Compiled and edited by Rusty Benson

February 2011 – Proverbs 16:33 reminds us that even in the seemingly accidental and insignificant circumstances of life, luck and chance yield to God: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

This month in celebration of Christian marriage, AFA staffers tell their stories of how God brought them together with their spouses.

Lead the way
In 1979, Fred, 25, was working part time with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio network in Toronto, Canada. He had already earned a university science degree and served in the Canadian Air Force.

Fred’s younger sister was a student at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. On a weekend visit to BBC, Fred sensed God prodding him to take a year off and attend Bible college. On the surface it didn’t seem like such a good idea, since he had just been offered a full-time job with CBC. But in faith, Fred followed God’s leading.

Meanwhile Suzy, who had grown up in Kosciusko, Mississippi, had just completed her sophomore year at a community college. She had turned down scholarships to major state universities in order to attend BBC.

On their first day on campus, new students gathered in a crowded auditorium to sign up for student health insurance. Suzy remembers seeing a young man who seemed to be the only person making headway through the crowd. Suddenly, Fred felt a tug on the back of his shirt. Turning, he saw a pretty young female student. Her first words were, “Lead the way.”

A couple of weeks later after church, they went on their first date. Five months later they married and returned to New Brunswick where Fred was offered a new job with CBC.

Fred Jackson is the news director of OneNewNow.com. He and Suzy have been married 31 years and have two daughters, ages 27 and 23.

Out of the ashes
“Our story is really God’s story,” says Jeff Reed, 48. “We both came out of the ashes.”

Jeff grew up in England and moved with his family to Las Vegas when he was in high school. Later he worked as a waiter at the famous Caesar’s Palace resort. Jeff began dealing drugs and eventually became a drug addict. At age 38, he was arrested on multiple felonies and incarcerated.

In prison, God saved Jeff. When he was released he moved to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to work without pay for Friend Ships Unlimited, a disaster relief agency.

One of his duties was giving tours of Port Mercy, the Friend Ships home base. One day three ladies who attended the same church as Jeff came to visit the facility. One was Anne, who was strongly considering pursuing a position at Friend Ships. At the time, Jeff said he thought Anne was married. At any rate, he was resigned to live single for the rest of his life.

Later when he learned that she was not married, God began to nurture a friendship with Anne. Soon God’s plan to bring them together became obvious.

Anne had also experienced the ravages of sin in her life through a difficult earlier marriage and an abortion. But as she “abandoned [herself] to God,” He displayed His great mercy to her in a dream. In the dream she saw the man God would give her to marry, she said. The day she and her friends came to visit Friend Ships, Anne says she immediately recognized Jeff as that man, and was “blown away.”

Jeff and Anne have been married three years. Jeff works in the production department at American Family Radio. Anne is a homeschool mom and counsels post-abortive women.

West to East
The perspective of age often provides the best view of God’s providence. Such is the story of David and Deanna. 

“Now that I’m older and looking back, I can see God’s hand in bringing us together,” says Deanna Lineberry, the sweet voice on the other end of the phone at American Family Radio.

In her teens, Deanna’s family moved twice – once from northern California to Phoenix, Arizona, and then to Ellistown, Mississippi, her mother’s birthplace.

In Ellistown she quickly made friends, including Holly who “loved my California accent as much as I loved her southern one,” Deanna recalls.

One day when Holly was introducing Deanna to classmates, Deanna noticed a young man standing nearby. “Who’s that?” she asked.

“Who, him?” said Holly. “That’s just my brother, David.” Holly says she still remembers the way Deanna looked at him.

It wasn’t long before David asked Deanna for a date. She soon learned that they had more in common than either knew. Like Deanna, David was born in California, but moved to Mississippi. And like Deanna’s mother, David’s father was from Ellistown.

“It’s amazing how a boy and a girl who where only 600 miles apart at birth in the same state could find each other thousands of miles away in another state,” she said. “It could only be God.”

David and Deanna Lineberry have been married for 27 years. They have two children.

More than expected
Cherry was a PK (preacher’s kid) interested in church music. Jim grew up on the tough streets of New Orleans. In high school she attended a concert by a husband and wife ministry team and sensed God telling her to marry a minister of music. Jim’s parents sent him to a local Christian school to see if that would straighten him out. Neither could imagine the plan that God was working.

When a friend would not stop pestering him, Jim conceded to attend a Bible study. There he heard the Christian testimonies of several teens. At 17, Jim’s heart was penetrated by those testimonies and he saw his need for Christ.

A few twists and turns later, he came to live with his grandmother and aunt in a small community near a junior college in north Mississippi. Although he had no formal musical background, Jim entered college with the hope of becoming a minister of music.

In the fall of 1969, Jim (now J.E.) had followed his dream to William Carey College where Cherry had arrived as a freshman. His rendition of More, the 1956 hit made famous by Perry Como, made her want to learn more about the young music major.

By the next summer, God’s plan for Cherry and J.E. was clearly unfolding. In December 1970 they married. Forty years later J.E. and Cherry remain involved in music and pastoral ministry.

Cherry Sims is an associate in the AFA planned giving department. Cherry and J.E. have two children and two grandchildren. They live in Mantachie, Mississippi, in the same house J.E. lived in as a teen with his grandmother and aunt.

Under the Eiffel Tower
In 1994 at age 39, Chad thought that if God did not send him a wife soon, he would be content to live the rest of his life single. With his 40th birthday approaching and no marriage prospects in sight, Chad decided to treat himself to the one gift he had always wanted: a tour of the European D-day sites.

On the last day of the tour as he walked out of his hotel in Cologne, Germany, a female hotel employee walked by and said: “Guten morgen.” Chad later saw the same lady in the hotel lobby. They struck up a conversation and had soon exchanged addresses.

During the coming year Chad and Christa wrote each other regularly, leading to Christa’s trip to visit Chad in Kansas City. Chad reciprocated by flying to Germany to meet her family. Soon he proposed marriage – under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

How does a Christian man from Kansas City meet a Christian woman from Cologne? Not by accident.

Chad Groening is a reporter with American Family News. He and Christa have been married for 15 years.

The right connections
Just out of college, Monica landed her first job and was given a few days to decide in which of three cities she wanted to work. When she called with her decision, her top choice had been taken. Then the second also. So she accepted the only position left – in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Her office was next door to a men’s clothing store. While shopping for a present for her father, Monica met the store’s owner. Later, she met his son, Keith. A friendship developed that eventually led to a date. Keith says that on their first date he knew Monica was “the one.” Three months after that, Keith proposed marriage.

Although they grew up only 75 miles from one another, Monica says she and Keith had no previous connections other than the ones God made through a job and an office location.

Keith and Monica Cole have been married seven years and have one son. Monica is the director of OneMillionMoms.com.

Along for the ride
It was a random Friday night in the summer of 2003. Shannon was just along for the ride, or so she thought. She had accompanied a group of friends on a short road trip to hear their favorite band in the tiny town of Como in the Mississippi Delta, about 100 miles from her hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi. She never suspected that God was about to write a major chapter in the book of her life.

When the band took a break, Keith, the band’s bass player, sat down at the table with Shannon and her friends. She asked him if his band could play a particular song. That opening led to an easy conversation and new friendship. The next day Keith called Shannon. A couple of weeks later they had their first date.

The rest is history – marriage, two sons and a couple that see themselves as best friends.

“I believe God brought me there that night to meet Keith,” Shannon said. “I thank Him for working that out. He put us together, and I am so glad he did.”

Shannon Morris works in the data processing department at AFA.

“Restore us, O God…” (Psalm 80:3)
Sheila was in dire straits after her husband of 20 years left and her marriage dissolved. Her only income was the $400 a month she could earn babysitting and cleaning homes. But in the haze of her difficult circumstances, Sheila clung to God’s mercy.

One day she wrote to Forrest Ann Daniels, a friend who works at AFA. “I basically begged her for a job,” Sheila said. “Two days later she called and told me to start any time. It was a prayer answered.”

Some weeks later, a co-worker asked Sheila if she would like to go to dinner with a Christian man. The co-worker reported that Drew was a godly man with good intentions, but Sheila declined. She later reconsidered, but the couple never met for dinner. Rather, they chose to move slowly with a few phone calls and e-mails. When Drew asked to meet Sheila in person, she said it was too soon.

A few weeks passed. When Sheila’s 15-year-old daughter got sick, she e-mailed friends and family asking for prayer. She hesitated to e-mail the request to Drew, but finally hit the “send” key. He responded with a phone call and a promise to pray for Elizabeth. That kindness led to a date to a college football game.

But Sheila wasn’t quite ready to free fall without a net. So she planned to meet another couple at the game. “If I didn’t think it was going well, I could go home with them,” she said. However, the date did go well – very well. Sheila and Drew agreed to continue to see each other. On Christmas Eve, 2009, Drew asked Sheila’s children permission to marry their mother.

Was the match literally made in heaven? Sheila says yes. “Drew loves the Lord and seeks Him daily. We pray together and study God’s Word together and that is something I have always wanted. God blessed me so much.” 

Sheila Shoemaker works in the data processing department at AFA.

“Want to date a Yankee?”
Marvin finally summoned the nerve to call one of the most popular girls in his Clinton, South Carolina, high school. However, she declined his offer for a date explaining that she had to go to the movies with the brother of a friend of her family. He was visiting from Indiana.

However, at about 6 p.m. Marvin’s dream date called to ask, “Would you like to date a Yankee?” Her out-of-town date was bringing his sister along. “Sure. Why not?” he said.

Forty-four years later, Marvin and the Indiana girl, Donna, live in the shadow of that divine date. They have two grown daughters.

Marvin is co-host of Today’s Issues and Exploring the Word on American Family Radio.  

The first time I laid eyes on her … BY ED VITAGLIANO
I became a Christian in the summer of 1979. I was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, going to college as a political science major, and intending to go to law school after graduation. I struggled with a sense that I was called into the ministry.

I met a young woman at church that year. We began dating, got engaged and soon announced plans to marry. My parents were stunned. My dad appealed to me to wait at least a few months. I agreed.

It was good advice, for less than a month before we were to marry, my fiancée broke up with me. Distraught, I surrendered to God’s call on my life and went to Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas.

During the summer term between my first and second year of Bible college, I met Dianne. She had been working in Jackson, Mississippi, but had wanted to go to CFNI for a summer term. She was considering waiting another year but sensed an urgency to go that summer.

The first time I laid eyes on her I turned to a friend and said, “I’m going to marry that girl.” He told me I was crazy, but I was smitten from the start.

I found the courage to meet her and eventually we started dating. As I began to consider asking Dianne to marry me, I began to worry what my parents – especially my dad – would say. They were both Christians, but I knew they would remember my earlier engagement fiasco. I prayed, “Lord, I want my parents’ blessing and my dad is going to be upset about this. Please prepare him for this announcement.”

Dianne and I got engaged on Valentine’s Day. When I nervously called my folks to tell them, they both seemed relaxed and happy for us.

Then my dad told me something that amazed and humbled me. He was an engineer and approached life – and his faith – in the same analytical manner. So when he told me he’d had a dream a few months earler, that got my attention.

He said that in his dream he was standing before the Lord and complaining about the fact that I was getting too serious with another girl. Then the Lord made my dad stop talking and told him not to interfere with this relationship, that it was of Him. My dad said he awoke with a sense of peace.

The firm conviction that God put us together has been part of the foundation of our marriage of nearly 30 years.

Ed Vitagliano is a staff writer with the AFA Journal and the pastor of Harvester Church in Pontotoc, Mississippi. He and Diane have two grown children.