When I was a member of our church youth group and attending summer camps, God laid it on my heart to one day work at a camp. During the fall semester of my freshman year of college, I applied to a camp located in Arkansas, I went through the interview process but was not offered the job. I was so disappointed. I knew God was calling me to work at a camp during the summer, and I couldnt understand why He wouldve closed that door.

During the spring semester of my freshman year, a girl my parents went to college with reached out to them and said that the camp she directed needed an arts and crafts director and wondered if I would be interested. I was! I applied, interviewed, and was offered the job. My mom reminded me that God closed the door for the camp position in Arkansas because He knew something I didnt know - that a camp closer to home was a better fit!

Meanwhile, in May, Brysons family relocated from Arkansas to rural Mississippi, not far from the camp where I was working. His sister came to work at the camp a few weeks after I started. We quickly became very close friends. She told me, You need to meet my brother! Yall are perfect for each other! She also told her parents and Bryson the same thing about me. Her parents told her to bring me home with her to meet them, so she did! I fell in love with her family from the moment I met them. Bryson lives in another state, so the summer came and went without me meeting him.

His sister and I kept in touch, and she texted me in November telling me that Bryson was coming home for Thanksgiving. She wanted me to come and meet him, so I did! And she was right! We are perfect for each other! I thank God every day for Bryson and for closing the door to that camp job in Arkansas. It was no accident that our paths crossed - it was absolutely the hand of God bringing us together. A boy from Michigan and a girl from Mississippi.

- Mary