The Love Story of Michael & Jordan

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

John 15:12

(NKJV)

Graphic Design by Zach Smith

"The Love Story of Michael & Jordan"

"Michael and I will officially celebrate a year and a half of dating just a few days after Valentines Day. Our story is one of redemption, friendship, and the God of exceedingly and abundantly more than we dared to dream of.

Growing up, I always vowed to save myself for marriage. I pictured myself being a teacher, married, with kids, at a young age. I never really dreamed much more than that. However, life ended up looking a lot different than that.

It’s important to understand a little bit about my background to understand the beauty of today. I spent my teen years until I was 22 giving myself away to the guys I dated and guys I didn’t even date. My past was filled with shame, sin, and places I never intended on being in. Year after year, the hole I was in felt deeper and deeper. I felt like I was too deep in sin addiction, and shame to ever go anywhere else. I always felt like Gomer in the story of Hosea. I left my faithful God over and over to go back to the places and people I had no business being around. But He, so kind and merciful, would always chase me down in those places neither of us had any business being in.

At 22 years old, I encountered the love of God for the first time, and it changed everything. I finally came face to face with the intimacy I had been searching for in all the wrong places and it left me undone. In a moment, God delivered me from all the shame, sin, and addiction I had been living in for a decade.

Fast forward a week and I was moving from NC to GA for Free Chapel College, following the God I had just said yes to a week before. Surrender and obedience were heavy on my heart. Having just come out of a lifestyle so contrary to the new one I was walking in, I was willing to do whatever to draw closer to God. So, I broke off relationships with guys I never should’ve been with, cut soul ties, started going to counseling, and gave God a year of singleness. There was no goal in mind other than intimacy with the Lord. That year was far more than I could’ve ever dreamed of--bringing intimacy with God, freedom in Christ, healing, redemption, and so many beautiful friendships.

One of those friendships was Michael. As the months turned warmer and our first year of ministry school came to an end, Michael, my sister, and I all found ourselves hanging out together more and more. Sometimes in big groups, other times, just the three of us. None of us had anything in mind but friendship. Yet mid-June, I felt a shift I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I started seeing Michael in a different light, yet I held on to it because I didn’t want anything coming in the way of the friendship we had. 

As time went on, Michael and I found ourselves in one-on-one conversations and times spent together where it was just the two of us. It felt as if there weren’t enough hours for all the conversations we had. He was becoming a safe place for me, one conversation at a time. One day, it was as if God had slowly pulled the blinders off my eyes and I realized my feelings for Michael went way beyond friendship. Unbeknownst to me, he was beginning to feel the same way. 

A moment came where we confessed our feelings to each other and we knew that if we were really committed to this, it would mean putting our friendship on the line for the sake of pursuing a relationship. I still had another month or so of my year of singleness, and I wasn’t about to get into a relationship at that point for the sake of having a relationship. Michael on the other hand, had never been in a relationship, and he wasn’t about to get into his first relationship just for the sake of having a relationship, either. 

As the summer days went on, we kept getting to know each other and our friendship became the most sacred thing. As August approached (the end of my year of singleness), we cautiously and prayerfully started talking about dating more and more. On August 17th, our love story became official. The beautiful thing about when we started dating is that August is month eight of the year. The number eight, biblically, represents new beginnings and redemption. That’s exactly what this relationship is.

Mine and Michael’s stories, backgrounds, cultures, and families couldn’t be more different, and God has used that to interweave a beautiful story that would also bring healing to both of our hearts. Michael has been redemption fleshed out in my life and so far beyond my wildest dreams. I always say God surprised me with His kindness in Michael. It came when we least expected it and certainly weren't looking for it. Michael has been the cherry on top of an already incredibly sweet life with Jesus.

From the beginning of our friendship to now, God has made it incredibly clear that He aligned His plans, dreams, and desires in our hearts and set us on the same path before we ever knew it. While our pasts and backgrounds are as different as night and day, our vision for the future is the same. God has been so kind to us and given us so much friendship, love, and adventure in our relationship. In the year and a half we’ve been dating, we completed and graduated ministry school together, started internships together, have been to two countries, four states, and many more adventures together. Michael has been by my side on many sick days and hard days alike. He is the kindness, love, and friendship of God in my life. 

I only wish I could go back and tell my younger self to wait. That the goodness of God would surpass anything I envisioned for my life. I can’t tell her but I can tell any single person reading this, feeling the ache of their own loneliness or the shame of their own rebellion. God alone is worth it. Anything else He gives is just a gift on top of an already abundant life. Let Him write your love story, your life story, and everything in between. He is more than enough. You can rest in Him and trust the story He writes. In the meantime, I pray God surprises you with His kindness. He alone is exceedingly and abundantly more than all we could ask for or imagine."

Thank you so much for sharing your and Michael's beautiful love story with us, Jordan!  Oh, how we rejoice with you to see the redemptive love of Jesus in action in your lives!  I am so thankful to know you both and can't wait to see how God continues to move in and through your lives spent side-by-side serving Him!  You are such a blessing to me.

In case you missed them, you can read previous Love Story Posts by clicking these links:

The Love Story of David & Wanda
The Love Story of Michael & Karen
The Love Story of Kevin & Cheryl
The Love Story of Tom & Mary