I can’t tell my story without starting with the story of the love of my life, Tony Luiken. Tony and I met at Texas A&M, where we both went to college. The first time we met was at a Whataburger, which makes sense because we both love food so much! Tony says he knew when he first met me that I was to be his wife, but for me it didn’t sink in until much later. Fast forward to the spring of 2010, and Tony got up the nerve to call me up to ask me on a date to his Ross Volunteer Ball. I said yes, having heard someone might ask me from my friend Lindsay Thornton. Lindsay and I both needed dates to our Chi Omega Formal, so we asked Tony and his friend Nick. What a crazy, fun time of GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER that week was!
What followed was more time together: lunch at Jason’s Deli, bowling, dancing and dinners, a trip with friends floating the Nacogdoches River.
I was starting to see the humble man of God that Tony was and while I was trying to guard my heart, there was a part of me that knew I was beginning to fall for him.
The next thing we knew, we were both working at Pine Cove, a Christian camp that Tony and I had both worked at throughout college. Only when we had started really talking did we realize we both would be working the same summer. Tony was working as a boat driver at the Timbers, the 8th and 9th grade camp, and I was working as a Townrunner and Assistant Work Crew Director at the Ranch, the 6th and 7th grade camp. Community, fellowship, and friendship abound at Pine Cove, and I was ready for it.
Throughout the summer, Tony and I wrote notes through intercamp mail. Tony also utilized our free weekends to ask me on our FIRST DATE and to make it clear that he wanted to pursue me. I loved our dates and getting to know Tony more. We had so much fun! Tony took me to a breakfast diner (that he thought was a nice Italian place, oops!), took me on a boat ride, bought me frozen yogurt (the direct key to my heart), and sent me a funnoodle on my birthday with 22 reasons why he was glad I was born that day!It was an incredible summer, and every year I learn so much from the Lord. The summer of 2010, I remember, the Lord laid on my heart the word TRUTH. It was a powerful summer of re- remembering how to talk to the Lord, pray, and seek his word and be hungry for it. Throughout that healing process of coming back to the Lord, I was realizing how much I liked Tony. We hadn’t started dating yet, because I had told him I wasn’t yet ready, but I knew Tony’s intentions.
The fall of 2010 was a season of growing in affection and the Lord growing our hearts together. Tony and I made trips back and forth to see each other in College Station and Tyler. I loved hearing what Tony was learning through the Forge, and Tony was loving being a part of my life in College Station. Tony lead our relationship so well, and pursued me with all that he had. There were so many things about him that I loved- he was a good listener, kind, honest, and a servant of God. I love being the center of attention and being social and friendly and outgoing. Tony loves people in a tender and different way- he is quiet, observant, and truly wants to know the real you. This is why Tony and I fit together so well and what intrigued me so much about him. He was different than any guy I'd ever known.
On Tony’s birthday weekend, December 11, 2010, I surprised him in Tyler! This was the weekend that we first talked about LOVE. We both knew love was not based on feelings, but on truth and deed and how you serve someone through action. Though we didn’t say it yet, we both knew that was how we felt about each other. Before Tony left for Alaska to be with his family for Christmas break, we said I love you and meant it.
We got MARRIED on October 29, 2011. I am so lucky to call Tony my husband, and to know that the Lord has written and designed this story before time. We have the opportunity every day to share his gospel together in covenant marriage. We still can't believe the amazing work He has done in saving us and bringing us together for His name's sake. Marriage is such a beautiful picture of Jesus and his bride, the church. Every day, we get to see the ugly, nasty, sinful parts of each other and we get to forgive each other and love each other in truth. True love is about sacrifice, the total surrender of all we have or desire for the sake of the other. I only know love through Jesus Christ, and it is through His love that I am able to love Tony fully.
“In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his LOVE is perfected in us.” 1 John 4:10-12
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the TRUTH. Love bears all things, believes all things, HOPES all things, endures all things."
1 Corinthians 13: 4-7
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