Last week this video started to spread through social media like a wildfire as many praised its leading man–Ryan Leak–for surprising his girlfriend Amanda Roman with a proposal and wedding that happened on the same day. How did he do this? First he overheard her telling some friends that it would be cool to get engaged and married on the same day and then, when he knew it was time, he accessed her Pinterest account and planned her dream wedding. Major news outlets and everyday people declared it a sweet feat because of the recon that Leak did via Roman’s Pinterest account. But it turns out that Leak’s use of Pinterest was the least interesting thing about the proposal and wedding. The most interesting and inspiring thing about the lead up to Leak and Roman’s big day was their love of and trust in God.

Throughout the video, viewers get small hints that Leak and Roman are people of faith who were brought together by God. Leak sought Roman after his brother, a worship pastor in Atlanta, saw her walking into the church toward a discipleship class. “I found your wife,” his brother said, and with that Ryan Leak started his journey toward Amanda Roman. Their journey/relationship was five years before they reached the big day that would touch hearts around the world. Five years during which Leak didn’t tell Roman he loved her because, he says, “I didn’t want to use that phrase until I could back it up with every fiber of my being.” I imagine this is five years in which Roman trusted God and the security of her relationship with Leak without hearing the three words upon which most people require for relationship security. It is a great responsibility to utter those three words and back them up with every fiber of your being and a great risk to go forward without ever hearing those words but trusting in God that they are operative in your relationship. That is faith. Though I don’t know what their relationship looked like throughout those five years, I think they have communicated an important message to those who are single, in a relationship, or married and that message is that the act of love is just as significant as the word of love. That too is evidence of God’s work and mirrors the way in which God’s word was made flesh to humanity in Jesus who showed love not just spoke of love.

Indeed Leak’s use of Roman’s Pinterest was resourceful in creating a dream day for his bride, but it was hardly as significant as what both of them showed us about love and God. It appears that their lives were so tied up in seeking, waiting, and trusting in God that they were able to find one another. For Leak it was in allowing his life plan and even his proposal and wedding plans to be interrupted for a bigger, better plan. For Roman it was in trusting in the love that she could discern from Leak and in ultimately trusting God. Long story short, I believe they showed us something special, more special than one man’s ingenuity and one woman’s interest in pinning her wedding dreams. What they showed us is summed up in this quote, one of the concluding quotes from the video,

 “We know why we work, and it’s not because we share the same moral values, and it’s not because we’re just attracted to each other, and we have fun on dates and we enjoy each other’s company. What’s makes us tick, what makes us go, is Jesus Christ, there’s no doubt about it. And so, whenever we thought about our day, whenever we thought about a wedding, the thing that was most important to us is that whoever was doing our wedding, whoever was at our wedding, they would just sense something special and that something special would be the presence of God.”

Indeed it was sensed.