Jen & Will

I had been on Christian Connection for almost three years when I met William. I'd messaged with and even met up with a few guys before, but I hadn't wanted to pursue any of those beyond just a friendship. At this point, I didn't really expect to meet a man I could marry on Christian Connection, but I kept checking in from time to time regardless. I'm so grateful to God that I did!

I saw William's message a few days after he'd sent it, and replied, not expecting anything much to come of it. There was nothing that stood out about him. I later found out that he had only messaged me casually as well. Both of us had written off each other's profiles as the sort of person we could be friends with, but wouldn't want to pursue a relationship with. It seems God had other ideas!

We started a conversation, that soon turned into a friendship, that then developed into a desire to meet in person. COVID border closures made this difficult since we were living in different states, a good 14 hours' drive away, but I knew it was time to take a risk. With some hastily arranged leave, and a lot of driving, we managed to meet in person for the first time last October.

Our first 'date' turned out to be a lot more eventful than we'd planned! A quiet bushwalk took an interesting turn when we were confronted with a flooded river crossing and very few options. For a pair of very conservative people, William's decision to strip down to his jocks and carry me (and his clothes) across the river raised quite a few eyebrows! But it was the sort of shared experience that you don't forget easily, and we thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our day together without a hint of awkwardness. I remember William commenting at the time that if we do get married that'll be a story to tell at the wedding. And it was!

We got engaged, 13 adventures later, on Boxing Day. By that point we had gotten lost in the bush together, got bogged, broken an ankle, and made at least one mad dash for the border before it closed. We felt it was safe to conclude that we do adventures together pretty well!

Our wedding on Easter Sunday was a beautiful time. By God's grace both states were not in lockdown at the time and we were able to celebrate with all our friends and family at the church I now call home.

We recently marked a quarter of a year of marriage. We have so much yet to learn about marriage, and about each other, but we constantly marvel at how much joy and blessing we've already received. God is so good, and although we both had to wait longer than we would have liked for marriage, He had a plan for us that was better than we'd dared to dream.