Moira & William

In 2013 I found out about Christian Connection through a friend at church. I had at that point been divorced for 12 years and my children were leaving home. I felt ready to try dating again although I had reservations about online dating.

After I had been on the site for around 2 years, having only had brief email communications with a few people, I began to feel disillusioned. In 2015 I had a brief and relationship with a guy from church which lasted around three months after which I rejoined Christian Connection, although I still struggled even to get to the point of meeting a guy for a 1st date.

I came to the conclusion that maybe God had other plans for me. In July 2020, I decided that I was not prepared to continue paying for Christian Connection when clearly the site wasn't bringing any results. Before I did this I prayed and said to God that if he wanted me to find a partner, it would happen naturally, rather than online, or for peace if he wanted me to remain single.

On 12th July 2020, I had made my decision to leave the Christian Connection site , but something made me scroll down one last time to look at the latest photographs of individuals new to the site. That was when I first saw William’s rugged and handsome face - his kind eyes edged with a steely look and lovely smile and felt instantly that he was a person I could relate to so I waved immediately.

He lived within half an hour of where I live and he had been married before and had 3 children of a similar age to mine and more importantly was an evangelical Christian actively involved in his local church.

He waved back and we arranged to speak on the phone and discovered that we had been born and had grown up within 8 miles of each other. Before we met in person, we had a meeting on WhatsApp and Google Meet. Google Meet was fraught with technical issues about which we both were furiously laughing.

Will had only been on the site for a short time. He had actually looked at my profile and photo, although he had been slightly put off when he saw some photos of me at my daughter's wedding which he thought were very staged. There was though another picture of me where I was more relaxed and with my son. Like me he felt drawn to my eyes and smile.

During COVID, when we were allowed, we met in pubs, social distancing of course! Towards the end of the summer we both introduced each other to our daughters. In September 2020, because of the COVID restrictions we began to visit each other in our respective homes and our relationship blossomed. We discovered a similar sense of humour and a sense that God was very much guiding and directing our relationship.

Our relationship deepened and by Christmas 2020, Will knew that he wanted to marry me. I though had more processing to do after my previous marriage. I needed to be sure that I could trust him before saying yes to marriage. Over the following few weeks and months everything began to fall into place. It was as if I had been completing a jigsaw puzzle piece by piece until the last one was fitted into place

We got engaged at the end of March 2021 on top of Ilkley Moor on a Roman road which separates the 2 valleys in which we both grew up. All of our children were delighted and have since been really supportive.

We were married in August 2021. The day was just perfect in every way. One of the things that made it so special was that all of our children took part, in different ways in the wedding service.

We continue to see God's sticky fingers all over are relationship as we journey together into married life. We cannot thank Him enough for bringing us together and also for the part that Christian Connection played in that.

For those looking for a life partner, we would say don't give up. Keep asking God to guide and direct you. Cry out to him and tell him about your frustrations. To quote Proverbs 3:5-6 "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight".

Moira and William