Today, is my first post taking part in the Christian Women Online Internet Cafe. I found this site a couple of weeks ago and am in love! So, I thought that I would take part in the fun today. Here is the task today:
In as much detail as you would like to share, please tell me a “miracle” that has happened in your own life.
As soon as I saw this prompt, I knew what I had to write about. Mat and I joke all the time that we know God exists because no one else could plan how we met and fell in love. Here's the story. Warning: This is LONG!
The story first begins in May 1982 when Mat was born. His father was in the Army and at the time, they were staying with Mat's grandparents, Naomi and John. They just retired a few years earlier into a cute white house near a cemetery. It was on "Chance" Street (I'll change the names of the streets to protect the innocent) which was just around the block from "Winston" Street.
When I (Jess) was 6 years old, my grandmother passed away from lung cancer. To help my grandfather, my family moved in with him. We lived in a cute white house across from a cemetery (creepy!!). This house just happened to be on "Winston" Street.
Mat and his family were constantly visiting his grandparents on "Chance" Street and taking nice afternoon walks to a certain cemetery. Mat had the sweetness to replace all of the flowers that had blown down.
Jess and her family lived with her grandfather for a few years, moved away to a new house, and then moved back. Jess and her grandfather often walked around the cemetery and Jess even rode her bike through the trails there.
Many years later, Mat applied for the Citadel and Catawba College. He did not get into the Citadel but did get into Catawba. He started there in August 2000.
During Jess's Senior year in High School, she knew that she wanted to go to Appalachian State University because they had the best Teacher Education dept. in NC. However, for some reason, she decided to apply to Catawba College. This was a much smaller school with a little known Teacher Ed. dept. However, she was drawn here because it was so close to her home. In May, she decided to attend Catawba. She started in August 2001.
Mat had a hard year as a Freshman at Catawba. Academics weren't what he concentrated on. However, he met some wonderful friends. He and these friends decided to create a Rugby team.
One day, at a "Club Day" at Catawba, one of Jess's friends introduced her to some of the boys on the Rugby team. Jess actually never heard of Rugby so didn't seem interested.
Jess had a hard year as a Freshman at Catawba. Academics were her life. She also met a young man on the Rugby team that she thought she would be with forever. This was not the best relationship for Jess.
During this year, Mat saw a girl (hint- it was Jess) across the Student Center. She caught his eye however she never noticed. For some reason, Mat vividly remembers this moment.
For the 2002 (I don't know what # it was) Super Bowl, Mat and his friends had a Super Bowl party. Jess and her boyfriend attended this party. Now Mat and his friends were not wild and crazy college guys. The most action at that party was Mat trying to be all macho and cool and impress Jess. However, Jess was completely oblivious to this and had a boyfriend so she wouldn't really have cared anyway.
During the summer of 2002, Jess went to work for a hardware store in her hometown. One day, Mat and "some girl" came into the hardware store. Mat and his family were visiting his grandparents. Little did Jess know that "some girl" was Mat's sister. Jess was so surprised to see Mat and really wished she had more time to hang out with him. Yes, Jess was still with the other boy but that day, things started to change. Jess realized that she liked Mat a little. Of course, she would never admit it to anyone.
When college started again, Jess frequently saw Mat. Mat liked Jess but knew he couldn't be with her so he began trying to pursue dating her roommate, Lindsay. He came over a lot but Lindsay wasn't really interested. Jess thought Lindsay was CRAZY because Mat was the perfect guy. He was sweet, caring, and a wonderful Christian.
Things started to go downhill for Jess and her boyfriend so they decided to take a "break". The night of this decision, Mat called to check on Jess because she had been sick. Her roommate wasn't there so Mat asked Jess if she wanted to go get "a cup of Joe". Being that they were in a small town and this was late at night, there weren't many places open. They ended up going to Waffle House! They sat there and talked for hours. They discussed their families and their lives. They found several odd things in this conversation. 1)Jess's middle name is Naomi and Mat's grandmother's middle name was Naomi. 2)Jess grew up in small "Ltown" and Mat's grandparents lived in small "Ltown". Mat was also born in small "Ltown". 3)Jess's grandfather and Mat's grandmother lived right around the corner from each other.
Around 3am, Mat took Jess back to her dorm and they couldn't stop thinking about each other. A couple of days later, they took a walk and decided that they couldn't date because they were really good friends and they didn't want to ruin that. They would just stay friends.
This is where it gets even better!! On September 24th, Mat and his friend came over to Jess's dorm. Jess said that she had to study and Mat offered to help her. So, Mat's friend invited her back over to Mat's dorm so they could study. Jess could use all the help she could get so she went. However, at some point, Mat's friend disappeared and Mat and Jess were left alone (of course with other people coming in and out) in the "Lounge" of Mat's dorm suite. They studied (later to be discoverd as the wrong chapter) most of the night. At 1(something)am, on September 25th, Mat and Jess kissed. There were fireworks (no, not real ones)! They decided that they should start dating. This was the best decision that the two ever made!!
During their relationship, they became amazed at how everything worked out. They couldn't believe that they had lived so close to each other back in "Ltown" and never met. There were so many special things in their lives that just seemed too much to be coincidence. God must have been at work!!
We dated for 2 years and Mat asked me to marry him on August 27, 2004. We were married on July 16, 2005 at the chapel at Catawba College.
Looking back at our lives, we can see so many times that God was at work. We know that we were meant to be together because of the things that God did. We both had serious relationships before each other and were upset when those didn't work out. However, now we look back and are so thankful that they didn't. We never knew God's plan but are so glad that his plan involved us being together.
On our wedding day, we each picked a song to play for each other. He chose "Unanswered Prayers" by Garth Brooks and I chose "God Bless the Broken" by Rascal Flatts. If you look at the lyrics of these songs, they truly say how we felt about each other and how our lives turned out. It was like those songs were meant for us.
As a couple, we have had our ups and downs. However, when we look back at what has happened, we know that we are meant to be together. Mat's grandmother one day told me, "God works in mysterious ways". He truly does!! I thank Him everyday for the miracle that her performed for me and Mat to meet and fall in love.
Wow! That was a lot but I did warn you. I hope you enjoyed my miracle story. I hope that you can see the miracles in your life.
Yes, that is a jar of peanut butter. 
