Single to Married in 9 Months | When God Writes Your Love Story

Hi everybody! Welcome to The King's Banquet. I'm Leanna. I'm Elijah. And we're here at BD the Truth. That was not natural. Okay, okay, do it again, do it again. I've had a calling for a long time to make a video like this and to put things out on how to live the Christian life and brought my husband along to join me. Are you excited to be here? Yeah, we'll see how we do. It's going to be a little different talking to an audience behind a camera than in person. Yeah, but Elijah is really passionate about speaking about the Lord and we love the Lord and so we're here just to share that with everybody else. I feel like nowadays there's a lot of negativity online and things like that and so we kind of just wanted to bring in a little bit of light in the midst of all the darkness. So we live in Tennessee. Elijah's in the Air Force and we've been stationed here, well you've been stationed here for about three years and I've been here for about two. And we have a one-year-old son named Micah and a former named Gabriel. So that's our family and then we also have a two-year-old puppy named Layla. But yeah, so I think we're just going to go into our story today. So how we met was a little like cliche I guess because we met on Bumble but like not condoning it or saying that it's a good platform or anything because it's a worldly platform but we were at the place in our lives where like I was ready to get married and I was focused on the Lord but I was just in my heart like I just felt like I was ready and you were at the place to you know meet me and we're two ships in the night and we're from the same town and but never met each other and never knew of each other and we're had the same friends and never even heard about each other's names but then all of a sudden meet and it just clicked and work you know. And Elijah was homeschooled so that was partially a big reason why we didn't met. If he had gone to my high school we probably would have known each other but. Probably wouldn't have gone to your high school but. But yeah anyway so the backstory behind all of this is I had dated a lot of people and I didn't really know who I was. I didn't really have a relationship with God or anything but I was tired of struggling. I was tired of searching and things like that and I was looking for a I was looking for God and I was looking for a man to step up and actually be a man because I hadn't really seen that ever in my life. So I was on interest and I saw this woman talking about how you should write out everything that you want a man and pray over every night. So I did that. I wrote out everything that I wanted and I was like you know what I am not going to settle and I'm not going to date anybody who doesn't have all of these things. And after I made that list I think it was 10 days later I was on Bumble and Elijah was the first person that I was like semi-interested in and so I messaged him. And he extended the time which well actually he extended the time and then I messaged him and so so that was like the reason why I kind of was like okay well I was like yeah he's cute I'll give him a shot. And so then we met up and on the first date he checked off a lot of the things. I think there was like three that were missing and I was like those three and I was like that's a deal breaker. I was like I'm done and so I went home and my uncle was there with my grandmother and he was actually I had just gotten home from our date because our first date was at the beach and it was like eight hours long. So I had just gotten home and I was like yeah he was all right but I'm gonna check everything off my list you know. I was like so that stinks. Elijah was actually supposed to be leaving a week later to come to Tennessee because he had just gotten done all of his training and everything and he was headed to where he was now stationed and so I was like well you know he's leaving anyway so it doesn't really make a big deal. My uncle was like why don't you give him another shot. So I went and I messaged you back and I was like okay well I guess we can go and then after that it was game over. He checked everything off and I was like this is my husband and so do you want to talk about like our the long date that changed everything? I mean you could talk about it. I mean wait you're the one who planned it so. Well I didn't really plan it with that in mind. I mean I wasn't yeah. Why were you wumpa bull? I don't know. I was just lonely and I told the Lord like a long time ago when I was younger and first got saved that I would never get married or have kids or anything because I just wanted to be like Paul and I just wanted to just be dedicated but when I went home and my family was kind of in pieces at that point like I just felt like I was alone so I felt like the Lord used you know something that necessarily isn't always a good thing or can be a distraction for some people. He used it to be a blessing in our lives and have us meet and yeah and I don't know. I just like hanging out with you so I want to make sure that we did fun things and you knew more and more about me every time we met up and hung out and I wasn't really thinking of dating at that point because I even told her that. I was like we're not dating. We're not thinking about dating. We're just friends. I don't think in five years when I get out the military and you get out of college I was like then we'll talk about it. But on this long date so what the date was was he picked me up I think around nine. It was pretty early and I didn't get home until like one in the middle of the night so our date was all day long and so we had already met at the beach and then we went bowling and went out to breakfast and so this was all in like the span of four days so we had like three dates in four days because he was leaving to go to the military so then he was like well I'm planning this special date and I'm not telling you what it is and I was like okay so we went. Not a date but I was like I'm planning this special like day. This special day. It was a date. Anyway you guys tell me if this is leading somebody on but he picked all these places around our area that meant something in his life and so we would go there and at each spot he would have a song to listen to and something to eat and like so I could you know like experience all the senses like there was you know the music that he would have been listening to the things that he would have been eating. It was just all things that meant something to you. That's cool so it's like that's a date. It's not a date. It's just like a look inside of you know my life for a second because I'm also one of those people I don't believe in platonic relationships and you do so I'm just saying yeah just because you don't believe in it so you were just oh he's so cute but yeah anyway so he took me to all these places and then this date we went what really changed was we went to the beach again but we went to a different beach this time and we were sitting there and we were honestly like this close and he was on like a little log and I was just standing next to him and then I was like why am I just standing so I went and sat next to him and then he like looked at me and we made like lingering eye contact and I was like oh I really like him and then he like looked away and then got up and walked to the water and then we were like playing in the water and stuff. It sounds weird. It sounds like a movie though. Yeah it was. It's like we're sitting there just looking out across the water I'm sitting there on a log and then we weren't even talking I don't know why like that was like one of the only times where we were like quiet yeah majority of the time we're talking but I knew that I liked him because I have a really hard time like with like awkward silence with people but like with you the quiet was just as easy as like us talking yeah it was almost weird though because I'm just sitting there on the log I'm just looking out in the water and then you're just next to me like and then you like sit down like that's why I got up I was like okay our paths are very different though but we're about to get into that so so at the end of this date we had we literally did everything went out to eat we went to the beach we went and saw fireworks so at the end of the night he's dropping me off at my mom's house and I'm sitting I'm sitting in the car waiting to get out and I'm like so are you gonna do it already and he's like do what and so I grab his face and I go in to kiss him like full blown like fingers interlocked behind my neck and so you're shaking you're shaking the thing oh sorry but yeah so I'm like I'm getting ready I'm going in to kiss you and I've never been curved so hard in my life this was hands down to this day the most embarrassing thing I had I honestly had no idea you know maybe it was because of my immaturity in that area but he had never sitting there like why is she waiting in this car like I pull up and just sit there and this was the second time in the entire all the dates that we had that was the first time on the log that was quiet and then this always pull up boom and I'm like she's gonna get out and then you're just like are you gonna do it already and so he curves me needless to say like full body roll it was yeah his head hit the window and he almost yeah he like slid down and I was like oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh so I'm sitting there and I'm like what is happening so I'm so embarrassed he had I brought my backpack and so he stuck like his ipad like his airpods everything was in my backpack and I'm literally wearing his sweatshirt because it was cold by this time and so I just take everything out of the car and I well you didn't you sat there for a second yeah I was well I was shocked you didn't even say anything you just yeah I was I was stunned like I didn't even know what to do I've never had this so bad but I've never been like turned down like that so I was like oh man I was like this is really bad and so I grabbed my stuff and I ran inside and I was sobbing I was hysterically crying and I'm running up the stairs to go see my mom and so I get inside I shut the door and I lean up against the door and she's like how was the date and I'm crying because I was so embarrassed and I was like I'm gonna marry him okay sorry about that our son woke up from his nap and then Elijah needed a snack break snack break but we are back so I was just finishing saying that we're gonna marry me yes that I was so I told my I went upstairs and told my mom that I was gonna marry him and so what was going on behind the scenes was Elijah was in his car texting me this really long message about who I am in Christ and how much the Lord loves me and how he actually has never kissed anybody has never slept with anybody or done any of that so that was what was happening but do you wanna I don't even remember what the message says exactly but yeah that was the gist yeah well because I said it in the car um I tried to give you a brief thing but you weren't really listening you're just you know just zoned out I was I was just so but I was just like you know who you are and yeah I said those things about myself to give context but it's more so just about like how God sees you how much he loves you and how it's not a meat market we're not just testing the flight for the week to see what we like and don't like it's just like no it's like um we're gonna do this and it's gonna be serious and it's gonna be God-centered and focused and it's so funny that I was literally telling my mom that I was gonna marry him before I even knew all of that so at this point I just thought that I was I don't know I just thought that he didn't like me that way and didn't see me that way so but it's funny that I like I just knew I knew that he I was gonna marry him yeah but yeah I didn't know this he's lying he knew it from the second he saw me second second I messaged you you're like that's the one yeah pulled up pulled up to pick me up from my house but anyway yeah pulled up to pick me from my house just pulled all the way up nuzzled up against the steering wheel hello my name's Leanna oh my dang I didn't know how you can get that close to the steering wheel I for height reference I'm I'm 5'1 but I say I'm 5'2 yeah so I'm little so my legs are little so I have to be really close to the steering wheel but anyway um so he sent that message but my phone was dead so I didn't get the message until the next morning so I yeah I just didn't want to I wasn't even trying my phone was on one percent but I wasn't even trying to look at my phone because I was like oh my gosh that's so embarrassing but I woke up and I got that message and then I accidentally so I said something back and then um he replied to me and I asked him at the end of my message I was like like do you still want to continue this and he said um no I do but I thought he said no I don't and so I was distraught I was like oh my goodness I went to work and I would like go in the back room and cry and I'd be like how could this guy like say all this awesome and nice things about me and then just leave me hanging like that and then my friend looked at my phone and she was like Leanna he said that he does want to continue and I was like oh my god duh so then we met up that day so I could give you all your stuff back and the rest is history we talked every single night after that probably for like a minimum of six hours we would talk every single night yeah at the end of work yeah yeah so we would talk from when he got out of work which was probably because he's Tennessee is an hour behind because we're from the east coast we're from Connecticut so Tennessee is an hour behind so he would get out around four so five my time and then we would talk from then until we went earlier but yeah so I just I didn't know what was different about him but come to find out later that it wasn't him at all it was actually Christ in him that I wanted I mean you know you were a bonus but I was actually searching for God yeah yeah you were just a little jerk during that but um yeah so oh yeah yeah so now we have to go into us dating yeah yeah so we talked so he came and saw me and pretty much every single month he would come like once a month and we would see each other for about like a long weekend or he would sometimes just come for a weekend um and then it was my birthday and so we went up to Boston and we yeah we went up to Boston we spent a long weekend in Boston and then like a few days later he was getting his wisdom teeth out and he was like do you want because he was getting his wisdom teeth out the day before my birthday so he came up earlier for my birthday to do the whole Boston trip and then it was my actual birthday and so he was like do you want to come to Tennessee for my birthday and I was like yeah of course and so this is like the turning point in our relationship I don't even know if you know this but my grandmother um because it was like I don't even know it was probably nine o'clock at night that he asked me to go and to fly out the next day and so I went up to my grandmother and I was like are you busy tomorrow because I really like for you to drive me to the airport and she was like absolutely not she was like not like done with our you know but we were always going back and forth so we were traveling all the time and she was like oh my gosh like you just need to chill out girl you know like settle down and so then I looked at her and this was like the first time I ever like truly told her how I felt about him and I was like Grammy I was like I want to marry him I was like I would do anything to be with this guy like I would do anything and so at this point we had only been dating for nine months and um I was like yeah I want to be with him he's the one I was like and I'm I this is I I want to be with him I was like so please drive me and so she was like okay fine so she drove me to the airport and I never left Tennessee so stuck chained you're not funny but yeah so he had I had a flight planned for that Sunday so I came in on like a Friday and I was supposed to leave that Sunday but I slept through it um yeah I pretended to sleep through it the alarm so I missed my alarm let's just let's just stay here yeah so that's exactly what I did I was like we're just gonna stay so then I just stayed and I was like okay well I'll just go the next weekend so he booked another flight for a week out so then the next Sunday came and I sat up in bed and I said I really don't want to leave and he said I really don't want you to leave and so he was still living in his dorm rooms at this time and so I kind of like moved into his dorm rooms and I was like well I'm not living here if we're not married I was like so like I have to find a place and I have to do all this stuff um so I was getting all of my eggs in the basket yeah I was getting all my eggs in the basket trying to figure out where I was gonna live out here and my job and everything and he was actually going in buying the ring and doing all his stuff on his end and so like a few days later I'm like I go I'm we're in the car driving and I just start sobbing because he's been like distant like there he would like leave the dorm for hours and I wouldn't know where he was or he would go take secret phone calls and stuff like this and so I was finally like okay did you not want me to move here like was I stepping in was I stepping on your territory and I'm sobbing and then you would get so fed up with it that you're like I don't know would you because you wanted to leave they're like yeah I think I did the wrong thing and I just want to go home blah blah blah and then I was like well that kind of sucks because I was proposing that is not how you said it he said he said shut up he said I was buying the ring I was asking your family for permission and I was making sure that the ring was right he was like that's what I've been doing I'm pretty sure you were about to get out of the car yeah I'm pretty sure we're on a red light and I was like we were like I think we were out front of the dorms and you're like I'm not going in there with you you're like I want to go home like I'll figure out a way home you're like I'm just gonna start walking and then you're about to get out and then I was like I'm passionate I'm that's what I like to say I'm passionate when I say something but yeah so I was about to get ready to go and then he um proposed to me so then the next day he actually went and proposed to me we'll have pictures but yeah so he went and actually proposed to me and um and then a week later we went and we eloped and got married and so I was able to stay here and then a month later we bought this house um and found out we were having a baby and yeah there's a dude a girl just following Christ but yeah so that is our story and that's how we came together and how God brought us together so we hope that you guys enjoyed um so we'll do our testimonies individually like we'll talk about one at a time because he found Christ at 15 and then I didn't find yeah he he knew about God at 15 and then you found him in and out and then it took a little bit but then I found God about two years ago but my story is also you know dying to yourself and everything we're working on it but so yeah I hope that you guys enjoyed um and we're so happy that you could be here and hear our story and we hope that you can be part of our family now so but we're all part of the family brothers and sisters in Christ amen