So many people have asked me to share how Dwight and I met that I decided to write an entry about our journey. It is such a testament to how God has our story written, and if we just listen to Him and wait on His perfect timing, He gives us the desires of our heart.
Back in the fall of 2007, I was enjoying a day off when a thought came in my head to go see if any new pirate-themed comics had hit the comic shop shelves. So I walked to my local shop (Props out to Meltdown Comics!) and looked around. It turns out that the store had a large pirate-themed section set up with old and new comics. This was around the same time as the whole Pirates of the Caribbean craze, so I was very happy to find quite a few interesting books. Among them was one that caught my eye: Dead Men Tell No Tales by a writer named Dwight L. MacPherson. The cover art was incredible, so I decided to give it chance, and I bought all available issues. I went home and read through them in one sitting. I loved how he put a Christian spin on a historical fiction tale chronicling the quest for the Holy Grail.
At the time I read the mini-series, I was living in Los Angeles and working in the film/tv/theatre production world. I had several theatre productions under my belt and I was thinking (as most people in Hollywood think) that, hey, I can produce a big budget film. And so I decided to contact the publisher for Dead Men Tell No Tales to see if I could get contact information for the writer. After several back and forth emails, I got Dwight’s address, and sent him a quick email asking if the rights had been sold to his property because it would make a fantastic film.
Fast forward two years and a million Google chats (Thanks, Google and Gmail) later, Dwight and I got engaged. Our relationship grew over time and a thousand plus miles. We did not have the convenience of meeting up for coffee or dates. We had to get to know each other in nightly two-hour talks. I remember the first thing he asked me was if I went to church. This was important to him because he felt that we needed to be on the same lane of the freeway spiritually. Neither of us were looking for mates at the time, so everything happened organically–us becoming friends, close friends, to committed adults. Some people would think that having a long distance relationship is hard, strange, etc., and I imagine it would be if it were the wrong person. I never second guessed anything because we both knew it was turning out to be perfectly ordered.
When I say that God gives us the desires of our hearts, I need to explain my side of the whole instant family thing. Anyone who knows me knows I never really wanted to “birth” children. I wanted the opportunity to raise a child, but the whole idea of pushing a bowling ball through a small hole never quite appealed to me. As God would have it, Dwight had three boys–all in need of a mother. Can you see how good God is, and how perfect His plans for our lives are? I can, and I realized how blessed I was because this wonderful chance came to me. Not one child, but three! Both Dwight and I wanted to be sure I knew what I was getting into, and he respected his sons enough to not only ask my mom for my hand in marriage, but he also asked the boys if he could marry me. Their feelings were just as important to us as our own desires.
This May, Dwight and I will celebrate our fourth year of marriage. I read all the time about how marriages take a lot of work and you have to sacrifice and bla, bla, bla. Well, call me strange, but none of this seems to apply to us. And it is not because we are still in some sort of honeymoon phase. It has just never been a struggle. Sure, there have been adjustments–I went from being a single woman to being a wife, mother of three boys, and moved clear across the country. I think that is three out of the five most stressful events in life, right?! But, like I said earlier, when you are with the soulmate God has created you for, all of these seemingly stressful moments take a back seat to the awesomeness that is our God. Despite our undeserved wretched selves, He gives us helpmates to help us through this journey called life.
So there you have it. Two people from different walks in life with similar interests and spiritual walks doing their thing until God in His infinite grace puts them together against all odds. I know that the random idea to go buy a book was not a coincidence. It was God writing my story–and you know what? I am content to let Him finish the book.
In His Perfect Love,
Rebecca
P.S. Hollywood, our story rights are available for purchase. ;)
“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lod. Plans to prosper you and plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11
