I have a boyfriend! Wow! Finally at the RIPE age of 30
God allowed a man into my life who has passionately and intentionally pursued
me and is pursuing me. His heart and
life is the Lord's. We both believe that
God brought us together.
Many people wonder "How" I met him.
It all started through a dating website. Yup. Kinda ironic since I tried to meet other guys
that way in the past. Even more ironic
was that I wasn't using this certain website "properly." I was on Christian
Mingle with a FREE profile/membership.
When it's free you can't message people or do much on the site. You can see people and send them
"smiles," tiny little notes with a smileyface emoticon. I had had a 6 month membership to E harmony a
couple years ago and nothing came of that.
It was all about God's timing and guidance to the person HE had for me.
Not me "trying" to make it happen.
I hardly ever went on my Christian Mingle profile but I
logged on sometime at the end of October.
I went through all my "smiles" from tons of guys. A smile will say something like "I
noticed you noticing me." or "Your profile brought a smile to my face." I don't know, just little tiny notes
to put a lot of "hooks" out into the proverbial sea of available fish.
I received a smile from a young man with the username
"Mantino1." He sent the smile on June 28th and I finally opened it in
October. The smile said "I'd enjoy
getting to know you better-interested?"
The young man was from Lynchburg.
I looked through his photos. It
was weird because he looked like a young man from the singles group that I had
been attending at an area church.
I did some investigating.
Ok, "facebook stalking"! I looked
through Cam's facebook friends, who is the leader of the singles group. He was "friends" with a young man named
Bruno. In Bruno's pictures was one
picture that was practically the same as one of the profile pictures of
Mantino1. Same angle, straight on head
shot with different color backgrounds. I
was like, I think it's the same guy! I
sent Bruno a note, this is what it said:
Hey so this is a weird message. But I'm kinda on Christian
Mingle and I got a "smile" from a "Mantino" and he totally
looks like you and he's from Lynchburg too. I like never go on Christian
Mingle... but got on this evening, I don't have a subscription but have a
profile.
Is that you? The question is, are you "Mantino." I
go to Radical on Wednesdays and I think I've seen you.
If you are not "Mantino" than totally disregard
this message!
thanks, Marie
I waited and he did not respond. I sent the note on Oct. 22nd. Wed. the 24th was the next time I'd see
him.
At the end of the Bible study I talked to my friend Donna
and was unsure about going up to him and talking. She encouraged me but also said I didn't have
to, I was nervous. And if he wasn't on
the site I'd be even more embarressed. I
think some people think doing dating sites is kinda silly.
I got my courage up and walked up to Bruno, who was
poised with a vacuum cleaner in his hand to clean up after the bible study. (This man has
a heart to serve others.) I asked him
about the dating site and he was Mantino!
One thing that was attractive to me right off the bat was that he
mentioned that he was in "the word" all the time with his roommate,
"...even at the grocery store..." etc. I was like "yeah!" My faith is one of the most important things
to me. I WANT a man that the Bible is
important to.
When I was talking to him it seemed as if his face was
"twinkling." He seemed
attracted to me already and I was like "huh?! this is weird. Why is he
already attracted??" He mentioned
going out to coffee sometime. (We later
communicated via FB and set up a day of when to go.) At the end of the conversation this big guy
gave me a side hug. I remember I was
wearing my big geeky college kid glasses, hair back in a pony tail and no make
up.
We met for the first time that night Oct. 24th at a singles
bible study over a vacuum cleaner. :)
A few of the God things. Around the time that Bruno sent me
the smile, in June, he was going through some hard times. It was almost as if God threw out a blessing
for the future through that small gesture of a Christian Mingle
"smile." Bruno had had it in
his heart to meet me. He was aware of me
at the Bible Study and prayed to meet me.
He had also prayed with a group of believers on Monday the 22nd that he
would meet the person God had for him...I walked up to him 2 days later. He had wanted to meet me... had prayed in
that direction and then I walked up to him because of a smile he had sent me
about 4 months previously. Wow! I see God's fingerprints on the way that
Bruno and I met.
It's amazing to be in a relationship with a Godly man. One who prays with me and talks things
through. One who shows me, through the way he serves me, that he loves me. I thank God for Bruno Mantino.
After putting Bruno through a month of being "just
friends" he called my dad and asked him if he could court me. Dad said
yes! Bruno and I became "officially
official" on November 29th. I'm thankful
that he smiled at me... I found it... that I stalked him on FB then got the
courage to go up to him over a vacuum cleaner and asked "are you
Mantino?" In a nutshell that's how
I met Bruno!
