A prayer closet can be a small beige room, no windows, one painting on the wall, with one chair a notepad, and a pen. It can also be a car or truck. Many times, it has been a spot where people go, like a community park, a hiking trail, or on a boat fishing. For some, it is a literal closet filled with clothes and a small stool to sit on so they can escape the world to meet with God. Still, some have the ability to lock out the rest of the world sitting in the middle of a huge crowd. It does not matter where your closet is or how it is set up. It only matters that you can be alone with God without distraction.
This story is about two people who were very different in the ways and places that they prayed, but both sought God. They took the time to dwell with Him in their prayer closets resulting in heartfelt and earnest prayers. Those prayers resulted in miracles.
Miracle Meetings
Most people would not consider a dating website meeting as a miracle of God. Neither did Tammie and Brad who met in the spring of 2023 on a dating website. They only talked for one day, and then dropped it. Why?
God had not finished preparing either of them yet. It was His grace that allowed them to walk away. It’s funny, neither of them remembered that first website meeting experience until a year later.
They both began to seek God for their future more and more every day. Everything was in God’s Grace and God’s Time.
Tammie had twenty years as a single mother. Over time her prayer became, “I need a follower of Jesus who puts God first in all he does, someone who will be a leader.”
Brad survived the death of his wife. His prayer in the late summer of 2023 became, “Lord, If you want me to marry again, please just send her to church, seat her beside me, and tell me that she is the one.”
Brad thought his prayer was a little selfish and maybe just silly, but God was about to do something extraordinary.
A little after midnight on October 15, 2023, Brad was shutting down his dating sites but decided to “like” one last girl on Facebook Dating. It was Tammie.
Brad said to himself, “She looks familiar, but if she doesn’t answer by tomorrow night, I am shutting this stuff down for good.”
At 7 AM on October 15, 2023, Tammie “liked” Brad on Facebook Dating saying to herself, “He says he is a follower of Jesus. Let’s see if that is true.”
At 10:10 AM on October 15, 2023, Tammie sent Brad a message in the dating app. She wasted no time in getting to the important things. She asked, “Where do you go to church?”
Brad responded, “Fellowship Greenville.”
Tammie: “No way, I am driving out of Fellowship Greenville right now!!”
Brad: “I am driving to the church now. Why don’t you turn around and go back?”
Tammie: “No, I am going to see my parents for their 52nd Wedding Anniversary.”
On Sunday morning, October 22, 2023, Tammie walked into the coffee shop at Fellowship Greenville where Brad was sitting. He saw her across the room and recognized her. Then, while she was still getting her coffee, he noticed what a sweet spirit emanated from deep inside her. They sat at a small round table as she sipped her coffee and they chatted a few moments. Then they walked into the auditorium together to worship.
As they were seated and worship began, Brad looked to his right. There, in the chair beside him, was the answer to his “silly” prayer.
While he saw and heard the answer, it was not a done deal. There was a hard road ahead.
Miracle of Love
Love is easy to “fall’ into if you are young, but after a lot of life experience it is something you enter into very cautiously, if you are wise.
Driving to Mississippi for work Brad felt weird in his stomach, but didn’t know why as he stopped in Alabama for the night. The next morning was November 14, 2023. Brad’s phone bumped as he turned into Chick-Fil-A for breakfast. As the phone came on, Tammie’s picture came on the screen. Brad’s reaction was to say, “I Love You” out loud before his mind had time to think. What a shock! It had been less than a month since they had met.
The final two hours of the drive were given to prayer, seeking the Lords will concerning allowing himself to love again. The Lord’s will was apparent, and a road was laid before him for their journey. By the time Brad arrived in Tupelo MS, there was peace with the new love.
But Tammie was not ready for love yet. She had found a friend in Brad, and she was enjoying that friendship. She called herself “the turtle” in relationships. She was not going to move fast.
With one in love and the other in friendship, rough seas would surely follow.
Miracle of Grace
God’s Grace is Amazing!
Both Tammie and Brad had experienced God’s grace in their lives. They also had found that prayer was the basis for their friendship. So, a routine quickly developed where Brad would write a prayer for both of them every morning between 5 & 7 AM. He would text it to Tammie so they could pray together.
Several months later, they read something that said, “Prayer is the most intimate thing a couple can do together.” It unites the spirits, minds, and hearts together. It was those prayers that held Tammie and Brad together over the next two months of tug-o-war. December came and the relationship was getting closer, but Tammie was still in friend mode while Brad was in love.
Friction occurred as Brad was “Jack Rabbiting” ahead, and Tammie was “Turtling” along.
More times than they care to remember, one got frustrated with the other and tried to get out by sabotaging the relationship, but grace was stronger. Every time one of them tried to sabotage the relationship, the other showed grace from God. Grace was always exhibited for the other’s struggles.
If the miracle of grace was not enough, the additional miracle was in the fact that they never tried to sabotage their relationship at the same time.
Miracle of Trust and Love
Beginning with the first conversation Tammie and Brad had, boundaries were set. The question was, would each respect the other? Tammie used to say, “Actions speak louder than words.” She was right. And so, by the last week of December their actions had spoken louder than their words, resulting in Trust. Trust brought deeper conversations, allowing Tammie to open her life more with every conversation.
Opening her life allowed her heart to open to something more than friendship. Trust and deep friendship was building more and more. Tammie was always guarded, but by the middle of January the walls protecting her from love began to crumble and fall. She never said anything, but Brad could tell that everything was changing, and fast.
The timing of life events is mysterious, even though we try our best to do things at the right time. Sometimes, the right time, just happens in the moment.
Brad understood that he was seeing the realization of God’s words at church the previous October. Acting against the best advice (to take it slow) from those closest to him…….. He bought a ring that was perfect for Tammie. It was blue – her favorite color and shade. It shouted “Tammie” the moment he saw it in the jeweler’s case.
Every time they were together, Brad had the ring in his pocket. He carried it over two weeks, just waiting on God to let him know that the time was right. He wanted to hear from God, plus he was really waiting to hear three little words, but they never came. Finally, he made the first move.
During a dinner while cuddled together in the back of a restaurant, he could wait no longer. Brad asked, “Tammie, do you love me?”
Her face changed multiple times in what felt like hours until she said, “There is a time and place for things to be said, and this is not the place…..” Brad said nothing and waited, then she said, “….Yes.”
After dinner Brad thought, “This could be the time, but how and where???” He turned down a road, and suddenly he knew where to go. With a quick U-turn, he drove straight to Fellowship Greenville where they had met in person the first time.
Arriving in the parking lot of the church, a light rain began to fall. They ran under the awning of the courtyard. Brad pulled her close to dance.
Tammie said, “There is no music.”
Brad said, “Sure there is….”
“Oh now, I hear it”, Tammie whispered.
The dance slowed, and they sat on a bench along the side of the courtyard under the strings of low lights. Brad felt the Spirit move. He was sure – this was the time.
It was at 10:10 PM on 2-10-2024 in the courtyard of the church, just feet away from the place they first met four months earlier, when Tammie said “Yes”
Then they shared their first kiss ever.
The next day, Sunday, as church concluded, Tammie told Brad to wait in their seats for everyone around them to leave. As they did, she pulled a red and white flower out of her bag and gave them to Brad, speaking the words, “I Love You.”
This was the time and place she had told him about the night before. It had been her plan for a while.
Miracle of Oneness
The wedding date was set for October 19th, but Brad kept saying, “Today would be good.”
Tammie was praying and seeking God. It turned out that God did have a different plan which he revealed as she prayed. Then He confirmed his leading in multiple ways for her.
On May 3rd, Tammie surprised Brad with a card and flowers. The card read, “Let’s get married on June 1, your dad’s birthday.” A tear fell as Brad just nodded his head yes.
So, they did!
On that sunny June day, under a wooden cross on the edge of a rippling lake at 11:11 AM they said, “I Do”
Something that felt like wind on the inside of their hearts moved across them. It was startling and unexpected. They quietly looked at each other and asked, “Was that God marrying us and making us one?”
It was.
