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The Love Story that Created a Love Story


A creative, bright photo edit of a couple standing side-by-side in front of their home on their 43rd Anniversary. The man is wearing jeans and a baseball cap, and his wife is wearing a white summer dress with a yellow shrug jacket. The image is framed with a whimsical border of white daisies and gold hearts, accented by a soft yellow chiffon vignette, flowing yellow edging, and sparkling white hearts. Creative decor and AI edits done with the Photo Studio Pro app for Android.
Happy 43rd Anniversary Steve & Candie (©2026-All Rights Reserved)

Truthfully, if it wasn’t for this couple’s love story, I may not have turned my life around and started really living for The Lord.

It started with a move from LA to Arizona. Then my sister and our mom moved there, and our mom got a switchboard job at the county courthouse. She met Steve, introduced him to Candie, and the rest is 43+ years of history.

But within that history is the wedding where I got to be the matron of honor because I’m the big sister. 😁 And then, a stubborn ultimatum about someone refusing to attend their special day unless I agreed to visit a church service turned into my ultimate turnaround moment.

It doesn’t matter that I didn’t want to be there. It doesn’t matter that I once walked by that very church with a huff, heard the music from inside, and stated, “You won’t catch me dead in a Pentecostal church!” And it doesn’t matter that my heart was not in it when I attended for all the wrong reasons. What matters is that God set all the details in place to make sure He could get me to a place where I would hear His voice.

Since that night, life has been filled with changes—both good and bad, but mostly good. It has had additions and losses, fill-ups and drainages, moves and stays, and bumps and bruises. There have been moments that challenged my faith, but there have been far more moments that strengthened it. And through all those changes, the Creator who pursued this resistant soul has never left me.

So when you think your little rejected invitation, or your prayers for someone’s soul, don’t really matter—they do. Even if you can’t find the perfect words to win someone, speak from your heart anyway. God may decide to use a couple that isn’t even serving Him yet as a tool to draw a daughter who desperately needs to meet her Heavenly Father simply because their event helps put all the pieces in place. And in return, just look at how God blessed their event to become a marriage and a family that serves Him and has lasted 43 years so far.

Happy Anniversary Steve and Candie. Thank you for falling in love. Thank you for getting married. Thank you for letting God use you both in my salvation story even when none of us knew what He was doing. May God’s holy presence fill your every moment and bless you abundantly in return for this major blessing in my life. In YahShua’s name, Amen! 🙏💕

2 Corinthians 4:15 NLT
[15] All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.4.15.NLT

July 16, 2026 Posted by | AI, Christianity, Creative Image Editing, family, Grace and Mercy (In Scripture and In Life), memories, Nonfiction, Photo Editing & Manipulation, Photo Studio Pro app, Photography, salvation, Slice of Life, special days, testimony | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

   

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