“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7
Peace- It’s that moment you feel as though everything is right in your life… the moment the anxiety ceases, the moment you feel like you can breathe again. We have all experienced these moments of peace sometime in our lives, whether it be about the first house, the job, a specific decision or maybe the right guy. 
OK, ladies… I know that we all dream about our “knight in shinning armor,” -Our husband, as we grow up. We get excited and dream about the day we will finally meet our guy as we watch romantic movies, see other cute couples at the mall or at restaurants, talk about others relationships, and even as we grew up playing with “Barbie.” There is something within all of us girls that longs to be admired, cared for and loved. As we grow, we discover the things we want and need out of a relationship and one thing is for sure… you have to have a good gut feeling, you have to have a peace.
Before I can tell you about my love story with Dave, I have to back track and tell you about the path before finding him. I dated a couple different guys in College, all great guys, and all quite different from each other… I was searching for what I needed in a guy. I was young and just wanted to have a good time. The summer before my Junior year I met someone who became more than just a boyfriend- He became my best friend and later my fiance’. He was a great guy, a christian, cute, sensitive, patient, loving, caring, fun, intelligent, and loved kids… He fit most of my list on paper. The closer we got to our wedding though the more I realized that while many things fit on paper, we were not completely meshing in all areas. God was making me uneasy with the relationship, showing me areas that could potentially give us problems in the future, and things that we may not be able to understand about each other. I began asking advise from my Resident Director and others that I looked up to. When I talked with my Resident Director about how her and her husband met and how she knew he was the guy for her… she mentioned one thing that I will never. She said ” You can be happy in a lot of situations and with a lot of people, but are you joyful with that person? Joy and Happiness are two totally different things. ”
I won’t go into the details of what happened, or why exactly I didn’t feel a peace, but I can offer some advise…. If you don’t feel a peace in a situation, there is a reason!!!! If you don’t have that peace, don’t try and make it work… instead think about it and ask why? If you mom does not agree or is uneasy about the relationship, there is probably a pretty good reason and you should seek Godly counsel and ask her. And, If you hear God’s voice telling you something… listen and follow.
So I listened to God and I had to break it off. But here is the crazy part of that story… this is how I knew without a doubt that at the time I was making the right choice. As I prayed about the relationship, God began to give me more insight and uncover “red flags.” I talked with my fiance’ a bit about what I felt God was telling me and sharing with me, but as to not hurt him, I watered the truth down a lot. About 4 months from the wedding, feeling God still tugging on my heart about my decision, I asked God to speak to my fiance’ and list off everything he had told me in the exact order, that I would know he was not the one for me and I would break it off. Well…. It happened. I always say that was my Gideon story…. the grass was dry, while the fleece was wet and then the grass was wet with dew, but the fleece was dry! (Judges 6:36-40)
Although it was really a tough decision and it hurt both of us in the moment, I knew that God had my best interest at heart and I could trust him. So we broke off the engagement and broke up all together… It was the best decision for both of us.
Side note: If you are struggling with an area and you want to feel peace, pray about it and see what happens in your life.. listen for guidance, and don’t feel like you can’t get out of something or break something off.
So how did I meet my hubby?
Well, God had a lot more to teach me about myself as I went into my student teaching/ subbing year. I committed to staying single that whole year and worked on my relationship with Christ and in the process discovered more about myself. It was the best year , a year of peace, and it put me in the right place for God to abundantly bless me with a Graduate Assistant position to get my Master’s degree and to meet my husband.
During the 1st year of my Master’s, I had gotten involved in a bible study with the young women at my church. I absolutely loved getting together with them, chatting about the week and what was new in their lives, diving into the Bible and a good book study. We first began meeting at a coffee shop downtown… It was not the best coffee place, but it provided a cool environment for us to meet. It was a Monday night and I was not feeling the best, but having promised my roommate that I would go with her to the bible study, I got ready and went. Knowing the coffee wasn’t the greatest at the shop, I waited to get coffee down the street at another coffee shop after bible study – And that’s where it all began. Who would’ve guessed that walking into a coffee shop and meeting a couple people, could change my life forever. 🙂
Some of the girls in the bible study!!! 🙂 Love them!
It was that night that I saw and talked with Building 429 and found out that the Winter Jam tour was in Springfield at JQH arena, and a series of events unfolded to allow me and Dave to meet. After talking with Building 429, they called their road manager who then got me and my roommate into the show, and then proceeded to take us around the arena introducing us to different people that were on the tour and then introduced me to Dave.
He was cute! I remember walking in to the arena and seeing him working at the Winter Jam booth… we looked towards each other a couple times, but I really didn’t think much of it. I thought, “He’s cute, and he’s looking at me… yeah, but he has been on tour for a while and has probably seen a lot of pretty girls… I’m just another face.” While talking to him, I never thought I would see him again and guess what I talked about… It was seriously the stupidest conversation ever…. I asked about the tour bus. That was a hand to the face kind of moment!!! I had just seen a show about tour buses and all the gadgets and accessories that some had and I asked him about that! Of all the things I could have talked about!!! But again I thought… ” He will never see me again.. what does it matter?”
Wrong!
So the road manager of Building 429, Josh, and my now husband, Dave had become friends on the tour. Josh still had mine and my roommates number and decided to get in touch with us… he really liked my roommate and wanted to talk with her, but since she wasn’t interested he decided he would talk about me with her. He asked her, “What is Erin like?” “Does she have a boyfriend”… “Wait, you know who might be perfect for her?—- Dave.” So they came up with a plan to make both of us think that we each wanted the other person’s number. It worked… 3 weeks into talking we discovered that neither of us had asked for the other person’s number. It was pretty funny! We laughed it off.
How did we know that we would be good together?
Well, we had a peace! Dave came to my 1st recital of my Master’s program over a weekend that he just happened to be back in Nashville from a tour, and instead of relaxing, he decided to drive to Springfield. Him and another friend, Ian drove to Springfield just to see me perform!!!! That was a BIG deal for me! I have always loved performing, but I had gotten tired of telling people about my concerts and them saying they would be there, only to be let down when they didn’t show up. Here is a guy i have been talking with for about a month and he is driving from Nashville to see me perform!!!! Wow!!! After that weekend, we knew that we wanted to begin dating and see where it took us… I had never been in a long distance relationship before, but for some reason I had a PEACE! Everything felt right and not rushed, and even though it made no sense, we went with it!
So young!!! First Concert while dating that I drove to see him at… He was doing merchandise for Colbie Caillat.
Girls- Wait on God’s timing….Ask God to guard your heart and give you wisdom as you make decisions on who you will date and marry! Wait for a perfect peace that surpasses all knowledge and reason!!!! It is so worth it!
