The Little Flower Brought Chris & Lindsey Together
Chris & Lindsey were both a little skeptical of online dating, but neither was at all skeptical of St. Therese of Lisieux. The couple from Wyoming credits the early 20th century Doctor of the Church with bringing them together on CatholicMatch.
“In 2009, Chris had said a novena to St. Therese to help him find a good Catholic woman,” 23-year-old Lindsey said. “Almost two years went by…and something impelled him to step outside his comfort zone and set up a free profile on CatholicMatch.”
Lindsey had her own devotion to the beloved saint called “The Little Flower” and a friend of hers suggested she try CatholicMatch. Lindsey still resisted, but in the summer of 2010 she was preparing to relocate with her family from California to Wyoming and since she didn’t know anyone, figured a free profile on CatholicMatch was worth a try. A month later she upgraded to full membership.
A shared passion for the outdoors helped Chris & Lindsey build on common values of faith and family.
In November of 2010, Lindsey was ready to give up. She’d shared messages and chats with different people, but nothing ever quite clicked. Her subscription was set to expire in January and she had no plans to renew. Then Chris joined the site. He looked at her profile daily for two weeks and finally decided a full membership was worth it so he could have the chance to contact her.
“He seemed nice, but there was very little information on his profile and no pictures,” Lindsey recalled. Still, she sent him a short reply message, which started a three-week run of messages and chats. Lindsey's decision to reply even though she didn't see great prospects are a lesson to never make any judgements too quickly.
Chris, 28-years-old, also lived in western Wyoming and was a manageable three-hour drive away, so they decided to get together at the end of January 2011.
The connection was instant and the date was a mix of faith, family and fun. They went to her parish and prayed for a short time before going to lunch. They spent the evening with Lindsey’s family and on Sunday it was Mass and a picnic lunch.
Two weeks later Chris came to town and this time he asked Lindsey’s father for his permission to pursue a courtship. Soon after, Chris, who works in sales, obtained a job transfer from his employer to cut off some of the distance between them.
The transfer made it possible for them to see each other every weekend and through Skype, the video conferencing technology that Lindsey called “a life saver”, they were able to talk and see each other every day. Throughout 2011, the couple worked on their relationship, from their shared values of faith and family, to the common interests they both had in the outdoors.
Lindsey was ready to let her subscription lapse when Chris reached out to her.
This past spring, Chris had another chat with Lindsey’s father, this time to ask his blessing to propose marriage. In March he took Lindsey out for a nice dinner, and then they stopped at an evening Mass together. When they got up to leave, Chris stopped her in the main aisle of the church to ask for her hand, and she said yes.
The two devotees of St. Therese appreciate the value of patience—it took time for the novena Chris prayed in 2009 to come to fruition, but when it did, the hand of God and the intercession of His saints was readily apparent.
