25-year love story woven in prayer began in Brazil

Twenty-five years. It seems surreal that my husband and I will celebrate a quarter of a century together later this year. A silver anniversary!

Some people thought we would not make it. It’s true. And I do not blame anyone who initially questioned if our love would last.

Steve and I met in Brazil in 1996 when he and his family were part of a group of eight American race teams competing in my country. I owned a language institute in the capital where the event took place, and the race’s coordinator hired me to provide translators for the public and press.

Our story is unique in many ways. We spent a week around each other. But it wasn’t until two days before the teams were scheduled to return to the U.S. that I did something that caught his attention.

It was the first day of the race. I had coordinated event translations before but had yet to do something of this magnitude. So, I summoned all eight interpreters in my team, we held hands in a circle, and I said a prayer. Of all the pit boxes lined up in the quarter-mile stretch, I “happened” to do it in front of the Holbrooks’ pit box. Steve was working on his family’s race car when he saw me praying.

That morning, the weight of the task before me set in, leading me to reach out to the one I knew could enable us to face the challenge successfully.

Little did I know that my prayer — not meant to call anyone’s attention but God’s — would be the very catalyst of our love story.

The next couple of days could be material for a chick flick movie. Truly. They went by as those scenes when two people destined for each other finally meet. We had long conversations and laughed as long-lost friends. When it was time to say goodbye, an unsettling feeling of permanence set in.

Little did we know, indeed. God does have a sense of humor.

As I contemplate that my prayer that day initiated our story, I cannot help but recognize that our prayer life and relationship with God have also sustained our marriage through the years.

Without God, we would not have survived dating internationally for three years before getting married. Without God, I would not have survived the overwhelming loneliness after leaving my country, family, business and friends 6,000 miles behind.

Without him, our marriage would not have survived my decadelong health struggles. Or the financial issues. Or the vast cultural differences that confronted us during those first years together.

Indeed, looking back to consider every hurdle along the way, every valley and mountain top, there is no question that if it weren’t for our relationship with God, we would not have made it.

I receive many requests for interviews and book/ movie reviews from PR agencies and authors nationwide. Those I choose to review and share in this column and my podcast usually address issues that speak to a pressing issue in the faith community or society.

However, bestselling author Jodie Berndt’s new book in her Praying the Scriptures series is also personal to me. I was eager to write about it because it addresses something “tested and proven” in my life that I believe can help couples significantly.

In “Praying the Scriptures for Your Marriage,” Berndt reinforces the importance of believers viewing marriage as God designed: a “chord of three strands,” as King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes.

The book presents a practical structure to incorporate the power of God’s word into a couple’s prayer life. It offers components that facilitate meaningful discussions, practical implementations, and transformative prayer experiences.

At the gym this week, I spotted a lady on the other side of the room wearing a shirt that made me smile. “Jesus is my secret sauce” was written in bold teal letters across the black T-shirt.

“That’s it!” I thought. If one were to ask me the secret, not to a perfect marriage, for there is no such thing, but to a fulfilling, joyful, lasting relationship with someone you cannot imagine life without, our “secret” is no secret at all.