My husband and I got married young, I suppose. When we wed, we were both 19 years old at the time with much still to learn! We were the typical young holiness couple. Bill was originally from Indiana and I was from Kentucky. We met at a youth camp in Ohio in 2004…but only briefly.
We saw each other at the 2005 camp and again, at the 2006 youth camp. It was at 2006 youth camp, that Mark (my and my brother’s close friend) invited Bill and one of his friends to come to revival at our church the following month. Much to our surprise, Bill and his friend actually came! I'll admit I thought he was super cute but he was so quiet, I never dreamed he would ended up as my husband. In fact, one of my best friends asked me about him and I said --never in a million years would we end up together! (Goes to show you you never know what God has planned for your life!)
I guess I really need to thank our friend Mark for allowing God to use him to help choreograph the whole thing! LOL😂! After the revival meeting, we all went out to eat and had a good time. Mark, once again, for whatever reason, invited them to come back in September when a former law enforcement officer was doing a self defense training class at our church.
Again, Bill and his friend came back...and again, Mark invited them back--(see a pattern? Lol!! thanks, Mark!) this time to our christmas play... by this time, I am starting to wonder if he and his friend just really like visiting our church and hanging out with our youth group or if maybe, just maybe…🤔 he might have an ulterior motive.
Bill and his friend came in for our Christmas play and afterwards, we all went to Wendy’s to eat and fellowship. Bill followed my dad outside and got him off to the side alone. He then proceeded to ask my dad for permission to pursue a relationship with me. 💕 Dad, being the Godly man that he is, asked Bill to give him time to pray about it, talk to my mom about it, and after they prayed about it together, they wanted to talk to me about it. Bill graciously agreed to those conditions. Unbeknownst to me, Dad and Mom had already suspected the reason behind his frequent visits and were already praying in advance. Once they discussed it, they called him back that night and agreed to allow us to see if we might possibly be compatible for a relationship. In our home, we didn't date for the fun of it. My parents held to the standard that Biblical courtship was meant for to see if you and that prospective person were compatible for marriage. Mom and Dad explained that to Bill and made sure that he wasn't just looking for a girlfriend. He assured them, No, he was indeed looking for a wife. Despite the difference in approach to dating/courtship, Bill admirably agreed to all their rules and consented to abide by whatever they thought was best. I had no clue what was happening until a day or two later when Mom and Dad set me down and asked my opinion of Bill and if I would be interested in pursuing a friendship with him first, to see if we might possibly be compatible as life partners in the future.
Nine months earlier, I ended a relationship with a great guy. The reason that relationship didn’t work out was because we soon realized we were not compatible for marriage primarily due to location. I couldn't move to his location for a variety of reasons and that guy didn't feel liberty from the Lord to move to KY. So, that alone had ended the relationship. I was heartbroken💔. I really felt like that was it for me. Maybe I even missed the will of God.
Then one night, I had a dream. In my dream, it was my wedding day. As I was standing at the back of the church, about to walk down the aisle with my dad, I saw my groom standing at the altar. I could see his nice suit and his polished shoes clearly but try as I might, my groom's face was blurred/cloudy. I couldn't make out his features. In my dream, I remember being excited, yet unsure as to who I was even walking down the aisle toward. I was still trying to see his face... Then as clear as day, I heard a voice in my dream--It said--"Get ready. I am going to send him." 👰🏼♀️🤵🏽💕
I woke up with a renewed sense of purpose. I knew God still had my future spouse out there. I hadn't missed him after all! I took the "get ready" part seriously as well. Lol 😂! I began to compile bridal books and magazines.👰🏼♀️🤵🏽
I collected ideas and songs. I had a whole big binder full of wedding materials--all, mind you, with absolutely no prospects on horizon!!
So when Mom and Dad asked me about Bill, I knew he just may be the one! God had already told me He was sending him! I readily agreed to get to know this guy more. It was kind of funny. Bill was naturally a quieter, less talkative, more introverted person. I, on the other hand, was quite talkative, and more extroverted!(opposites attract??) When my dad called Bill back and told him I agreed to get to know him better and he could call me, Bill began to get a little nervous unsure of what to say. Dad laughed, "Don't worry! She will talk enough for both of you! It will be fine!"
Little did he know how true that was!! LOL!!
We started talking on December 26, 2006. Due to distance, we used phone calls 📞 each night as a means to stay connected and get to know each other better. We realized we were compatible in a lot of areas of our lives. One thing that really stuck out to me about him was his love for God, his love for going to church ⛪️ and his love of preaching! He supported the ministry and backed the preachers whole heartily. I discovered he had quite the collection of preaching tapes/cds.📀 We would talk and talk about messages we had heard or what a preacher preached last night at church. I could see such a love for God, His Word, and His men in his heart.
Not long into the relationship, something happened and I got to witness firsthand how he handled correction, controversy, and even being lied on. He handled the correction with humility. He was respectful and non-combative. He approached the controversy with a calm spirit. He let the slander slide off his back and he didn't harbor bad feelings. He just said maybe it was a misunderstanding and left it at that. I was super impressed at the maturity in which he handled himself, especially just as a young man. In all of our conversations, I never heard him run anyone down or allow himself to slide down the slippery slope of gossip. He focused on the good, never the bad. I knew that this guy was destined for great things in the Lord.
As our relationship deepened, the distance became more problematic. We wanted to be together in person. God love his heart, the poor guy worked construction all week, then each Friday, like clockwork, he would drive down 4 hours after work to come to visit me. He would stay all weekend and return back to Indiana after Sunday School in order to make it home in time for his church's evening service. Each time he had to leave, it got harder and harder for both of us. We tried our best to keep our feelings in check and our emotions at bay, but at this point, we were beginning to "fall in love."
When he would drive off, it felt like he took a piece of my heart with him; I felt so incomplete until he returned the following Friday.
Once Bill began to see that our relationship was progressing to the “serious” stage, he prayed earnestly and he felt it would be God's will to move to KY, my home state. He talked with many people he saw as mentors and people he had confidence in. Some of those people actually came against him and told him he would be out of God's will if he left Indiana. He was established there. He had a "good job" there. He was a drummer in their church. etc. —those were some of their arguments.
What he was lacking in overwhelming support, however, he made up with lots of prayer and fasting on his own. He knew what God was leading him to do. He had no desire to be rebellious. He wasn't just trying to pursue his own will, but he fervently "prayed through" until he knew God’s will for sure for himself. I highly admired a man that wouldn't be swayed by popular opinion. It would have been easy for him to cower to others’ opinions or second guess God’s will, especially considering he had a lot of confidence in some of those naysayers and some even held positions of authority over him. (Side note: One man said “Time will tell…”in reference to Bill’s relocation— it really did!! A few years later, God's will really became evident. There was a lot of stuff that happened at Bill’s previous church not long after he moved. Sadly, there was a church split. Today, we truly believe if he would have remained, he would have (at the very minimum) gotten hurt spiritually and could have possibly became bitter like some of his friends did; he could got discouraged and given up entirely; or he may have went worldly as some others he used to worship with did...
(😭🙌🏻 Thank God for His mercy!!)
Even his former "good job" there would have more than likely ended up being terminated (others that worked with him closely with him ended up losing their jobs at his former company). By listening to God, and following His will for his life, Bill avoided some very painful and tragic situations. See? God really does knows what is best for us! He knows what the future holds for each of us!!
So, back to the story, once he decided it was God's will for him to move to KY, he came down in July for a few days and put resumes and applications all over. Completely trusting the Lord to open doors, he took a giant leap of faith. He moved here in August with just a very meager job offer to start. My (now late) pappaw and his wife offered him a room in their home until he was able to get on his feet. My poor pappaw! LOL! He was truly a gem! He wanted to make my (at this time, future) husband feel welcome into the family and into his home. He asked him what foods he liked. Since he was going to be eating most of his dinners with me at our house, Bill mentioned a few foods like he liked to take for lunch--potted meat, cottage cheese, etc. Pappaw went out and stocked up! He provided enough potted meat for his lunches during those few months that I don't think Bill has ever ate it again since 😂! Another funny story--Pappaw forgot about Bill liking cottage cheese while he was staying them. Pappaw had a bad habit of getting up in the middle of the night for a late night snack. He opened the refrigerator and saw that container of cottage cheese and thought that Bill had brought in some chip dip!! 🤣 He got out a bag of chips and opened up that container--ready to dig in! Not wanting to wake anyone in the house, he didn't even turn on the overhead light. He was eating by nightlight. He got him a big scoop of "dip" on his chip and crammed it in! He was shocked to discover that the "dip" wasn't chip dip, after all!! IT WAS COTTAGE CHEESE! He sputtered and spit it out!! We all enjoyed hearing Pappaw tell that hilarious story over and over again for years to come! I don't think he ever let Bill live that one down!!
Pappaw recognized the potential in my husband right off. My husband, while still a teenager at that time, was a person of few words. But the words he chose to speak were usually either profound or humorous. Pappaw took a liking to him right away.
Within a few weeks, God opened up a door for a better job. (At the same company he still works today!)…Keep in mind, this is the latter end of 2007, right before the recession of 2008…Even then, jobs were becoming more scarce…but somehow, someway, God opened up this door for him (and even during the recession and beyond, God has kept him employed and the few times, there has been a temporary layoff, God has always provided— sometimes even “more abundantly.” He is always one of the first guys they recall when they return to work and God has allowed him to find favor with his bosses and also with his fellow guys!)
Anyway, within a couple days of being hired at this more respectable and established company, he proposed to me on September 12, 2007…Of course, my answer was yes! ( He may have been overwhelmed and slightly surprised when I left the room soon after and returned with a huge, (up until then) “faith” binder full of wedding ideas and plans! Lol 😂- it definitely made wedding planning easier for us though, since I had already compiled plenty of material for us to look through….)
We set the wedding date for Dec 1, 2007 . The Lord helped us tremendously to get prepared for a wedding in just a little over 2 1/2 months…Many of our friends and family volunteered their time and efforts to make our day special. We were able to DIY a lot of stuff and was able to keep to a modest budget as well. We had church friends at that time who were managers of a restaurant and were able to get us wholesale pricing and then they volunteered to cater the event themselves for free. Another friend of my mom's volunteered to buy, print, and mail all the invitations for the wedding for us. Someone else volunteered to help with music. Others helped with decorations and setup/cleanup/serving. Each aspect of the wedding quickly and seemingly effortlessly came together! Everyone was so generous and willing to pitch in and help us!!! God was so good to us! It was a beautiful day!! Our wedding went off without a hitch!!
(Much to some amazement of some of our guests when they later found out) —Our first kiss ever was at the marriage altar!
It was such a beautiful, special moment !!
We were so happy to be finally married! We were so excited to embark on the journey of life together.
Papaw once again came to the rescue when we were looking for housing before the wedding. He had a friend who owned some apartments. He talked to him about renting to us. It wasn't anything fancy, by no means...in fact, it was more like a glorified budget hotel suite (with a small seating area and a kitchenette!) There wasn't even a door on the bedroom. But boy, were we excited and thankful!! The rent was only $390 --electric was like $13-$14 each month, our water was free and the heating was (water) boiler powered so since water was free, we definitely stayed warm and toasty that first winter!! We were so thankful, so in love, and so happy to have a little place to call our own!!
After a few months of living there, the Lord opened up a much bigger, nicer, two bedroom apartment in a better neighborhood for $400 per month. We moved in there in April. We soon learned our first real “adulting” lesson in this apartment— we had to watch our utility consumption! That first apartment and its utilities spoiled us! Instead of $13-$14 a month, our electric raised to $75 or more. Our heat was no longer free--it was part of our electric bill! Our water went from being free to being $40 or so a month. But the extra space, nicer furnishings and better neighborhood made this apartment so worth it...We ended living in this cute apartment for almost 3 years. It became our first real home!!
At the time, we both worked and we both had car payments unfortunately... (quick word of advice: if you are even close to marriageable age, no matter if you are currently dating anyone or not, whatever you do, don't go into major debt, especially for a vehicle!! Your relationship status may change in the course of a few months--Having a large car payment will cause you to bring financial distress in your marriage!) My husband sold his ATV and we used that money to pay off my car loan which I only owed about $1100 at the time. So that left us with just his truck payment which was nearly as much as our monthly rent... We were doing our best to make ends meet but our expenses were nearly as much as our income at that point. We were praying earnestly for the Lord's guidance and we had tried multiple ways to reduce our expenditures. That truck payment was hitting us hard. My poor husband regretted buying that truck so much. His loan amount was nearly more than the truck was even worth. We tried to start paying down the principal to get it to where we could afford to sell it for just the amount owed. We even listed it for sale but due to the loan amount, we had to ask top dollar just to cover the loan payoff. No one seemed interested. We began to pray for the Lord to move and help us get out of this mess of our own making! (aren't you glad that the Lord has mercy on us sometimes and even helps us get out of our own messes when we repent and cry out to Him for help?)
One day, I had just got home from work when my phone rang. It was my husband. He had been in an accident. Some older gentleman had rear-ended him while he was in his truck, sitting still behind a stopped school bus. Once I calmed down enough to make sure Bill was ok, I discovered that his truck was totaled. I had to go get him at his workplace. He had been coming home from a job site when the accident occurred so one of his coworkers had picked him up at the site of the accident and was going to drop him off at his company building for me to pick up. When I picked him up, I was so thankful to see he was indeed okay.
While having an accident wasn't ideal, nor was it pleasant for my husband, he recognized it almost immediately as an answer to our prayers. The accident ended up covering all the loan amount and a little bit more so he was able to pay off the truck ( with its large payment!) and replace it with a small (paid off) work car. Thankfully, he was not hurt in the accident besides just soreness and bruising. God kept His hand of protection on him but yet allowed the truck get enough damage to fully total it....Wow!
We had already discussed and determined that when we had children, I would quit my job and stay home with our kids. Because of that truck payment, we weren't in the financial position to be able to make it on one income, so this delayed our readiness to start our family. When the Lord moved and helped us get out from under that payment, I was so happy! I was more than ready to become a "Mommy!"
It was only 4 months later when I discovered I was "with child"! We were ecstatic!! We were finally going to have a baby!!
Our friends and family were so helpful and generous to us and made sure we were fully prepared for the arrival of our little one. On May, 14, 2010, we welcomed our precious little girl into the world. She weighed 6 lbs 9 oz at birth. By the time we were leaving the hospital, however, her weight dropped down to 5 lb 14 oz. She was so tiny. Newborn clothes swallowed her up. We ended up using a few preemie outfits and even a doll outfit because she was so little. The doctor informed us that she had jaundice very severely. In fact, if her bilirubin level was only one degree higher, she would have been placed in the NICU I was told. We had to go to take her to hospital every day for a week for bloodwork. The hospital gave me a ultraviolet blue light called a Bili-blanket for her to lay on to try to rid her body of the excess bilirubin. Finally after much prayer and several tense, emotional days, her levels began to drop within the required range. We were so thankful to the Lord for helping our baby.
We were so blessed! Our little girl was the best baby ever! We still laugh now at how cute she was! Once she was able to sit up, Bill would sit her in her bumbo seat on our kitchen table (which was pushed against the wall to save space in our apartment) while we would eat. My husband jokes that she looked like a little proper princess sitting there as if she was about to drink her cup of tea balanced on her knee. We enjoyed her babyhood so much! I'm not sure if it was just the joy of being new first-time parents or if she was really that good of a baby. LOL!
stay tuned to hear the rest of our story…
(When I was reading this article to my husband for approval, he said “are you sure everyone wants to hear the “story of the Sizemores”?”LOL 😂 I assured him that we women enjoy reading/hearing about other people’s stories/lives lol! )
No, seriously, please know, even sharing our story, I sure am not trying to brag or boast here—All the glory goes to God, and Him only!! As I look back over our lives, I just can see God’s Hand so plainly evident! He was guiding our feet every step of the way!! Even the story of how we met and how it all transpired after that is a testimony that God can be trusted to work out your lives, young ladies!! God has that special someone out there waiting for you in His plan!! We sometimes just have to be patient “in the waiting”. He will bring it to pass in His timing.
Matthew 6:33–but seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
🎶I have found Him to be true—that’s why I believe Him! 🎶
-Tiphanie ❤️
• comment down below if there is something specific you would like to hear about or a topic you would like me to study out and write about… all the interaction and feedback from you guys is highly appreciated!! I love to hear from you all !!