When Christie and Rick first met, their story did not begin with clarity or certainty. It began, instead, in a place many people know well—caught between hope and hesitation.
But even there, in the uncertainty, God was present.
Prayer led them to CatholicMatch!
Long before Rick ever appeared in her life, Christie had been learning how to surrender her desires to The Lord. After the passing of her husband, her faith had been deeply shaped by the Book of Tobit. She saw herself in Sarah, carrying grief, wrestling with loneliness, and at times wondering if her prayers were being heard. There were moments of deep discouragement, even temptation to give up on the idea of love again.
Yet, like Tobit, she chose to trust.
“I prayed, hoped, and trusted that God would provide,” she said.
Her devotion to St. Raphael the Archangel, who is also the patron saint of CatholicMatch, became a steady anchor. Again and again, she brought her longing before God in prayer, offering novenas and placing her future into His hands.
That prayer would eventually lead her to CatholicMatch.
For Rick, it began with curiosity and a hesitation of his own.
“When I first joined Catholic Match, I noticed Christie’s profile almost immediately,” he shared. “What stood out most to me wasn’t just her picture, but her bio. Her love for Jesus, family, and country was unmistakable.”
For nearly a month, he returned to her profile repeatedly, reading and rereading her words. But nerves held him back. When he finally gathered the courage to reach out, he sent only a simple emoji.
There was no response.
Honest conversations brought them closer.
Rick’s first message, a simple heart emoji, left Christie unimpressed. It didn’t feel meaningful, and she didn’t respond right away. Instead of forcing something forward, she waited and prayed for God to guide whatever was meant to unfold.
A week later, Rick reached out again—this time with a thoughtful message filled with questions, many of them deeply personal. Before answering, Christie paused.
“I asked the Holy Spirit to guide me,” she said.
Choosing honesty over hesitation, she answered every question openly and sincerely.
Later, Rick would tell her that one word came to mind as he read her responses: pure.
A positive first impression!
After several weeks of conversation, Rick asked her to meet for coffee on Ash Wednesday.
The day of their meeting, Christie walked into the coffee shop scanning the room—and immediately spotted him. He had already arrived and, as if on cue, was looking right at her. Relief and nerves hit at the same time.
“He was taller than I expected,” she recalled, “and much more handsome in person.”
Rick stood to greet her with a warm hug. “I don’t shake hands—I hug,” he said. After a bit of humor to break the tension, any remaining nerves began to ease, and they settled into a comfortable conversation that felt surprisingly natural for two people just getting to know each other.
After their first meeting, Rick wasn’t immediately certain where things would go. But in the days that followed, he prayed for guidance.
“I felt an overwhelming sense of reassurance to keep the faith, don’t give up,” he said. “Christie was everything I had prayed for and more.”
Christie, too, felt peace when she prayed about their meeting.
“I knew what I was doing,” she said. “I knew the Holy Spirit had guided me well.”
Their second date didn’t go as planned.
Though their connection seemed to be off to a good start, their second date took an unexpected turn when Rick revealed something that suddenly put their budding connection in question.
Early in the conversation, Rick said that he was not interested in marriage. His hesitation came from wounds in his previous marriage.
Though he was honest, the words were difficult for Christie to hear. Still, she chose grace.
“I thanked him for being upfront,” she said. “But I was disappointed.”
When he suggested they could just be friends, her response was immediate and honest: “I have friends!”
They said their goodbyes shortly after, and Christie returned to her truck feeling discouraged and confused. Was this a door closing? Had she misunderstood God’s guidance? Sitting in her truck, she spoke candidly to God.
“I remember saying out loud, ‘Well, Lord, that is very disappointing.’”
Her despair was so strong, she even considered deleting CatholicMatch altogether.
But God wasn’t finished writing their story.
They pursued friendship first.
Rick continued to ask Christie out on dates, and she agreed, assuming they were simply building a friendship.
And in many ways, they were.
“I enjoyed his company and was grateful for a new friend,” she said.
Freed from the pressure of romance, their connection deepened slowly and sincerely. They talked, laughed, and came to know each other not through expectation, but through presence.
Still, Christie guarded her heart. She remained honest with God about her desire for marriage, even as her reality seemed to point in another direction.
“I didn’t want to fall for someone who only wanted friendship,” she admitted.
God continued to surprise them both.
By their sixteenth date, everything began to change. Rick shocked Christie when he asked her to be his girlfriend.
“Through prayer, I became increasingly aware of the Holy Spirit at work in our relationship,” Rick said. “The grace she carries, her faith, and the way she loves others continue to deepen my love for her each day and confirmed for me that she is who God is calling me to.”
Christie said yes—but internally, she was worried. “Did I just agree to be a forever girlfriend?” she wondered.
That’s when Rick did something unexpected. He pulled out five full pages of questions!
They started simply—favorites, preferences, the small details of everyday life. But as the pages turned, the questions began to deepen, moving beyond the surface and into something more intentional.
Before long, the tone had shifted entirely. “Hypothetically,” he began, “if you were to get married…”
That one question, in particular, made it clear that something had changed within Rick—that his heart was no longer closed off to the idea of marriage. Where there had once been hesitation, it became evident that he was beginning to open himself to whatever God might have in store.
Looking back, Christie can see what she couldn’t fully understand in the moment: God had been at work the entire time—not just in her heart, but in Rick’s as well.
“After returning to my Catholic faith, continued prayer and patience helped me grow in trusting that God was guiding events according to His perfect timing, not my own,” Rick said. “What seemed like hesitation at the moment became part of His greater plan.”
From friendship to forever.
From that point on, everything moved quickly.
They became inseparable, spending time together daily. Within four months, both knew this was not just connection—it was calling.
Christie knew she loved Rick the moment he placed the engagement ring on her finger.
“I loved him from the moment I saw him,” she shared. “But I loved even more that I got to know him first as my friend.”
Rick agreed wholeheartedly.
“Christie and I were married on November 28, 2025, surrounded by our twelve children,” he said. “We are incredibly happy and excited for what God has in store for us.”
Now, what began as uncertainty has become a blended family rooted in faith, gratitude, and grace.
Trust in God carried their love forward.
Their story is a reminder that God’s timing often looks nothing like our expectations—and that what feels like delay, confusion, or even disappointment may be part of something far greater.
For those still waiting, still hoping, or still discerning, Christie offers this advice:
“Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. He will not disappoint you.”
Because sometimes, the story doesn’t end where you think it will
