I’m thrilled to say that I’m engaged to the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met! On Friday night of last week I asked Heidi to marry me, and she said “I will! Yes! Of course! Finally!”. Such joy fills my heart, and I don’t know how to put all the emotion I feel into words. I’m so excited to spend the rest of my life with this woman, and see what God has in store for us.

A verse comes to mind:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11

There were many days, I must admit, that I wasn’t sure if God had this in mind for me. Dating was frustrating for me. I just couldn’t seem to get it right. I didn’t have trouble getting dates, but the actual relationship thing just never seemed to work right. I would end up frustrated and let down. I often asked God to guide my decisions and steps, but in this area things just always seemed to fall apart.

When I first became interested in Heidi a few years ago, the same thing happened. I thought she was amazingly beautiful, I noticed right away that she was a complete sweetheart. But I couldn’t get her interested in me. Since then, she has said that I was pretty immature and tried way to hard to get attention. I think she was right.

A couple years ago I finally got her attention and interest, and we started dating. Our relationship was good, but had constant tension. It just didn’t “flow”, and we had a lot of small disagreements and differing points of view along the way. I cared deeply for her and knew I had a deep connection with her. But we just didn’t feel right about moving forward. We broke up.

I determined that I’d keep searching and pursued other girls. But when my attempts ended, my heart returned to Heidi. A lot of soul searching and question asking dominated my heart. Finally this spring I decided that I needed to give this girl who owned my heart a call. In April I did just that. Since that time, things have moved very quickly, and it’s truly amazing what God has done in both of our hearts.

On Friday night, under a sky covered with stars and on a hill overlooking the town of Brandon, I asked Heidi to be my wife. Her joy in saying “Yes!” filled the quiet night sky with joy and celebration. What a wonderful feeling it was!

Celebrating under the stars!

For those of you who are single and frustrated that your attempts at finding a companion aren’t working out, I would encourage you to confidently wait. Don’t compromise your values, try to ‘fit a square peg in a round hole’, or attempt to define a time table for things to work out. You’ll be wasting your energy and happiness. God’s timing is better than yours (and mine!). Here’s a verse that stuck with me through all the turmoil of dating:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

The Incredible Woman I'm Thrilled to Marry!

All the frustration I felt was worth it. God taught me so much in it, and I’m so thankful for what I have now. If getting Heidi had been a cake walk, I don’t think I would value and appreciate her. But it’s been such a challenging road to get here that I’m in awe of what I’ve been blessed with.

To my family and friends, thankyou so much for listening to me vent. Thanks for praying me through it all. Thanks for sharing my excitement the past few days.

God is good, and his timing is amazing. I can’t wait to spend my life with Heidi, and I can’t wait to see what amazing things are to come!