Thankful

If you know me or my husband Ryan, it's likely that you know the gist of our story. We met over two years ago online and became instant friends. There was a mutual "like" between both of us, but after a few months of talking, I rejected him because I wasn't ready for a relationship. We remained friends, but obviously cut back on our conversation time. Fast forward some months later and Ryan expressed his interest yet again. I once again rejected him. We ended up getting into a fight over who knows what (neither one of us can remember) and ended up not speaking for about 6 months. At that point I thought for sure that we were not friends anymore - and certainly that we didn't like each other. Finally, one of us (and I can't remember who) swallowed our pride and apologized. We slowly began speaking again, but there was nothing serious there; just friendship. Fast forward another few months and Ryan told me again that he was interested in me. This time, not only did I tell him that his interests were not reciprocated, but I also let him know that if we could not be friends without him expecting anything more, that we shouldn't be friends. That was all it took for him to be completely hands off and accept that all we would ever have between us was a genuine friendship and nothing more. That was until my heart changed. ;)

During the time that we had known each other, our friendship was solely based on Skype chats, text messages, and phone calls; we had never met in person face to face. That changed the weekend after memorial day back in 2016. Ryan drove out to my neck of the woods and we spent the day at the lake getting to finally experience personal interaction. That was all it took for me to fall head over heels for him. After that day, my heart toward him had changed in a very big way, and the rest is history. We started dating, and within the next 3 months we found ourselves outside with friends and family pledging our lives to one another. I'll never forget that day.

I tell you all of this simply to say that I am so thankful.

When I think about our story, I think to myself that there were so many reasons why we could have ended up with other people and living totally different lives than the one that we've been blessed with. When I think about where we came from, and what it took to get us to where we are, all I can think about is how thankful to God I am that his sovereignty wins out over our stubbornness, and our life choices. I'm reminded that even if it takes a while (2 years in our case) God will not give up on bringing you to where he has designed you to be.

I'm so glad that God wins out, and that we were blessed with each other. I couldn't ask for a better husband and father to our baby boy than Ryan. Had it been solely up to me, I don't know where I'd be - but I'm sure glad that I'm not in control, and that God has a way better plan for my life than I ever could have dreamt of for myself.

-Kelsey