Hi, it’s Jourdan!  Since Jeff’s memory tends to be a bit foggy,  I’m going to take you through our journey.  I’m thrilled to share our story with you!  It’s a long one, so buckle your seatbelt.  It goes a little something like this...

 

In May of 2000, I had just completed my Freshman year at Florida State University.  I decided to spend my Summer in Texas, working at 121 Community Church in Grapevine--a church my former youth pastor, Ross Sawyers, planted in the Fall of 1999.  Among my many miscellaneous duties that Summer, Ross asked me to help lead worship.  Since I didn’t play an instrument at the time, Ross had me lead with a guy who had recently moved to Dallas to take a job after graduating from Texas Tech, and had been helping lead off and on--one Jeff Johnson.  Jeff and I immediately hit it off and became fast friends.  I was actually dating someone else from back home in Florida at the time, but was very excited to make a fun friend and thought nothing more about it.  By mid-summer, I broke it off with the guy I had been dating, which, believe it or not, had nothing to do with Jeff.  However, Jeff and I began to spend more and more time together--so much so that by the end of the summer we were sad to say goodbye.  I went back to Florida State and Jeff started a new job in Dallas as a computer consultant, but we kept in touch through email and phone calls.  

 

The following summer, I went back out to Texas to work at 121 again, and Jeff and I began to officially date.  Round 1.  We had a lot of fun acting like idiots, singing, dancing, and laughing all the time.  After the summer, we continued to date long-distance through most of my junior year.  The distance proved difficult and we were in totally different seasons of life.  We broke up right before the summer of 2002 and I was heartbroken.   Jeff and I went through periods of trying to be friends, not talking at all, and slowly got back in touch as friends before I graduated from FSU in 2003.  I ended up moving out to Texas in January of 2004 to pursue leading worship, and with at least a little bit of curiosity about how things between Jeff and I might go. :)   Jeff had quit his corporate job to lead worship full time and was getting busier and busier.   I began singing with him and his band right away.  It wasn’t long until we started dating again.  Round 2.  

 

We learned a lot about each other and went through some deep stuff.  We would talk about marriage, but it seemed far off.  We eventually got to a place where a decision had to be made.  We ended up breaking up again--this time after two and a half years.  Of course I was heartbroken.  But I wasn’t convinced it was the end for us.  I just didn’t feel fully release from him.  We got back together about 8 months later.  Round 3.  This time for good, I assumed.  After all we had been through, all the years and heartache, the third time had to be the charm.  I truly believed the Lord was bringing to completion a work that had been underway for the past seven years.  But alas, I was wrong.  We broke up.  Again.  After only a few months.

 

Believing this had to be it, I began the road to healing and moving on with my life.  The Lord did an amazing work in me.  He renewed the confidence in Himself that I had lost, He put me in the midst of amazing community and gave me my own career and ministry that I absolutely loved.  I was satisfied with the Lord.  He was enough and my life was good.  I even started dating again...

 

Over a year after our breakup, upon finding out that I was dating someone else, Jeff was shocked and heartbroken.  I would later find out that he had continued under the assumption that he would eventually get his act together and I’d be there ready for him.   Since he is not here to defend himself while I’m writing, I’ll try to harness the sarcasm.  But needless to say, he was wrong. :)  That little news flash would prove to be a great turning point for him.  Jeff began to see the deep reality of his behaviors in our relationship in the past and how he wanted to grow.  He began walking closely in community with other godly men, asking questions to other couples, growing in discipline, deepening his relationship with the Lord.  Unbeknownst to me, he began talking about how he would hopefully win me back and started devising a plan.  In the Fall of 2009, Jeff and I both ended up at the same membership class for Village Church.  It was the first time we had seen each other in 9 months.  Now that we were at the same church for the first time in a couple years, we began running into each other more frequently.  This was somewhat problematic to me.  Even though we were able to have friendly chats with no awkwardness, I didn’t like that he was coming to mind more.  I was supposed to be over him and I did NOT want to develop any hope for a future with him again.   I was literally praying daily that the Lord would take away those thoughts and any rising hope.

 

In March of this year (two and a half years since our last big breakup),  Jeff and I were both booked for separate events in Tulsa, OK.  I didn’t realize this until I received an excited email from Wes--Jeff’s guitar player and a dear friend to both of us--saying we should all get together for lunch in Tulsa.  I reluctantly agreed.  Both of us with our bands met for lunch that would turn into an entire afternoon spent together.  We all had a blast.  Jeff and I talked and talked throughout the day.  It was so fun.  Later that night, I evaluated the day with the girls and really felt good about it.  I didn’t think it meant anything more than we were able to have an enjoyable time in a group dynamic and was thankful.  

 

The following Tuesday, after leaving a blind-date lunch with no chemistry at all, I got a text from Jeff.  If my memory serves me correctly, it went like this:  “Hey Jourdan.  I know you’re super busy this week but I was hoping we might be able to meet for an hour or so.  I’d like to discuss last Saturday and hopefully clear some things up.”  Ugh.  My stomach dropped.  What was there to “clear up??”  I thought our time in Tulsa was just friendly fun with no analysis needed.  I agreed to meet him and get this over with.  I had a feeling this was going to end up disappointing and hurting me.   I got to Starbucks and met a very nervous Jeff.  What he had to say was far from what I thought.  He proceeded to tell me how great it was to see me in Tulsa.  And about his journey with the Lord that had turned him into a new man.  He realized the effects of his past behaviors and never wanted to hurt me again.  But he wanted the opportunity to re-enter my life and show me how different he was.  When I asked him “for what purpose?” he responded by saying he wanted to pursue me in the right way and that his hope was that we would end up “together forever.”  Yikes.  Not at all what I expected.  I told him that was a lot to take in but I would think about it, seek the Lord in it, and get back to him.  

 

The Lord had been preparing my heart for that moment.  I always said it would take a miracle for Jeff and I to ever get back together.  That previous Fall, I had been studying the book of Luke, which is full of the miracles of Christ.  I was learning that I had a limited view of the miracles of the Lord.  So when Jeff came to me, I realized I was getting to witness a miracle that I didn’t think would ever happen.  He was clearly a new man.  After a lot of prayer and counsel, Jeff talking to my dad and explaining his intentions, and a trip to Africa, Jeff and I got back together.  We went on our first date of round 4 on March 22.  Then on September 8, after a few really rough weeks where I thought we might even break up, we had a great talk at Jeff’s dining room table.  He shared some deep fears, we cried together, held each other, and he ended up asking me to marry him.  November 26, 2010, after over 10 years of friendship, dating, hurting, healing, and lots of laughing, we will be married.  There is no doubt in either of our minds that this is anything short of a miracle.  The Lord has brought us to this place, and has given us a beautiful picture of His gospel in a redeeming work that only He could have done.  

 

We are both so thankful to the friends and family that have loved us and walked closely with each of us through this journey.  We are abundantly blessed.  We hope our story brings you encouragement and are so excited for the way the Lord will continue to write it and use it for Himself.