HOW WE MET || When God Writes your Love Story || Ronnie and Mel

My name's Ronnie. And I'm Melissa. And this is our story. So growing up, I had a lot of bad relationships with guys. I've dated many girls along the way and just never really seemed like it was the right fit. But when I became a Christian, any time a guy would sort of try and come into my life, I just remember the Lord speaking so clearly to me. Melissa, if you just wait on me, I promise, in the area of a man, you will see the goodness of the Lord. Just wait on me. And you get to that point where you're in your late 20s. You're like, Lord, is this really going to happen? I get to the point I'm like 39 years old, single, no kids. All my friends are married, got multiple kids. Kids are in high school. I'm like, man, what's going on here? So I decided, like, Lord, I need you to break into this situation. I need you to bring me a wife. So for the next eight months, I was praying specifically for a wife. And I just knew. I knew that the next woman that God was going to bring into my life was going to be my wife. And so in that season, I'm a missionary. I had such a mission in my heart. And to be honest, I didn't want to get married. That's just going to get in the way of me and my mission, people. And I had a dream. And the Lord basically said, for what I've called you to do, I need you to travel. And I need you to go gain more partners so that you can continue to do what I've called you to. And so I planned a trip to California. And I knew that the Lord was leading me there. And I was like, Lord, when I was in California, I was not saved. So I started thinking, like, Lord, who out there do I even know that's a Christian? Who would even care? And I remembered my friend Ronnie was actually a Christian. Going back to like 2008, so in 2008, I knew Ronnie. I was in the motocross industry. I was a professional freestyle motocross rider. Mel was a promo model, trophy girl. And Mel stood out, super, super hot, blonde hair, big blue eyes, really pretty face. And everybody noticed her. Of course, I noticed her. And we kind of had a thing back then. And then she took off back to Colorado Springs, where she's originally from. And we lost contact. I reach out to him on Facebook. And what's funny is I never checked Facebook at all. So when I get the message, and she's talking about all this stuff, and I'm like, when did she become a Christian? I had no idea this girl was a Christian. So automatically, I start thinking, because I liked her way back eight years ago. So I start thinking, like, huh. Like, I knew I was praying about her. I was like, Lord, could this be? She's a Christian now. Could this be the one? At the time that I'm going to be in California, he's having an event at his house. They do a Veterans Day event every single year, where they bring out a bunch of veterans. They do a freestyle show, and where they preach the gospel. And they tell people about Jesus. So next thing you know, I invite her out to the thing. She comes out to my house. And I hadn't seen her in eight years. So I'm out back, and I see her come walking across. She, like, parked way up front. It's just, like, a two-acre stretch where she's coming across. And I, like, see her coming. And seriously, it's funny. It's like a slow-motion movie, as I just see her coming. There's this kid standing next to me, a younger kid. And he's like, is that your wife? I remember I looked over at him, and I looked back at her. And I'm like, could it be? Could it be? And I'm like, no, it's not my wife. But maybe someday. Obviously, I didn't say nothing to him. I didn't say nothing to her. But the whole time she was there, I remember I couldn't take my eyes off her. I was like, I'm trying to run this event and do stuff. But I kept, like, looking around, like, where's she at? Where's she at? I just wanted to look at her for a second, like, hang out and talk to her. But I couldn't. So I go to this thing. And real quick, I'm able to pick up that, oh, no. I hope he doesn't think that this is something more than it is. Honest to God, I am like, no. I am not getting back in the motocross industry. I am not dating some motocross guy. No. No, thank you. I was, like, hoping he wasn't thinking that the whole time. So I'm kind of, like, trying to keep my distance. I'm kind of just trying to, like, do my own thing. So I remember I actually went out to dinner that night. We went to dinner. And as, you know, first time we sat down and talked. And it didn't take long. I knew just by one dinner with her that her relationship with the Lord was solid. And we ended up hanging out every single day of my trip. It was, like, every single one of my other appointments got canceled. Nothing else worked out. I ended up hanging out with him every single day. I kept it very, like, Jesus, making sure it wasn't romantic in any way. And I was able to just give him all this stuff to fuel him in his own walk with the Lord. And he was just so hungry that I'm, like, OK, Lord. I'm going to just keep giving him this. I remember I called my pastor. And I said, I think I met my wife. I need you praying for me. And I need you to keep me covered that I don't mess this up. I had, like, four friends that I ended up sort of telling them this situation. And I kind of was, like, hoping that they would tell me, like, Melissa, stop hanging out with him. Just get out now. And oddly enough, every single one of them said, I don't know, Melissa. Maybe just be open to see what the Lord might do. So I'm thinking, I'm in. Like, I got this. Just, I'm in. I hung out with her every night. She was in California. It's on. It's a done deal. I got home from my trip. And he sent me flowers. And I was like, oh, no. Like, he really thinks that this is romantic. And I'm not thinking that at all. And so I call him. And I'm like, hey, I just want you to know, like, we're friends. I want to love you like a sister in the Lord. I want you to be my brother in the Lord where I can encourage you. So hey, I'm going to send you this list of boundaries. Because I think we need to build a strong brother-sister relationship. And then she just fully shut me down and threw me in the friend zone. I was like, hey, back up. Here are my rules with guys. Because I want to respect you. And I want you to be able to respect me. And us people just have that mutual friendship. So here. Here are my rules. She emailed me, like, a list of rules that I had. I was like, I looked at these and I'm like, this what? What are you talking? Like, is this chick serious? I'm like, never had anybody ever do that to me in my life. Give me some rules. Try to keep me in line or whatever. I was like, what? But at the same time, it made me respect her that much more. Because she was so serious about her faith. Like, her faith and her relationship with the Lord was first. And if anybody was going to come up in her life, she needed to make sure that it was of the Lord and she isn't going to get off track for nobody. And I respected that, because I've never met anybody like that that was so serious about being obedient every area of their life. So I was, like, taken back. Like, man, this woman is different than any of the women that I dated. So now I was really starting to like her. Even though she could shut me down, put me in the friend zone, I even liked her more. And I was like, huh. More, like, dude, let's be honest. Every man likes a challenge, right? So it was more of a challenge. I was like, OK. But during that time, there was a ton of stuff happening. Every time we'd go to places together, we would just get people prophesying over us, like you wouldn't believe. Like, you two are a powerhouse. Like, all these things. I'm like, oh my gosh, we're not even together. And there was just all these little things that the Lord did, almost like little confirmations, where it was just like, OK, take one more step. OK, take one more step. And we were, like, blown away when we would share the stories of, like, what the Lord was speaking to me, what He was speaking to her. And the Lord was giving me a whole ton of dreams, like, during this time, too. So it was just, it was a season that I look back on that I'm like, man, I've never had a season in my life like that, where the Lord was speaking clear to me about certain things through dreams, through other people coming up and speaking over me. I was definitely in a transition season. I was pretty much retiring from freestyle motocross. We were kind of racing trucks a little bit. But while I was racing trucks, I kind of knew, like, I don't know if I'm supposed to be doing this. And during that time is when Mel came into my life. And people were prophesying nonstop about ministry and the calling that God had on my life. And I've heard that since I've gotten saved. I just probably never really wanted to maybe believe it or walk it out that the Lord has called me full-time in the ministry and to be a leader and to be a pastor and a speaker. And I just kind of was like, man, I'm an athlete. I ride dirt bikes. I don't want to get up there. I don't even like getting up there. I don't want to be the guy in the center of the stage. I'll kind of dodge a bullet. But it was just clear that that's what the Lord was calling not only me, but us as a couple. Over time, the Lord just made it clear, like, okay, I want you guys to enter a new season of dating. Obviously we're long distance. We hung out mostly at conferences. We ended up reading this dating book and we'd send it to each other just so we knew, like, we're on the right page. There was this one day I remember I sat him down and I'm like, okay, here's the thing. I don't care how great some guy is. I can't let some guy get between me and my calling in the Lord. She said, okay, I know what my calling is. What is your calling? And if we were to get married, what would our lives look like? Because we got to make sure that they're going to line up together. I remember I was like, well, I think I'm more like an evangelist. I'll go and if someone invites me to come speak, I'll come speak at their event. I'll come speak at their church. I'd be mobile. I would maybe have like a YouTube page and just use social media to like share the message and share the gospel and share my heart and talk to people. And so it'd probably be like something like that. I was like, and you know, that way we could do this together and you know, you can go speak as well. We'll have resources, have books. This is what I told her. She's like, okay, I can see that kind of working. So she's like, let's pray about it. I'm like, okay, Lord, if this really is you, if this is really you inviting us into marriage together for your purposes, then confirm it. Confirm this ministry that you've placed upon our hearts. The next day we went to a conference. It was like a big stadium event. I'm walking through a crowd of thousands of people. And this dude just basically like, I seen him. He was like, you know, catty-cornered me. And as I looked at him, he like looked at me and he double took me like this and walked straight up to me and he just started to prophesy over me. And he was just like, God's put a calling on your life. God is gonna use you. He's giving you influence over a certain group of people. He's like, I see a movement with the youth. He's like, there's gonna be a YouTube page and it's gonna touch millions of people. He had my attention right when he said, you have influence over a certain group of people and you had a movement with the youth. Just because at that time, like obviously, I'm known in the motocross industry and I always felt like that would be a group of people that I would minister to because of my family. And then when he said, you will have a movement with the youth, I was like, wow. Because at that time I was doing these events where I was going into high schools, I was speaking to the youth kids. So he was like, movement with the youth. I'm like, whoa, I'm speaking to high school kids right now. But then when he said, there's gonna be a YouTube page, like that's when it clicked. That's when it clicked. I'm like, we prayed about this last night. And I looked over her and she's like deer in a headlight. She's like, she like hit the ground. She basically, she did, she went down. Can't believe this dude's saying this. And then that was a really big moment for Mel where she felt like the Lord really confirmed her and me to get married and he was behind this ministry. So that led to us getting engaged. And I remember when we were getting engaged, I didn't really know how to do it. And everyone's like, yo, it's gotta be perfect. You gotta get a camera guy. You gotta set it up. You gotta have this, that, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, I ain't got none of that, dude. I got my boy with an iPhone and I'm gonna pray and the Lord is gonna work it all out. So the next time I was gonna see her was at this big event called Together. It was in Washington, DC, big prayer meeting, hundreds of thousands of people coming together. So that was the next time I was gonna see her. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do it there. I knew she liked trees and green grass and pretty stuff. And I'm like, okay, I'm in Washington, DC. Is there even trees at the city? Where am I gonna find grass and country look? So I remember I just prayed, Lord, this city, where's the trees? Help me find the trees and help this go right. So I got my buddy with me and I said, I'm gonna have a backpack on. Went and I dropped the backpack. That's to your cue. Don't miss the picture. Take the picture, because I'm dropping the knee. So be ready. So wake up that morning. The conference is going on. It's all outdoor. So she can hear the worship. It's like, hey, let's go worship. I'm like, hey, let's just cruise. She's like, I really don't want to sightsee. She's like, I'd rather just go worship. And I'm like, all right, well, just take a minute. And I just had to like drag her away from the event. And then I'm like looking, looking, and I'm like, all right, leave me, leave me, leave me. And then I just like looked and saw this little patch of grass with some trees. So I just grabbed her and I yanked her into this little like courtyard. I pulled her in there and I popped the backpack off, dropped the knee, buddy snapped the shot, and we got engaged. She said, yes. But the craziest thing about that whole story was I didn't know the city. I had nothing but a prayer of faith that the Lord would lead me to a place where green trees and grass and something that she would like and that the picture would be special. Didn't have a professional photographer, had a buddy with an iPhone. And when I looked at the photo, like it literally made me weep because it was so perfect. We were in the middle of these green trees, but somehow smack dab in the middle of me and Ronnie is this bright blood red tree. I'm on my knee, she's standing here and there's these red flowers like coming down between us. And the first when I looked at the photo, I just saw these red flowers. I just thought, man, that's the blood of Jesus. And it's right in the middle. And I was just like, man, since the beginning, we've honored the Lord with this relationship. We wanted God to be at the center of everything that we did and if he wasn't in the center of it, we didn't wanna do it. We surrendered it over and over again through friendships, through dating, into the whole thing. The Lord was the center. She gave me these boundaries while we were friends, she gave me boundaries while we were dating and we walked it out. We were able to stay pure. We didn't even kiss until our wedding day that I was like, man, Lord, only you could have led me and set, like I couldn't have made that happen on my own strength. Also, the day that we got engaged, the Lord gave us a huge rainbow across the sky. Which is a sign of his covenant love. You cannot make these things up. That's just not coincidence. That's called Jesus is involved in your life and he sees you and he hears you and he does things like that. So you know he's real. He had to lead me, I was nervous about getting married and he had to give me a ton of confidence that he was a part of it and he did. It really was a leap of faith for me and going into it with a sober decision that okay, Lord, I'm trusting that you're leading, I'm trusting that this is what you want and I'm gonna say yes, though I don't know what it's gonna look like, though I'm kind of scared because it's not what I would have chosen for myself, but I'm gonna trust you. And we ended up getting married in Kansas City. It was a short engagement. Mel did it in like six weeks. Like we were engaged for six weeks, we got married. The morning of our wedding, there was a 5.6 earthquake. We were in Kansas City. The morning of our wedding, I'm sleeping in Kansas and I get shook out of bed and I'm like, oh, that was an earthquake, but then you know, you're like, wait a second, I'm in Kansas. There are no earthquakes in Kansas. The Lord shook the earth on the morning of our wedding day. And I yet to know what that means, but I just think it's cool. It was like three months of preparation, three months of dating, three months of knowing we're getting married and getting married. In nine months, my entire life completely shifted and the Lord was able to birth something that he had destined in his heart for a long time. I just think back to those times even 10 years ago when I knew Ronnie in 2008 when we had our little thing. The Lord knew then that we were gonna end up being completely different people 10 years down the road. And we had no idea, but the Lord knew. The Lord knew when we were just two messed up kids, they kind of liked each other back in the day and they did it in a completely wrong and ungodly way. But God can take two people, completely transform them, bring them back together as completely new people and have them walk out a godly relationship into a godly marriage that's gonna have an impact on people. Only God can write that story. He constantly said, Lord, you write the story and we'll tell it. You take the pen and we are gonna tell way more. We're like, this is just a little, this is like the bullet points. We are planning on putting out a book that's gonna be in detail of our personal testimonies and our story in great detail because there's so much to it. And so if either you're single or if you're married, you can trust the Lord. You can trust him with your life, but he knows it better. He wrote a way better story than I ever could have come up with on my own. He knew what was better and I just had to say yes. And so trust the Lord with your life. Say yes, whatever that looks like, and he will write a beautiful story with your life.