Written By: Patti Pierce
When I was a freshman in high school, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. As a result I always knew I would marry someone who was a fellow believer. But I was not in a hurry to marry. In 1990 during my senior year of college, I met the man who would become my husband. But at the time I first met him, I had no thoughts of marriage. I wanted simply to have someone about my age to square dance with when my father and I went dancing. However, God had other plans.
Dennis is everything I dreamed I would want in a husband. He cherishes me, loves me and accepts me as I am. He supports me in everything I attempt to do. Truly, ours is a match made in heaven. If it was not for divine intervention, I would have never met him.
In 1987, I started college at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. At the same time, my parents moved from central North Carolina to eastern North Carolina. I loved my school and the friends I made there. Had I stayed there, I probably would have never met my husband. But in 1989, I decided to change majors and change schools. My parents encouraged me to transfer to East Carolina University because it had a good business school. In 1990, I started my senior year and that November, my parents separated. As a result of the separation, I stayed with my father and wound up going square dancing with him. At one of the square dances, I met my future husband.
At the time I first met him, I was not “trying to find a husband”. Instead, I just wanted to find someone to dance with sometimes. But God had other plans. I never pictured myself as a pastor’s wife, but God had other ideas. My future husband informed me that he was called to be a Primitive Baptist preacher. Several months after we were married, he was ordained. I never pictured myself marrying someone who came from a tremendously large family, but I did. Considering I was one of two and my parents were both only children and the only extended family I saw on a regular basis was my grandparents, this was quite a change. My husband was one of five. His parents are one of six and one of five respectively. Plus, all of his grandparents come from families of around ten or more children. This was quite a step out of my comfort zone.
Twenty-three years of marriage has shown, time and time again, how God’s hand has been on us throughout our courtship and marriage. I can’t say we ever dated, because in the whole time we were getting to know one another we were always around Dennis’ family or friends. When there are aunts and uncles by the dozens and cousins by the dozens along with a grandfather who watched over us, there is no real time to be alone. Instead, we spent the time getting to know one another under the watchful eyes of those same people. I knew they genuinely cared for my husband and by extension, they cared for me.
On the day of our wedding, one of the most poignant pictures our photographer (one of Dennis’ uncles) captured was during the reception. It was then I first realized my father had never made it to our wedding. Whether he chose deliberately not to come or whether he got lost on the way to the church, I don’t know. But what I do know is at the moment I recognized what happened, my husband was there to comfort me.
Each major change we have made in our life, God has directed and blessed. Certainly there have been times the road has not been easy, but we are committed to each other and our marriage. God has blessed that commitment. I can honestly say I married the love of my life as well as my best friend. God was there at the beginning and I know He will be walking with us until the end. He brought three amazing sons and one beautiful daughter into our lives in His timing who are a true blessing. Dennis has been by my side and has never caused me to question his love or devotion to me. So all in all, I can say ours is a marriage made in heaven. I like to think that all of our grandparents are looking down on us smiling at what we have become. Truly we are soulmates matched in heaven.
~Patti
About Patti:
My name is Patti Pierce and my husband and I have been married for over 23 years. My husband has been an ordained Primitive Baptist preacher almost that entire time. We are a Military Homeschooling Family who lives in North Central Pennsylvania. We put our faith in the one true Sovereign God. We have been on our homeschooling journey for over 10 years now. We have four children – three sons ages 19, 17 and 15 along with a daughter who is 13. I blog about our life as a family, as homeschoolers, and our faith which guides our daily lives.
My blogs are:
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy
and
Truth and Grace Writing and Life Coaching
where I blog about the very beginning of journey to blog about my journey about being a writer and about working on my masters degree in Human Services with a concentration in Life Coaching. I never dreamed this is where I would wind up, but this is where I find myself being led to go.
Uniquely Yours Ministries 