Relationships, Romance, and True Life Love Stories: 'How I Met My Sweetheart'

A Case of the Mistaken, Mean Sister

Rob and Willa

"As a college student, I was teaching a Sunday school class of third graders. One of the eight-year-olds, Kirsten, regularly had prayer requests regarding her awful, mean, grouchy big sister. We regularly prayed that her sister would be nicer. Meanwhile, a number of people kept suggesting that I date Kirsten’s sister. Well, I’d heard enough to know to steer clear! At Christmas, Willa – Kirsten’s sister – approached me at church and handed me a Christmas card. I mumbled something noncommittal. About a year later, a friend I worked with was pitching to me how I should take her out. I told him I’d heard about her from her little sister. He laughed and told me that Kirsten had three sisters and Willa was definitely not the mean one. So – a year late – I told Willa,'Thanks for the Christmas card.' She retorted: 'Well, don’t expect another one!' We’ve now been married 28 years." ~ Rob

The Buried Treasure of True Love

Tony and Lu

"In February 1985, Tony invested a small amount of money into Mel Fisher’s search to find the Nuestra Senora de Athocha, the treasure-laden Spanish galleon that sank off the coast of Key West in September 1622. On July 20, 1985, Fisher found the ship after searching for 16 years. A week later, Tony was in Key West to help recover the treasure.

"The same week, and out of the blue, my cousin called and asked if I wanted to go diving in Key West at the end of July. Absolutely! And off we went on a very impromptu vacation. On the morning of Aug 1, we were up early to dive the waters of Key West.

"Tony, taking a break from salvaging treasure, was on the same dive boat. I noticed the dark haired, good looking guy and made sure I heard his name when the dive manifest was read. After the first dive, he approached me as I was wearing a pair of running shorts with my alma mater logo on them, WVU, and he was from West Virginia.

"We discovered that we were born three months apart in Morgantown, WV. We learned later that he lived in an apartment right across from the hospital where I was born. I grew up in southwestern PA and he grew up in southern WV.

"After the dive, we went our separate ways. Later that day, I walked into the lobby of my hotel. At that moment, Tony walked in and picked up a house phone. I asked him if he was, by any chance, calling me! He invited me to dinner and when we arrived at the restaurant, we found it didn’t open for 15 more minutes. We put in our names and then went to the deck for a drink and to watch the sunset. Three hours later, we finally got around to having dinner.

"On Saturday, Aug 3, Tony proposed and I said yes. We were officially engaged 6 weeks later. That was 26 years ago. Tony likes to say that he found double the treasure in Key West!" ~ Lu

A British Girl's Dream Romance

Joshua and Sarah

"We met in church in September on the anniversary of my father's death, which makes our relationship so much more redeeming. At first there was no attraction. He thought I was pretty, but he's met a lot of pretty Christians and they turned out to be 'blah'. As weeks went on, we hung out at a few church things. Little did I know that he started to get a lot of dreams that were pointing him to me. Just before Thanksgiving, he said one thing to me, and the scales fell from my eyes. I saw him in a whole new light. We could have met years before... He lived in UK for two years. His best mate, when he lived in Israel, was a bloke I went to Bible College within UK... But we met at the perfect time, when we were both content and ready to love the other." ~ Sarah

Lucky in Love

Craig and Kimberly

"I’d been out of a horrible relationship for 5 days when my friend said, 'Come on, we’re going out!' So I got dolled up and we went out into town. We’d been to a few nightclubs and it was getting late. I’d decided I’d had enough and my friend said, 'Come on, let's just go to one more'. I went to the bar to get some drinks. As I turned around, there was a man right behind me. I nearly spilt my drink all over him. Six feet, dark hair and blue eyes just like the ocean, it was madness. I’d not long sat down when he asked me to dance and then he asked me if I had a boyfriend. I said no. Then 5 minutes after, he asked if I’d like to be his girlfriend! I said yes and that was that... That was 1999. We got married in 2001. Since last year I’ve been diagnosed with ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), Fibromyalgia and a nerve condition. It’s all affected my mobility and I’ve become disabled. My husband has now given up work to become my career. I know there’s not many men that would do that. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world!" ~Kimberly

Love is Waiting at Home

Jeff and Sarah

"Love is a crazy thing. I actually knew Jeff and his family from my home church. When I returned home from Virginia Beach in 2008, I depended on social media quite a bit for communication. Not having lived in my hometown for over 10 years, things/people here changed a lot! So I was on my Facebook one night, and I came across Jeff's page. We were not 'friends' yet, but I decided to 'friend' him, because I knew him from way back when. Turns out, that decision would be extremely significant as he would become the man I would marry.

"In our short marriage, we have faced many obstacles and life-altering experiences. However, our love has remained intact. Our love is strong because God is at the center of our marriage." ~Sarah

Love and Motorcycles

Richard and Cindy

"Being a widow, marriage was the last thing I thought would ever occur. While at church one Sunday my pastor told me that a member of our church was back from an extended stay in Arizona. Pastor indicated he rode a motorcycle, and because I belong to Christian Motorcycle Assocation and have a bike ministry, maybe I could try to 'be nice to him'. Our mutual love for the Lord and motorcycles was all it took. We were married 3 months later. Upon announcing to the pastor our intentions, he stated, 'I just wanted you to be nice to him,' with a big grin on his face and he then scolded my future husband for taking me away as we were already planning cross country rides. We are 60 and 73 years young and as I write this we are 1,300 miles from home with our motorcycles." ~ Cindy

The Pastor's Daughter Meets the New Kid

Matt and Lori

"I was a fifteen-year-old preacher’s daughter at a church in Ft. Worth, Texas. One Sunday morning after service, I rudely interrupted my dad’s conversation to ask him for some money so I could go out to lunch with my friends. That’s when I noticed the cute 'new' guy standing next to my father. My dad reached for his wallet and said, 'Lori, I want you to meet Matt. His family just moved here from Arkansas.' I looked up at the tall, tan, skinny guy and noticed one thing—a huge smile. Later I discovered he was seventeen, a basketball player, and the son of a gospel singer. I smiled and said, 'Hi,' grabbed the cash from my dad, and headed off to find my friends. As I walked away I thought, I wonder if I just met the man I’m going to marry. Thanks, Dad, for introducing me to my best friend, husband of 23 years, father to my 3 children, and love of my life. Glad I went to church that day!" ~ Lori

When Destinies Collide

Chap and Kristie

"Chap was in college in Greenville, SC, and I was living on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. A man from Romania was traveling around looking for volunteers who could sing to accompany him to Romania to do some missions work/church meetings. This guy asked his college friend, Chap and a lady from the church he interened with in Virgina (my mom) to join him in a trip to Romania. I told my mom I really wanted to go because I was interested in a documentary that I had seeen about the orphans in Romania. We had both just broken up with our significant others and were both fasting (total strangers, remember). Anyway, my mom told me that God was revealing to her that my destiny was linked to this trip. At the same time, Chap's friend, who was sitting with him on the plane, was saying, 'What if your future wife is on this trip?'. We met at the airport in Budapest, Hungary, and got aquainted on the six-hour bus ride to Romania. We spent 14 days ministering together, came home and started dating." ~ Kristie

Sweeter The Second Time Around

Mike and Kris

"We dated for about a year during high school. He was a great guy and I was horrible to him. I remembered thinking at the time that I didn’t deserve him at all. I also remember thinking I was an idiot to let him go, but I did. I had 'ISSUES'. I have tried probably 6-10 times over the last 25 years to find him, but never could. He has a common name and he moved out of the area so it was pretty impossible. Well, he found me on Facebook in September 2011 and we started communicating. One thing led to another, and at some point, the fireworks went off again. Only this time, I allowed myself to open my heart and both love him and receive his love in return. I’ll be his wife in June.... We just needed a 25-year break to get our acts together so we can take on the world." ~ Kris