I am Engaged

Many of you have written asking me to tell the story of my engagement, unfortunately I forgot my camera, so you will have to wait a little longer for pictures. I hope that this will do for now.

Tucker Martin is from Georgia, and has some good old southern roots. He attended the Missionary Training School in Oaxaca, Mexico for the 2007-2008 school year. I have known him since September, but we just recently started seeking God about marrying one another, and officially started seeing each other in March. These last couple of months have been incredible as I have waited on the Lord in this and have sought his glory over everything else. My prayer from the beginning has been that we would both fall more in love with the Lord as we got to know each other, and I still feel like I am falling more in love with Jesus as I fall in love with him.

May 21st 2008, Wednesday, Tucker picked me up and handed me a bouquet of red roses, it was our date day and I was so excited to see him. We jumped into a car that he had borrowed for the day and drove about 20 minutes up the road to a river running through a ravine that we had been told about. As we drove and talked, we scanned the river to find the "perfect" spot. Then we found it, the view overlooked the Oaxacan mountains and as you drew close to the river you saw it collect in peaceful pools following small trickling waterfalls. We decided to stop and hike down to the river. It was so peaceful and I found myself wanting to know what God had been teaching Tucker that week.

He opened the bible to Ephesians 5:25 and began to read through the end. The passage calls husbands to love their wife as Christ loves the church, giving sacrificially of himself so that she will be pure and blameless. Immediately my mind began to apply the words of Paul to our church planting movement, I was strategizing about how to plant churches that were immersed in this kind of love when Tucker went down on one knee. I could hardly breathe as he told me that he loved me and wanted to love me like this passage called him to for the rest of his life. I felt like I was in a movie, while the reality of the ecstatic joy surfacing in my heart became real.

When he placed the ring on my finger a few minutes later, I sat taking in the legacy of love that decorated my hand. His mom had offered him the ring after I visited with his family in April, it was the same ring that his father, Mr. Greg, had used to ask for Miss Donna's hand many years ago. There was such a spirit of thankfulness and joy as we sat next to that peaceful river. The urgency to praise the Lord came quickly, and as I strummed the strings of the guitar and praises began to rise from our lips to His ears, the presence of the Lord filled that place. I will never forget sitting on that stone in the middle of the Oaxacan Mountains, worshipping and praying to the Lord of lords with my husband to be. Thank you for celebrating this with me. I pray that we will learn to love each other like Christ calls us to, and that many will embrace Christ's love through the testimony of the life of unity and love He has called us to. Your prayers are much needed and priceless to us, I can not wait to introduce him to all of you back at home.

I love you all.
Pam