Well, Ryan and I are engaged!! I haven't made a post in forever, but I figured this was blog-worthy.I thought I'd give a little background and tell our story. Many of you know that the majority of my friends got married right out of college. You can see my post from April 12, 2010 for my thoughts on this. My own plan for my life was to meet the man of my dreams in college, get my dream job and get married. I just assumed this was the Lord's plan too. But He had something very different in mind.
One of my favorite scriptures is Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." This has always been a comfort to me. I may think my life should turn out one way, but my God sees the big picture. And I mean the BIG picture. The heavens are A LOT higher than the earth.
While all my friends were getting married, and I was sitting there depressed that my prince charming hadn't come along, the Lord was in fact preparing Ryan for a relationship with me. Some of you also know that Ryan was in a serious relationship for years before he even met me. In fact, we crossed paths several times when he was in this relationship, but we never saw or met each other. I hung out with his best friend and roommate, Matt. Matt even saran wrapped my roommate's car, with Ryan's help! Point is, God didn't allow our lives to cross paths until His perfect timing. The relationship Ryan was in was not in God's will, therefore it ended. About a year before I met Ryan. I was praying for my future husband, having no idea that he was going through the most difficult time in his life. God was answering my prayer and transforming Ryan into the godly leader that he is today. God was also transforming my heart, making me realize that I didn't NEED a husband. Jesus Christ is my One True Love and my hero.
As part of his new commitment to following the Lord, Ryan decided to volunteer with student ministry at Summit. I had started serving with the middle school kids only a year prior, so this is how we met :) When Ryan and I finally started to talk and become friends in September 2010, I somehow knew that he was my future husband. Some of you may think that is crazy, and some of you may believe me because you've experienced that feeling before. I thought that I was crazy, but apparently I wasn't because that's what's happening..haha. I really think that it was God's wisdom, that He was revealing just a sliver of his plan to me.
The more time passes, the more I realize how perfect Ryan and I are for each other. I am high strung, easily stressed, and have quite a temper. Somehow Ryan's gentle spirit calms me. My dad even noticed this a couple weeks ago when I lost my phone. He told Ryan that the "old Kelli" would have been freaking out a lot more, "I don't know what you do to calm her down like that, Ryan, but keep doing it!" Haha. In turn, Ryan tends to be negative sometimes and only look at what is going wrong. He calls me the "sunshine" in his life because I am joyful and positive when he gets like that. We fit like puzzle pieces and I am so grateful that God has given us each other. I love Ryan Schmidt and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life alongside of him, loving, learning and challenging each other. The journey begins on November 3rd! (I apologize if that sounds like a quote from a movie trailer, ha)
How did we get engaged you ask? Well it was all over facebook last month so you probably already know, but here's the video link just in case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTXOx3Pp9VI
