There was this girl that was in choir with me at church. I remember her, because she was one of like 2 white girls in the choir, and she was really excited about this anti-racism thing she had gone through. She was telling the choir how she went and got on a slave ship and experienced what it was like to be chattel. What stuck out to me was how nobody in the choir seemed to care. I thought, ‘it must have really moved her.’

A few months later, or maybe even a year later, I was at Lake Michigan with my family, and I saw her there. At the time, I would whisper to my husband how I knew someone, but would NEVER think to say anything to them. I told him that this girl was in the choir, and I started telling him about her experience, when he went up to her and introduced himself.

I was walking along beside him with the children, shocked that he was talking to this stranger, while he was talking to her and her friend, shocked that I was not talking to our sister in Christ and fellow church member. So I started talking to her. I found out that her name was Sarah Ann, and that her friend was named Sara Anne, and isn’t that interesting? Well, yes, it was very interesting. And I also found out that Sarah Ann walked everywhere, and had even walked the 30 miles from our town to Lake Michigan once upon a time. Also fascinating.

We talked to the two women for a while, and I invited Sarah Ann to join our small group. She did, and walked to our house for several meetings, hit it off with other single women in the group, and told us about her interesting life.

Sara Anne, her good friend, died in a car accident the same year my mother died. We shared our grief, and Sarah Ann also brought her mother over to our house, which was very special for me.

Since I’ve known Sarah Ann, she has lived in Yellowstone National Park, post Katrina Mississippi, and Richmond, Virginia. She has been involved with various ministries, and living in communities. She has also desperately wanted to be married.

Sarah Ann made a vow that she would not date, and that she would save her first kiss for her husband. She has had unsavory men come after her, but has remained firm in convictions. She came to visit last summer with exciting news. She had been invited to go into courtship with a young man! This was interesting to Curtis and me, because the courtship model is what we’d like for our children.

Watching Sarah Ann walk this out has been nice. She was able to get all the romance she’d ever dreamed of, but still remain pure. Her suitor proposed in December, and they are getting married in October. And Sarah Ann, who has traveled the world and the country doing various ministries will settle down in her own home. She will be able to be a homemaker, but she can also continue in ministry. It is like a fairy-tale.

I went to her shower today, and was again struck by how special Sarah Ann is. She had originally come to our town to live with her grandmother in assisted living. She made friends with many of the elderly residents, and visited them, even after her grandmother passed away. Her shower was in her former home, and several of the guests were elderly. She has made friends from all over. She talked about how she had recently had the best train ride of her life, because she had run into her friend from Jamaica on the train.

I remember how, shortly after we’d met, Curtis and I saw Sarah Ann on one of the local bike trails. She was so blown away about how she’d just been thinking about us and then saw us. She sees God in everything, and her joy is infectuous.

Her husband to be is a very lucky man.