With The Perrys - How We Met

Episode Date: April 22, 2020

Who doesn't enjoy a good love story every now and then? Jackie doesn't. But both her and Preston still figured it would be beneficial to share their own. On this episode, listen in as they discuss their first impression of each other, how they came to realize that they were each other's "one," and other details that both singles and spouses would be able to glean from. Watch Journey To Covenant Watch Preston's Proposal     Subscribe to the Perrys' newsletter: https://withtheperrys.myflodesk.com/zhfus4jx1s Join Preston's discipleship community for men: https://www.patreon.com/PrestonPerry/membership To support the work of the Perrys, donate via PayPal: https://paypal.me/withtheperrys Shop BOLD Apparel: boldapparel.shop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, St. T'nains. How are you? What's good with y'all? I hope you're blessed and highly favored. If you're not, then I don't know what to do. Her breast smells really good. Because I brushed them. No, I smell like it's like you ate some candy or something. An apple.

Dang. Natural candy. Yeah, I guess. Can you, I've always thought about people like those fruits or those food items that are actually a little bit strange that somebody had to be the first person to eat it. For example. What? like so there is a human being that had a cow okay and they realized that if they pull on these little things under the cow that white stuff comes out and they said oh I should drink that

what kind of yeah but then you have a person who had chickens and then one day this thing this white little ball came out of the chicken's butt. And they said, oh, I'm going to crack it. And they cracked it. And it was a yellow yucky gummy thing. And they said, oh, I'm going to put that on some heat and eat it. Like, that just, that don't seem weird. I think throughout history, a lot of people just ate stuff because they were just desperate.

I know. They didn't have any option. Right. But that's still, that's a risk. It's just the weird stuff that we eat, like kingwa. I just don't know why people eat kingwalk. Because it's a protein. But it tastes like a whole bunch of baby eggs.

But it's very good for you. But it's so nasty. And it's a grain. I want to puke every time it's in my mouth. It's great for you, though. It's like, oh, we're going to eat this larvae. But you rather just eat. What's some things you eat?

Twizzlers literally taste like wound up plastic. They do they do not. They taste like plastic. There's no way it's food. It's not an actual. Why would you say that's like next to blasphemy? They're really good. They're not.

Whatever. What are we talking about today? You got to get off of Twizzas. What are you talking about today? They taste like belts. Twizzers are really good. They're not. But anyhow, our anniversary was March 1st.

And it was interesting to me that on Twitter and Instagram, there were a few people saying, hey, how did y'all meet? And I guess I forgot that there are a lot of people that are new to us that would not know that our story has been documented since the beginning. Absolutely. And so I guess I thought it would be helpful. for us to walk through one, how we met, and then how the Lord led us to know that we were for each other, because I think that's the question that many single people have, is how do I know when the one is

the one, even though I think the language of the one is a little unhelpful and unuseful, and you don't even see it in the scriptures, but because what if someone has a widow? Was that their one? Yeah. But that's me being. It's another podcast. That's me being complicated. And so I think with that, we just want to walk through our story, and hopefully the Lord will

use it to guide you. So how we meet, how I meet you? So I met Jackie. Was it 2009 or 2010? I always forget. So I met, you want me to tell the story since I know more details than you, obviously. You can tell it. I just don't know if it was 2009 or 2010.

So 2009, March. Wow. You know the whole month. But isn't it ironic that we got married in March and we met in March? I never thought about that. See? That's crazy. So I was living in St. Louis.

I had been a Christian maybe six or seven months. and I had got invited to come to a ministry called Passion for Christ movement in L.A. to do a poem called My Life as a Stud. I was only able to do the poem because I got on academic suspension at this Bible college because I never did any of my homework. And so there we go again, the sovereign hand of God, using the sins of other people to accomplish good. And so I went to L.A. to do this poem, and I'm sitting in the crowd during the event. It was called Lerisers Lounge at the time. And this guy from Chicago walks on the stage named Preston Perry with this other young lady named Ito Han Amelari. And they did this poem called Soul Ties.

At that point, I was new to Christian poetry. So I had never heard or seen poems with two people. So I was really intrigued. And I was more intrigued not really by Preston, but by Ito. Because if you ever heard Ito Han Amelari, the way she writes poetry is as if she flowed It's loaded on the cloud up into the throne, got some messages from God, came back down, wrote it down, and gave it to us and expects us to understand what the heck it is. Yeah, all of her friends literally call her Stillwater because Stillwater is the deepest part of the lake and she's so deep. Yeah, I had no idea what she was talking about.

Yeah. But you, I understood what you were talking about. Because I was a bad poet. You weren't a bad poet, but you were clear. Yeah. You're a clear communicator and you could tell that you probably had a rap background because a lot of your poem was super, super rhymy. And so I was just intrigued by you. And your poem was about how y'all was just smashing people all the time.

I was like, oh, so he was a, how do you say it? What Santa Claus says, he was a ho-ho. And so I was just like, wow, Christian is out of control, Bucco. There's Christians in the world that are sexually broken just like me. And so then it's your turn. Yeah. So, yeah, after the P4CM, that's, night.

No, it's not the part. What? You met me at the back of the bathroom. Oh, yeah, that's, that's, okay, I'm sorry. So after Jackie, um, get on the stage, you, you closed the night, actually. Yeah. With my life as a stuff. She got on the stage and she talked about, you know, her life as, you know, a ex-homosexual.

And at that time, just like she never seen two people do a collaborating poem, I never saw a girl that was that talented, that, yeah, just biblical knowledge spewing from her mouth. I never saw that. So like literally in my proposal, I explained like I was in May, I was, yeah, I was amazed and I was shocked. And I remember sitting next to Ito and I literally remember asking Ito like, who is this girl? So I remember after she got off the stage, she was kind of in tears. And she walked to the back of the venue.

And I just went and tried to go find her. And I finally found out by the bathroom. And I just walked up to you and I hugged you. You hug me? Yes. You hug me? Yes, I hug you. I said, I just want to hug you because I never heard anybody that honest.

We talked about this before. I just don't remember that part. Yes, I hugged you and you kind of looked at me. And then you was like, yeah, your poem was good too. Your poem was good too, but you were holding back on your performance. And I was like, because this is the thing. Who is this girl? I didn't know.

Correcting me the first 20 seconds of meeting me. I didn't know much about poetry or performance, but I knew enough to see. see when somebody was not giving their all. And at that time, I was definitely not as tempered in my honesty. Like, I was very, very, very honest to the point of just sin a lot of times. But I think that that actually is what connected us as friends, because that's something that you value is people that not only see you, but can tell you the truth. Real quick story. I want to just tell people why I felt like I wasn't prepared. pay it for SOTES at night.

Right. Because I went into the night not supposed to do, I wasn't supposed to do sootize. I was supposed to do a poem called Jesus is God. And 10 minutes before I went on the stage, the person behind the whole lyrics just lounge before CM said, you know what, I want you all to do y'all collaboration poem. Right.

So on the fly, we had to do Sotis. So for all those who are a fan of the poem Sotis, that's a quick, you know, but God knew what he was doing because the poem did great on YouTube and all that. But, um, so from there. So from there, I think that the next day, the top three poets of the night got to go and do a portrait class with this talented poet at the time named B. Young. And the top three poems of the night was my poem, Sotis, Jackie's poem, My Life was a Stud and Ezekio's poem, Almost Save. Yeah, me, Ezekiel, Jeanette, Preston met the same night.

Yeah. Which is crazy. Yeah. But from there, like, when I first met Preston, I was not looking at. at him like a potential husband because I was fresh out the world. You know what? My aim was, I'm thinking, you know what? I think I'm going to probably be single.

I don't really like men. He got a goate. You know, he's really masculine. I just, I don't know what to do with none of that. I still like women. I'd be with a woman right now if I didn't love Jesus like I do. And so I was uninterested. And so my main thing was I think I could be cool with this guy because you were honestly one of the first Christian men that I met that wasn't corny.

Like Christian guys can be so corny. And I get it. Sometimes it's a fruit of having two parents. It's really sweet. It's awesome. But I could tell you never sat down to dinner with your family. I always wanted to, though. I can tell that was not a thing.

I was so jealous. I could tell that wasn't a thing for you. I can tell you was on the block. I could tell you was out there eating, eating fried rice. And you was attracted to that? Yes! Okay. You was crazy.

So, yeah, for the same thing for me. Like, I wasn't attracted to Jackie. I thought she was, you know, a cute girl, but I wasn't romantically attracted to her. I just, I, like, one, her honesty was refreshing. So, like, we, after that whole, you know, lyricist's line, We started traveling. We started seeing each other, you know, in different parts of the country, doing shows. And we just became friends.

And we were friends for like three years. We had a lot of events in Chicago, my hometown at the time. And she would fly down. And, you know, and we would spend long nights at our friend Itto House. And we just spent a lot of time with each other. And we were friends for like three years without any romantic, you know, yeah, like nothing there. It was just kind of like a real friend. I will call Jackie and get relationship advice from her.

Because this is how Preston was as a single man. Preston was very popular in Chicago. And so Christian women can be some of the thirstiest women. I'm pretty sure y'all have seen it or you are it. But I'm saying. And so for that reason, he had a lot of women who wanted to be near him, who wanted him. And Preston had a naivete about him where he sometimes couldn't see through motives. And so glory be to God, that he gave him some discerning women.

And so there was one girl in particular I had met that he was around. And I was like, she's a ball of lust. Like she is not somebody that you need to be around. And I remember that. That's like I second you about friendship. I was like, what are you talking about? And it came to be that that's, yeah, she just wasn't. She was what Proverbs was talking about.

Yeah, so one time I almost fell with her, true story, and we was at the restaurant, and she wanted me to go back to her house with her. And what did I do, Jackie? I don't know. I went in the bathroom, and I called you. You called me? Yeah, you don't remember nothing.

I don't remember these things. Remember I was in, like, I was in, like, the suburb of Chicago? What did I say? You said Preston, go home right now. You don't remember that? Yeah, and I called Jackie because I was like, I need to call somebody that's going to be honest with me.

I'm going to call somebody who's going to tell me the truth, and I went home. So do you want to tell the story of your process before, I guess, coming to recognize that you should pursue me? Just because I think a lot of men find themselves confused on not knowing what to do when it comes to, one, pursuing a woman. Or there is the predicament that a lot of men find themselves in, especially in a Atlanta where they have so many options that it actually makes them difficult or makes it a difficult task to be able to discern which option is actually from the Lord, which I think you could say that you were in that position. Okay. Yeah. So at like the third year me and Jackie, we were just friends. I started dating this other girl who was actually a friend of Jackie and a friend of mine.

And the thing about that relationship that I was in, yeah, I cared about the girl. But in a lot of ways, I tried to force something that wasn't, it just wasn't there. Why were you forcing it? I was forcing it because, like you said, I was this young poet in Chicago. I did get a lot of attention in Chicago because of that. And I was trying to flee lust. At the same time, I was trying to, you know, yeah, just trying to be home. but at the same time had a desire for marriage,

but at the same time didn't have discipleship, didn't have nobody to, you know, to tell me how to look for a good wife. Which is huge. Which is really huge. So, you know, I found myself in this deep relationship and I found myself wanting to force a relationship with this girl and to force, you know, this girl potentially being my wife

when God didn't say so, just because I felt that pressure of me, you know, this will end, you know, me having to just flee temptation all the time. At any point in your situation ship did you communicate Why you keep calling this situation? Because it wasn't a relationship. Yeah, it was a situation. Which is part of the thing that I'm getting at.

Is that at any point you were clear that you were forcing something, but were your unintentional communications to her, did you ever make it seem like you actually planned on going farther with her than you actually intended to go? Because I actually considered it. So

yeah, so yeah, I did. So So this is the thing. So when I was dating this particular female, at first I did not feel like, you know, this person was for me. But I enjoyed a company. I actually care for. I care for. But what happened was we kept crossing boundaries. You warned us, Preston.

Watch out, yada, yada, yada. And we fell into sin. And I remember calling you. and people remember the story that I told when I called you and confessed that I, you know, fell into sin and I was broken to all my friends about this relationship that I was in. And I told her, I said, you know what, I'm going to have to separate from you from a couple of weeks. I'm not saying that I'm just going to completely, you know, cut you off, but I want to seek the Lord. And did the Lord, like, drive you to do that?

Yes. Well, the Lord did because I had to fall. I had to fall into sin to be broken over my sin to step back and to re-evaluate this whole situation that I was in. And when I stepped back and I say, you know what, I'm going to pray. I was like, because either I'm going to marry you or we can't, we can't keep going. So what I did was, I was like, let me stop playing with this girl. Let me really seek the Lord to see if she's my wife. You know what I mean? Let me, let me, I marry her.

She was pretty. She begged really well. She, you know. So this is the part that Preston is not mentioning that added to his confusion. It isn't that she was pretty and that she baked is that she did everything for Preston. She functioned like a wife without even the title of a girlfriend, which obviously would put you in a position where you think, oh, this is obviously my wife because she's doing wifely things, right? Yeah. And I also don't want to just paint her in the band. like not saying you're doing that.

But I want to communicate that I was very irresponsible with her heart. And I didn't have discipleship. And I, you know, and I led her own in a lot of ways. You did. And yeah. And so because of that, I didn't even know what a good wife looked like. So everything that she did let me know, oh, she'll be a good wife. But I didn't know she wasn't a good wife for me.

That makes sense. You know? I didn't know that. So I was like, I didn't feel the way I felt when God kind of showed me you with my wife. But I was like, you know what? Let me seek the Lord. So in seeking the Lord, I separated from her. And when I was praying about the whole situation, God slowly but surely started to reveal things to me that, you know, this person is not for you.

But then also he started to show me that everything that I had prayed for in a wife, not only did she not have. But my friend, Jackie Hill, had. I pray for a wife that would love theology. You did that. You love theology. I pray for a wife who was creative. You were creative. I pray for a wife who would understand my poetry.

I didn't want to be with somebody who didn't understand a metaphor when I wrote it. You did that. I pray for a wife that can cook. I pray for a wife with natural hair. I pray for all the things that I pray for. And I was sitting in my room one day And I was like Are you trying to say to Jackie's my wife?

It's weird It was super strange And I was like So that's when I started to consider And then God kind of showed me like Not only is Jackie your wife You love her Not in this like mushy

Romantic I want to go on Like it's like no You genuinely have a love for her That I'm going to create I'm going to allow to grow Into a romance And I was like, this is deep.

It is deep. So it took sin for me to fall flat on my face and to depend on God in a way that I wasn't dependent on him before when it came to my wife. And in that, he showed me who was not my wife. And he showed me who was my wife. Because I think a really important aspect of what you're saying or that you're saying that you lacked was discipleship. And even if you didn't have a discipller, I think even

if you just had a father figure. Because so many of your mistakes were out of ignorance. You didn't know what a wife looked like. You didn't know how to pursue a woman. You didn't know how to flesh out your feelings while at the same time guard her from getting or feeling things that she

should not feel at a certain time or treating you in a way that she didn't have the I think leverage or the like you didn't have the information you needed to love her and to love God in the way that he was calling you to as a man. And so I think that it's, it'd be, it's, it's dope now, I think, you as a man,

um, and other men connect to other men. And I, I remember telling my friend, or me and my single friend, because all of my friends are single, but we were talking about how there's such, um, a lack of men pursuing women. And she was like, it's because it's a lack of men pursuing men. There's not enough discipleship. Yeah. Therefore, we don't see enough marriages. Yeah, God, God was very intentional and he was very good in allowing me to see that she wasn't my wife and then allowing me to see that you were and then putting me in a season of brokenness. Why I had to pray about my relationship with you. But then also, like at the same time, placing a man who will walk with me for the next seven years in my life,

at the same time when I started pursuing you, he sent Brian Dye to us. And Brian Dye became a mentor kind of to both of us. and gave you your job in Chicago, which allowed you to move to Chicago and then start. You're going too fast. I ain't even told my story, yes, sir. What story? I haven't even told my side.

You've been talking for 16 minutes? Oh, well, tell your side. We got nine minutes. It's 30 minutes with the bear. It's not 45. It's only, okay, got you. So during this time that I guess Preston is processing his own individual feelings and things, maybe a year before Preston began to pursue me, I started to have this affection for him.

And so if you know my past, knowing that I come out of lesbianism and coming out of lesbianism doesn't mean not having lesbian affections any longer. It means not submitting to those affections, right? And so I always, always didn't, I didn't know if both would be able to exist in the same body. if I would be able to have an authentic and genuine affection for man in the same way that I had for women. So when I started to feel some type of way about Preston, I didn't know what to do with that. I was like, this is probably the enemy.

This is probably the devil. You're trying to set me up. Not for real. I was like, this is probably the devil trying to distract me from my purpose. God has a ministry for me, and he is trying to tent me to lust. It's probably because I'm bored. You know, I ain't had nobody to text in the long time. So he's like, let me drop Preston in your spirit.

So I could distract you. And so I told, I lived with my discipller at the time. And I told her, I said, I think, I think I like Preston Perry. And I was like, what am I supposed to do? And she, like most wise women just said pray about it. And I'm actually mildly being sarcastic because she didn't give me any practical thing to do except to pray. And so for a year, I prayed. And in that year, I never told you that I liked you.

I never let on that I liked you. I only really told wise people. around me because I just felt like, I don't know, part of it is I'm not the most vulnerable woman in the world. And so it's not natural for me to let somebody in on how I feel. But I also felt like not telling you gave you the room to actually have to hear from God on if this relationship is a thing of God or if it's motivated by my pursuit of you. Does that make sense? Yeah. And so I just kept it to myself, but it got to a point where it felt like I couldn't

contain it, like when I was around you, I wanted to sit next to you. It was just bubbling over. You just liked me a lot, a whole lot. Like I was saying, it got to a point where I felt like my affections were about to show themselves, and I didn't want that to happen.

And so I told God, I said, God, I don't know what your will is for me in Preston, but if your will, this is for us to be together, then lay it on his heart to pursue me. But if it's your will for us to be friends, then give me the self-control to treat him like a brother and not like a crush.

I said that two weeks before you called me. And how long was your little prayer break? It was like a month, but it was, you said it was two weeks before you called me. Yeah, yeah. And so basically while you're praying, I'm praying and we're praying on separate ends, but have no idea about it. And so when you text me, you were like, I need to talk to you about something. I literally knew this was the Lord answering my prayer

and it scared the mess out of me. Because you know when you ask God for stuff, you don't really think he's going to do it specifically. Like you think, oh, I'm just trying to be Christian. I'm just trying to be safe. But when you had the audacity to call me and say, hey, I think the Lord wants me to pursue you, I said this is the strangest thing I've ever experienced in my entire life.

And the crazy thing is I had no idea that you liked me. And I remember going to my friend Ito about, it and you told Ito. Yeah. And my friend Ito, she's a very loyal person. Even though she's my closest female friend, she did not let me know one time. Yeah.

And I remember telling her like, Ito, God wants me to pursue Jackie, but she doesn't like me. I think she thinks I'm ugly located. Because she would just always make, like, jokes or whatever. Yeah.

And she was like, Preston, just do it. Do what the Lord is leading you to do. And she was smile. And I were like, okay. And I always appreciated you for that because I think that if I had known that you liked me, I think it would have, I think, I think I wouldn't have been dependent on God the way I was.

And I don't think that God would have let me the way. And I think our situation is unique. I would never be as, as black and white as to say that if a woman lets a man know that she has feelings for him that she's in sin or she's wrong or she's a Jezebel. I wouldn't say that. But I do think that there is some wisdom in the restraint of such information. Because it does put the man in the position to have to hear from God and have to be led by God in his pursuit of you apart from your motivation and your invitation. Because if you look at it, the relationship that I was in before I pursued you, that's exactly what happened.

I think that she let me know, you know, I will be a good wife. And so, like, I tried to implement all the things that she was showing me in my decision. And I wasn't seeking God. Yeah. I was like, yeah, I was like, yeah, yeah, you're doing. doing this and you're doing that and it clouded my vision. And I'm not putting it on her because I was supposed to leave that situation and I did and I failed.

But I'm just saying I think that with you, I just had to trust God and I just had to like seek the Lord for, yeah. This is a question I have. So a lot of people tend to lean on some type of vision or dream or prophetic message from God as evidence for who their spouse is going to be. And I think that that is potentially dangerous, and this is why, because we underestimate how our own hearts desires motivate what we think God is saying. Absolutely.

And even if you consider this is a super, I've used this before on the podcast, this is a super dramatic example, but most false religions have come out of people saying God has giving them a vision, a dream, or a word, right? And so obviously, these kinds of things are not trustworthy. But at the same time, we both distinctly felt led of God and even felt is subjective, felt led of God to say, this is our spouse. And so were there any, I guess, objective, practical things that I embodied or that other people said that led you to the decision to say that this is my wife,

other than God said. Let me just address the whole false religion thing, and I'm going to connect it to your question. I think the difference between all of these people who had visions, and I think we can relate to people who say, I had a vision, this person was my husband, I had a vision, this person was my wife. A lot of times these people who started false religions,

their vision was not confirmed by scripture or other people around them. That's true. Right? When Charles Taze Russell's talking, started the Jehovah's Witnesses. It was a vision that he had alone. And everybody that trusted it just had to trust in what God showed him alone.

Yeah. There was nobody around him to say. Because everybody around him would have pushed back and said that this isn't true. Yeah. Joseph Smith with the, you know, Mormons. You know, like who's, yeah. So with that being said, I think that when we have these visions, when we have these dreams, that somebody is our spouse.

One, it is very important to be in community. and I allow this person to say, you know what, I've been outside of your life looking in. I see your gifts. I see your talent. I see your gift. I'm not saying this person is not your spouse. I'm not saying this person is your spouse.

But how does this person help you glorify God? That's good. Yeah. Right? Because at the end of the day, the person that I was with, even though it looked like a good spouse to me. They would not help you love the Lord and neighbor.

Not at all. When I say not at all, not even a little bit. Which is a huge and an important question is, will this person help me serve God better? Yes. Because it's saying, I'm serving God now hypothetically as a single person, right? The single person, their anxieties on things of God. But it's like, if I leave my singleness to be with you, it better be for greater glory and greater ministry than what I'm experiencing now. Absolutely. And that actually will help you sift through a whole whole.

lot of people because if it's just that you're cute and it's just that you make me smile and it's not going to last. That's not going to last. That's not going to last. Because even when we old and wrinkle and I'm studying in some apologetic stuff, I'm still going to come in your room and say, Jackie, help me process to this. Jackie, help me process. You know what I'm saying? And I think that's, I think ultimately we love each other. We have beautiful children. Like, that's all great. But at the end of the day, God has put us together for his glory. Right. Ephesians, Ephesians 5. Yeah.

And so I think, I think that if you are with somebody and this person does, if you don't think about how does this person help me glorify God better, it's probably rooted in your own crush and your own selfishness. My God. You know, that's selfishness, but yeah, your own crush and your own motives. Desires. Desires. Yeah, you know.

And it's nothing wrong with desires. It's just they have to be Christ-centered desires. To your point, some practical, objective ways to do. discern if a person might be your spouse is, can this person assist me in glorifying God to the best of my abilities? Does my community, by community, I don't mean just friends that think like you and talk like you, but wiser, older, pastors, leaders, elders, women, mothers of the church, would they walk alongside me and say, oh, I see that being best for you?

or I think you should pray about that, those two options. I think another one, I think this is in, I think this is in submission to the first one about glorifying God. One of the interesting things about you is that when we would be together, I found myself thinking through how I could see myself following you in whatever vision God had for you, which is huge. Yeah, I remember you telling me that. Because I thought about, man, he's an evangelist.

I can see him going on missions. I can see him doing this for the Lord. And I would be willing to submit to that vision. I think as a woman, that's important. Because if a man has a vision, one that I don't think that I have the gifts and the personality and the abilities to assist and improve as a helper,

I don't know if I should be with this guy. Like, there's probably some other women that's better for him. That's good. But also, like, because I want to value what you value. I want to love what you love. and I saw and I would have no problem with that. But also, I respected you.

That's huge. That's a real big good. That's important because it was like, man, I don't trust men. Like, I was molested at five. My daddy wasn't there. Never had really any male figures in my life that loved me well. And so for me to see a man that was consistent, that loved Jesus, that love the word, you had your issues, but you confessed them quickly and repented and grieved them,

to me that meant I would be willing, I can't say I will right now, but I would be willing to submit to this man, the scripture has commanded me to. And to me, that told me, I think this is my husband because I have never in all of my days been willing to say that I would submit to anybody other than God. I can believe that. You know what I'm saying?

And so I think that's important too, is do you respect him? Do you trust him to not only lead you well, but he'll be the father of your children? Yeah. How he is as a man will rub off on the children that you bear outside of your womb or adopt or foster care. And so I think that's important with who you with. So that's dope. Yeah, man.

What about me? That's it? Yeah. I mean, this has been a long journey, but it's been a real long journey with you. But God has been faithful to us. I mean, yeah, we just, I think it's dope that God took to imperfect people, a person who came from the hood, who slept with all these women and just, just reckless and saved him. And then this woman who came from this, you know,

homosexual lifestyle and just brought us together in our brokenness and gave us a love for one another, you know, for his glory. I just, I'm thankful for the intentionality of God. Yeah. And the sovereignty of God in allowing us, even in our mistakes, to find one another. And, yeah, to love one another. I'm grateful for God.

Yeah. I think it's, it's cool. And I can sense that there are probably people, women, listening, who want to be married and who want to find their spouse and who want to know what to do. And I know there's a plethora of books and conferences on contentment. And so that's not the route I'll go of contentment. But the route I will go is to say that where you are now is the best place.

you could be because you have a really good father who is in control. And so like for me, I wasn't looking for you. Yeah. I wasn't. I really did nothing. I was in school and got suspended out that thing, ended up in L.A., and there you are. And so it's all these circumstances that just worked out. And so I guess my encouragement is to just keep doing whatever it is that you're doing, loving the Lord, seeking the Lord, serving at Target. I don't know what you're doing your life. But keep doing it and allow the Lord to write your story, however that might be. Yeah, my encouragement to men is be led of God.

Like, don't, I think that... Stop leading these girls on. My God. I think a lot of times we can, you know, yeah, quickly put on, you know, women being led by their emotions, but in a lot of ways we are as well. Absolutely. And I think that we just have to be led of the Lord. Don't be out here telling girls that they're your wife

If you really haven't heard that from the Lord Because it could do a lot of damage Be able to just trust the Lord Seek him and yeah And do time like everything kind of will fall into place Because that's the way the Lord works He makes everything makes sense when it's up of him Amen

Yeah man Thank y'all for listening to this episode of 30 Music Pairs And if you did not know If you go on YouTube and type Preston's proposal to me via poem is online. We have a little mini-documentary

about our relationship that we did when we were engaged. Called Journey to Covenant. Yeah, that's what's called. Soul Ties Preston's first public poem. My life is all of that is on YouTube 10 years ago. So, yeah. Yeah. All right, y'all.

All right.