Love Like Enamel: How We Began

Four years ago yesterday, Robbie and I were introduced in front of our church. Less than three weeks later we were courting. Five months after that we got engaged. Three months after that we were married! In honor of the month that we met, I thought it would be fun to tell our story.

Basically from middle school all the way up to a year before I met Robbie, I really desperately wanted to get married. I had pretty low self esteem and I experienced a lot of heartache because I was constantly trying to get emotional satisfaction from the guys I knew. Marriage was an idol that caused me to think, "If I could just get married, then I would be happy. If a guy would only pursue me, then I would feel beautiful."

Around my third year in college, I came to the realization that nothing would satisfy this yearning in my heart for love except Jesus. Once I understood that Jesus loved me more deeply than any man ever could and that he pursued me better than any man ever could, I began to experience freedom. I still had the desire to get married, but it no longer consumed me. I knew in the depths of who I was that even if I never got married, Jesus was enough.

I became so content in being single that when God did finally bring my husband along about six months later, He knew I would need something very direct for me to be willing to enter that relationship. I was working with the Youth Group at our church when the Youth Pastor, Jeff, told me he wanted to introduce me to his wife's brother, Robbie. My response was, "I'm really not interested in dating right now." For a couple months, Jeff kept mentioning introducing Robbie to me.

Robbie finally came as a chaperone on a Youth Group outing to an indoor trampoline arena in Denver called Jumpstreet. Before driving down to Denver, we all met in front of the church to carpool. I remember seeing Robbie for the first time and thinking that he was attractive but still wanting to steer clear of the whole dating thing. Jeff introduced us and I shook his hand briefly, gave a quick, "Nice to meet you," and then scurried away to act busy while collecting all the students' permission slips.

The whole time we were at Jumpstreet I avoided him. I made the mistake of telling some of the high school girls that "Jeff is trying to set me up with that guy" and the girls mercilessly joked with me that they were going to tell Robbie that I wanted to talk to him. I hid in the bathroom half the time (it still makes me laugh that I was hiding in the bathroom from my husband).

Suddenly, one of the high school boys (I think his name was Stephen) was jumping on the trampoline and the lower half of his leg just snapped. I kid you not! His leg looked like it had an extra joint between the knee and the ankle. Jeff and Robbie rushed over to him (Robbie had just gotten his E.M.T. certificate) and did what they could until the ambulance arrived. I still feel so bad for that kid but because everyone's attention was now focused on him, it took the focus off Robbie and I. The students decided to circle up nearby to pray for him while he was being loaded into the ambulance and somehow Robbie ended up next to me. I still love that the first time we held hands it was to pray for someone else.

Since there was not much else we could do to help Stephen, and the students were getting hungry, we went down the street to McDonald's. One of the high school girls was feeling really motion sick (and/or sick from seeing Stephen's leg snap) so Robbie drove her down the street to a gas station to get some Dramomine. In the meantime, Jeff sat me down and said, "Ariel, I just want to let you know that Danielle and I have been praying about it for several months and we really feel like you and Robbie are supposed to be together." I really don't remember my exact response but it was something like, "um... okay..."

Jeff and Danielle asked me to come to their house that following Thursday to help them paint their living room and kitchen. They told me Robbie would be coming as well. I remember one of the things I kept praying that week was, "God, if I'm supposed to be with Robbie, why would you tell Jeff and not me?" and I sensed that God's response was, "I want you to trust what I am doing in other people." Looking back now, I realize that if God had tried to speak to me directly about being with Robbie, I would've dismissed it as my own selfish desires and not as direction from Him. God knew that I needed to hear it from someone I respected as a godly person before I would feel that it wasn't just my own emotions making me want to date Robbie.

Thursday finally came so I went over to start painting. Robbie got there about an hour after me because he had class. His arrival was announced by Jeff and Danielle's younger son, Avery, who shouted, "Wobbie!" I didn't want to rush over and seem too excited to see him so I simply gave him a nice little smile and kept on painting. Robbie still insists that it was a smirk and not a smile.

We were quickly assigned to the tiny kitchen to paint together. Our conversation flowed so easily that it felt like we had been friends for much longer than those couple hours. I thought he was so funny, handsome, and intelligent. We all took a break from painting to grab dinner at Q'doba. On the way back from Q'doba, Jeff and Danielle's older son, Mason, asked, "Are you guys girlfriends? Are you going to marry her, Robs?" I wanted to crawl under the car seat and die at that point. Robbie kept his cool and made some joke right back at Mason, completely diffusing the situation. It's still something that I love about his personality-- he can make truly awkward situations so much more bearable with his light-hearted sense of humor.

It started to rain when we got back to Jeff and Danielle's house. I had Bible study that evening so Robbie helped me carry my things to the car. I got in my car to drive off and he came around to the driver side window. While standing there in the rain, he told me that he would really like to take me out sometime and asked for my phone number. I could not have been more excited. The whole way to Bible study I called basically every female friend I had to tell them what had happened. My friends at Bible study all laughed at how giddy and glowing I was in spite of the fact that my car broke down in the parking lot just as I pulled in. Who can care about her car breaking down when her future husband is in possession of her phone number?

Long before I met Robbie, I prayed that the first man to bring me flowers would be my husband. Here's the first bouquet I ever received: