Five years ago, I wrote my very first blog entitled “Six Months.” It was written as a way to heal and perhaps help others. It had been six months since the double tragedy of my divorce after thirty years of marriage, and a car accident that took the lives of my only sibling and his wife. I ended the blog with this…

“And I’ve concluded: love is all that matters. When we love well, we will not have regret. Six months later, John 3:16 has deeper meaning to me… “God so loved the world that he gave his only son. That whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” I thank God for His son Jesus, and the strength He gives me to carry on and risk loving more.”

These five years have been filled with so many expressions of love, including the pull of love that drew me to move back to Nebraska last year, after 20 years in Florida. The stirring in my heart began at the beginning of 2020, before the word COVID was a household name. God orchestrated every detail of the move. He led me to a new job that fits my passion, experience and skills. He provided temporary housing both in Orlando and Omaha, until I found the coziest house to rent right across the street from my niece and her sweet family of six. He surrounded me with my Nebraska family and long-time friends that made the transition so natural. And then… He exceeded my wildest dreams and has given me a new love to share the rest of my life with.

The Lord knew my heart about dating after divorce. I told anyone that asked, that I believed my God was big enough to put the right man in front of me if He so desired me to be in a relationship again. (Whenever I dipped my toes into online dating, there was nothing about it that felt right to me. This is a personal conviction — I know many great people have found a partner this way.)  During these five years I grew to be very comfortable with my single life. I’ve been content. I’ve worked on healing from the tragedies of 2015. I’ve invested in helping others through similar trials. My life has been full and rewarding.

But God had a new chapter for my life that began with a funeral. My dear pastor, Elmer Murdoch, passed away in November. I learned what it meant to “give my life to the Lord” from this man during my twenties. My brother and parents had done just that while I was away at Kearney State College. When I moved back to Omaha to start my career at Arthur Andersen, I began attending Trinity Church with them, where Pastor Murdoch would challenge me weekly to consider letting Jesus “sit on the throne of my life” and call the shots. I did surrender my life to Jesus at 26 and know that it forever changed the trajectory of my life. After Pastor’s November funeral, several of my friends went out to dinner. I did not attend, due to a babysitting commitment, but my dear friend Ann was there and sat next to a friend who had been suddenly widowed in March after 37 years of marriage. Eight months later, he told her he was open to being introduced to someone if that was in God’s plan. Ann tucked this away in her heart, reached out to his sister Beth later that week, and said, “Bill needs to meet Julie.” Beth agreed, and a plan was made for Bill and me to meet on a Sunday, where we would be attending the same church service. The introduction was comfortable, we chatted for several minutes and he asked for my number before we both left the building. He finally called me on Thursday night, and we made plans for a first lunch date on Saturday. We both were going into this with zero expectations as to what would happen, but I was cautiously optimistic given Bill’s reputation as a Godly man with a great reputation. (We have many friends in common that I quickly “vetted” him before our first date. Plus, he’s been a fire chief for 15 years, so I figured he had to be of solid character.) He showed up at my door with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, followed by a lunch that stretched into almost five hours as we took turns sharing stories. We discovered we are exactly the same age (Class of 1976 – represent) and that our parents got married the same year. He grew up Catholic and I grew up Episcopal, and both our families were led to Jesus in the same season of life, and then attended the same church.

Fast forward to today, and I am now engaged to be married to Bill in June of this year. Our family will grow into one that blends the relationships of 7 adult children, 9 grandchildren, his 3 siblings, my brother’s 4 children, his deceased wife’s dear parents and her 3 sisters. We will celebrate with these precious souls, along with countless friends that have walked with us through the valley. We are amazed at our story thus far. Bill and I are well acquainted with grief. Though he lost his beautiful wife to death, and I lost my unfaithful husband to divorce, we know the mutual pain of life not going as we planned. We never expected or wanted to have a second spouse. We have separately cried buckets of tears and cried out to a loving God for comfort alone in the dark. We have spent the past month introducing each other to the important people in our lives, and it often is followed by more tears, because I realize the great loss his family and friends have experienced with the sudden loss of their daughter, mother or best friend. I have admired Bill’s heart for my children, being intentional with getting to know them. I know that he will be such a blessing in their lives.

Our relationship has moved at “warp speed” but we truly know that God has brought us together for His purposes at such a time as this. I even received a prophetic word from a trusted friend before I met Bill about this very thing happening. We are so excited to see what plans God will unfold for our marriage, and how He will use us to bring Him glory. We are blown away by His goodness to us, and the fact that we share so many common friends along with a spiritual heritage. (Bill was in Trinity youth group with my brother Ty, and they had a year together at Asbury College. It means so much to me that he knew him.) We have already experienced the challenge of navigating the hearts of those we love, and we will give them the space they need to process. We aren’t perfect at walking this new road, but we are trying our best to do it with grace and integrity.

We look forward to our wedding day in June, where we will stand before God, family and friends, and praise Him for a miraculous “Plan B” love story. One that only He could have written. I am so very grateful God gave me the strength these past five years to “risk loving more.”