friends if he wanted to. When he said yes, I immediately called my best friend Lacey and asked for her to talk to her husband Brandon to kind of intervene once we arrived at church. I knew that Shawn was going to need some Godly men in his life, and I wanted to make sure that I was not the "reason" for Shawn to continue coming to church. Shawn and Brandon hit it off that day and developed an AMAZING friendship that continually blesses me to this day. They started their own men's bible-study together and I saw Shawn's relationship with the Lord flourish beautifully. Through the next few months, I knew Shawn had developed feelings for me, and when he would bring it up to me, I would shoot him down, saying we were better just remaining friends. I knew that the next man that I started dating was going to be my husband and until God spoke to me about who that man was, I was not to date anyone. Poor Shawn... as he will tell you myself, he was so SURE I was the right one, and for months he just kept praying for the Lord to open my heart to him. In February, we spent our birthdays together still remaining friends. Mine: February 18th, and His: February 20th... and I surprised him with tickets to the Beach Boys concert that upcoming July. But sometime in Spring of 2012, we eventually had a hard conversation and concluded that if I could not commit to him we would need to completely stop talking to make things easier. I just really wanted that confirmation from the Lord before I could commit, and I hadn't gotten it yet. It was during that time apart, I saw Shawn's heart for the Lord only strengthen during the hardships (via FB posts etc) and I could not help but be happy inside knowing His heart was sold out for the Lord. The tickets to the concert came during that time, and I was forced to text him to let him know, and tell him I was still planning on fulfilling my present to him. And that was the start of our communication again. That summer, I had an "ah ha" moment realizing that he was ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY my best friend and I could not imagine spending my life with out him. A peace came over me and we talked and made our commitment to eachother. And by the end of summer we knew we were planning our future.

That day we officially made a commitment to each other was one year ago today. June 25th, 2012. So today marks our 1 year anniversary... and 2 months until we are MARRIED! (Hence why we chose to get married on the "25th."

So there I was that October, after experiencing all my dreams shattering into pieces, heart-break from ending a relationship with out any understanding of why other than God was pressing it on my heart to do so, and weeks later, the Lord placed my husband in my life. I truly believe that if I had not been able to give that area over to the Lord, He could not have EVER blessed me with my husband. And if it was not for Shawn's faithfulness to the Lord and trusting in His timing and not his own, we would not be where we are today.

The bottom line is... the Lord is faithful to those who follow Him and give themselves 100% to Him. We just need to TRUST in Him and know that He knows best. His path is far better than our own.


With all my love,
Nicole Elizabeth