I met Lionel Wallace in February 1995. I was a nurse working at the pain clinic and he was an engineer working in electronic sales. I was 25 years old and Lionel was 29. I had been dating several different guys but no relationship was going anywhere. Lionel had gotten a few too many speeding tickets and had to go to driving school. One of the nurses I worked with had also gotten too many tickets and had to go to driving school. They chose to go to driving school on Friday night and had to attend for 4 weeks. In their words, they were the only “normal” looking people at driving school on a Friday night. They immediately hit it off and became friends. Bonnie, my friend at work, was older than us. She had children our age. She and Lionel developed a strong bond over the next 4 weeks and he took her out to dinner the last week. Lionel and I were both saying the same thing, “ I am tired of dating, I am just going to take a break”. Bonnie kept trying to convince Lionel to meet me. He held off as long as he could but with much persuasion he agreed to call me.He called me every night for a week leading up to our first date. We would talk for hours. I was so excited after getting to know him on the phone to finally meet him. We had a great time and I haven’t gotten rid of him yet.

 We had some rocky times during our 3 years of dating but we made it. I knew what I wanted, to be his wife and I was not going to give up. Just as we were approaching 3 years of dating, I almost had to kick him to the curb. He lived in Hampton Cove and was buying a house in Governor’s Bend. I had been with him to look at the house and it appeared to me I was being included in the process. The house needed some updating and we were over there every night pulling down wallpaper and painting. One night it occurred to me I could be doing all this work for another woman to move in. Little did I know he had a plan all along. If you know Lionel, you know he always has a plan. I guess I had not figured this out about him yet. I decided to quit working every night and let him have some time alone at the house to figure out what he wanted. Oh, and I also let him know how I was feeling. 

As a salesperson, Lionel always knew the right words. Right after we started dating, my mother told me I needed to be careful of him because he was a salesman. It wasn’t long before he had my mother wrapped around his finger. I don’t remember what he said or did but he was able to convince me to be patient with him. 

I remember it was August and we were at a wedding. All my coworkers were there and they did not miss the opportunity to give him grief about marrying me. They were relentless that night!  As Lionel went to get the car, I told a friend I don’t think he is ever going to marry me. We went back to my apartment after the wedding and he picked out a movie for us to watch. I kept falling asleep on the couch and he got a little testy with me. That was so not like him. After the movie, he got down on one knee and proposed. I was the happiest girl in the world! Once engaged, I was very interested in making the house our own. On November 28, 1998, I married the love of my life. We had a private ceremony with closest friends and family. After the ceremony, we went back to our house and had a reception to celebrate. It was one of the very best days of my life!

Looking back I see God’s sovereignty and faithfulness in my life. He spared me from getting into bad relationships with some of the previous guys I dated and led me right into the arms of Lionel Wallace. This November, we will celebrate 23 years of marriage. Overall, it has been a great 23 years but we have had our trials in life. I will be sharing some of those trials on this blog. Now I see God’s Presence throughout every trial of our past but that has not always been the case. I hope you will continue to follow and remember to look for the Lord’s Presence because He is always there.