Our Love Story

Eight Valentines Days ago, a boy gave me a rose.
It was a single rose, a pink one, and it was presented it to me in the middle of the school day. He said that it was because he heard me (single by choice) proclaim that I felt sad on Valentines day, and he wanted me to not feel left out. It was a friendship rose.

Yeah, right. :-)

But, even though I convinced my naive *read: in denial* teenage mind that we really were just friends, I still snuck up the stairs to my bedroom with the rose hidden behind my back so my dad would not see that his little girl was potentially being wooed. My friends pretended to agree with me. "Sure, Diana. He just likes you as a friend." But secretly they knew. That boy was smitten with me.

This young man was named Allen Paisley, and he was my best friend. We had been best friends for almost a whole school year at this point, and I loved his company. We talked about random things, drank tea in between classes, and were dance partners in the school musical. As an avid follower of the "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" movement, I was not concerned that our friendship would turn into anything else. I was enjoying it for what it was. And even if I was open to dating, Allen was not a Christian, and that was a dealbreaker for me.

Little did I know that I would fall in love.

I did not know it myself, but my little 16-year-old heart was melting for this sweet guy who was nice to everyone, wore funny outfits for kicks, saved random song lyrics just for me, and made me homemade baked goods in cooking class. When he asked me to prom that year (2003, to be exact), I agreed to go- as friends. In between that time when I was asked and the night of the prom itself, our "friendship" was definitely turning into something more, and I was feeling convicted of where it was going. After that prom date, where he held my hand for the first time, I had to present him with a letter I had tearfully written, explaining that I could not date him, though I had let my feelings rule me and tell him otherwise. I asked his forgiveness, and told him that until we could share the most important part of my life (our faith), we had to remain just friends. Allen was crushed, and I was so hurt inside.

I have journals from that time where I would pour out my heart to God, asking Him to save my best friend. I knew that Allen needed Jesus more than me, and I also knew that as long as I was in the picture, I was a distraction to him. So, I prayed that God would take me out of Allen's life so Allen could find God for himself, and not for me. So he could seek a relationship with a loving God without my affections distracting him. So he could learn that I was not the love of his life. But I prayed one more thing. I prayed that God would please put me back in the picture after. And that is exactly what He did.

A whole summer went by, one where I had convinced myself that Allen and I were over for good. I had moved on, and looked to God for a fresh start our senior year. But then, right before school started, Allen had news for me.

"I am a Christian now!" he announced. "I know you may not believe me if I tell you, but let me show you!"

And he was a completely new person. For the first time in my life, I saw the amazing, drastic, awe-inspiring change that the love of Christ can make in a person. He was indeed a new Creation. And in no time at all, we were indeed in love.

We still guarded our hearts as best as we could that year, which definitley had its ups and downs. We still put a hold on dating so we could grow as brother and sister in Christ first. We did not say those three little words that we felt, and we did not kiss or anything like that. It was a hard year where God was saying "not yet," to us. We were hurt and lonely a lot. A lot of our friends did not understand, and some were even mad at me for not dating such a great catch as Allen Paisley. Even Allen and I had our moments where we did not understand ourselves, and I know that sometimes I resented these convictions, but God was faithful to us, and we stuck to our decision to wait until God said "yes." And even though I distinctly remember telling my mom in the kitchen one day that I felt that I could marry this man someday, and I heard from others that he felt the same, we did not talk about these feelings with each other. We graduated high school, just friends, and moved on to college, leaving our lives in God's hands.

During that first year away from each other, our friendship was strengthened again. We encouraged each other in faith, shared Bible verses, prayed for each other, supported each other...and did not try to date each other! Allen was leading me spiritually, trying to push God to be the man in my life rather than him. He guarded my heart with such care, and loved me more selflessly than any friend I had ever known. I kept praying for this man whom I knew I was in love with, praying that God would let us be together. And on May 4, 2005, God said yes.

And then on October 21, 2006, when Allen Paisley asked me to marry him, I said yes.

And here we are, eight Valentines days later, with three years of marriage and beautiful 11-month-old daughter. He is the love of my life, and the man of my dreams.

Thank you, Allen, for that first Valentines Day friendship rose. I love you more than I could ever have imagined.

Then:


Now: