One of the very first portraits of us that I took with a tripod and a remote. He was totally up for it and we were scouting locations for a Katie Weeks Photo session I had. I love the way he looks at me.

I just want to start out by saying this is probably the longest story I will ever tell. Which is why I’m splitting it up into 3 parts. Anyone that knows me, will tell you that I am NOT the person to get to tell a story. I get really long winded and wrapped up in details. I just love details though. They matter so much to me, because in every detail the truth can be found. The truth of the situation. The truth of the intentions. The truth of the person and most importantly the truth in God’s divine plan and the timing He has for us.

This is a story about a girl that worked very hard to make her past mistakes and desperately needed healing from her past. Every bad choice I made was not an easy route to take. I knew exactly(for the most part) what I was doing. I grew up well. I grew up right. My parents were no slackers in making sure I never lost my way, so I had many many safety guards in place that I pushed through and eventually I ended up at a dead end road, in a dead-end relationship, with a heart that was 100% gun-shy.

And this story is about a boy that prayed to God as a young child and asked Him to keep Him from his soulmate until he was ready for her. And so he waited. And waited.

I’m a firm believer in authenticity and in sharing testimonies of God’s goodness. This is a long one. It took 9 years in the making. 9 years to humble my heart… 9 years to make Asa ready… And our whole lives living less than 3 miles apart and never knowing or seeing each other yet always circling the same places. Our Dads were friends. Our sisters were friends. At one point he was at my house because Yuri(his sister) and Darnea(his mother) picked up my sister, Tristan, so she could go to church with them. So hang in there. I will try my best to be descriptive, accurate, and not boring in my writing and hopefully I’ll see you at the end.

In the beginning…

In October 2008 I received a Facebook friend request from this guy with an afro. I really didn’t know who he was, but he had a killer name and we had over 50 mutual friends. He seemed like a nice guy so I accepted his request. Next thing I know he sends me a message saying something along the lines of “Hey, how are you. How do we know so many of the same people?” And I just had became homeschooled so I said something along the lines of “I used to go to Woodstock, but I’m homeschooled now so that’s probably why we know so many of the same people.” We talked some more. Strictly just being friendly in our conversation. No flirting. Which I took notice of and I really appreciated that. I mentioned something about my boyfriend, that I had at the time, in one of our conversations and I noticed after that he rarely would initiate conversation. He was never rude to me, but come to find out he never pursued it out of respect. Over the years we would talk off and on. Never any flirting. Never anything too deep, but always really encouraging.

In early 2016 I realized that I had become lonely. My heart felt scarred from things that happened to me in the past, and so I didn’t really pursue dating because I never felt ready, I just wasn’t flat out interested, or I felt like the guy wasn’t my friend. Which is very important to me, now that I’m older and a little wiser. You NEED to enjoy your significant other’s company. Y’all NEED to be friends.

But anyways, I asked God to either bring me my someone, or to lift this desire from my life because I didn’t want to be lonely anymore. It started getting to the point that it felt overwhelming and it was distracting. I was losing my whole “I’m miss Independent and that’s how I like it!” vibes. Which is a sad day. I love the Independent vibe stage that comes after a break up. It’s like reinventing yourself, but at this point I was very much over it and I never wanted to do it again.

So I prayed and prayed about this. A lot. And I got down to business to God about it, and in the back of my mind I always had this nagging thought run through my head over and over and over. “Unclean heart. Unclean heart. You need to deal with some things. You need to let go of bitterness. You need to forgive these guys. You need to forgive yourself. You can not be hard like this.” And then a thought would ALWAYS follow that thought and I know it was Jesus. He would say, “The person I have for you will be tender. I’m not sending him to you to destroy and break down.”

And that is when I knew, “Oh man. My time is coming. I need to get ready. I need to get serious with God about where my heart is and what really matters because nothing will change until I address this. Jesus, you have to help me. I can not do this by myself.”

Fast forward to 2016, Daddy bursts into the house one day and says, “KATIE! I’VE MET SOMEBODY! I’VE MET THE COOLEST GUY EVER! HE’S A PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER, HIS NAME IS LEO, AND HE WORKS AT THE TEXACO IN THE DAY TIME!” And I’m being super serious with this caps lock action while I’m typing this. Daddy was excited. Crazy excited. Being two peas in a pod, I was really excited to hear this news too. It’s not everyday you find out that a professional wrestler lives in your town. So Daddy proceeds to tell me about Leo and about how he’s a really nice guy working hard and chasing after his dreams and telling me the dates that we can go see him wrestle.

Well, a month later Daddy reminds me that Leo has a wrestling match coming up in Fairmount Georgia on Memorial Day. I told him I wanted to go with him and Mama and to just let me know what time to get in the truck. The day finally rolls around and I realize that I have a dilemma. A few of my friends had asked me to go to Armuchee Bluegrass festival with them and jam. Usually every year my family would be there, but because Tristan had Jubliee we were taking a break from traveling and playing music. But I had told Mama and Daddy I would go with them and it was something that I genuinely wanted to experience, so I jumped in the truck and off we went.

When we made it to the Fairmount square and we found the ring in the middle of their Memorial Day Festival, I was overwhelmed with excitement for a number of reasons. There were a lot of people around the ring that were yelling at these wrestlers. The ring was outside, and you were allowed to get as close as you wanted. I was also really pumped because it was a small town affair and so everyone was extremely animated about it. One lady was yelling obscenities and continued to yell after a few people told her there were children present and that she needed to tame down her colorful language.

This photo features my delicious lemonade, and Leo totally kicking some tail on that guy. He won!

Just before it was Leo’s time to get up I had went to the concession stand and bought a strawberry lemonade. It was THE BEST lemonade I’d ever had, so I was pretty wrapped up in that until I glanced up and saw a man standing across the way. I thought to myself, “That’s Asa Moon.” But I had NO IDEA how I actually knew this. I had never met Asa in real life. He was standing in a large group of people I didn’t know, but I knew I knew him… And at this time I knew he saw me looking at him, so I start towards him to introduce myself. And about that time I hear the man standing next to Asa yell out, “That’s Bruce Weeks!” And Daddy goes, “Man! That’s Herb Moon! I haven’t seen you in 20 years!” And next thing I know, they’re all hugging. Well, I’m totally confused, but I persist towards Asa and I remember saying something along the lines of, “Hey! I’m Katie Weeks. We’ve never met, but I know we’re FB friends so I wanted to say hello.” And just by his body language, he seemed surprised that I came up to talk to him. He was wearing glasses, so I felt a little nervous. Eye contact is super important to me. Otherwise, I don’t know how to navigate the conversation, so I felt like I was extremely forward and crazy awkward.

We part ways after talking a little bit and on my way home I received an alert saying I had a message on FB from Asa. The message said it was really good to meet me in person after all these years. We go back and forth that day talking about interests and things like that, and I realize that this is the first guy I genuinely want to get to know since I had broken up with my ex. A part of me that I thought was dead, had came to life and I wanted to know everything about Asa Moon.

I had already made up in my mind that I was going to spend as much time as I could that summer being his friend and trying to hang out… But then he tells me that he’s going to an internship the next day in Franklin North Carolina and will be gone for two months. I was devastated. And then he told me that he would only have his cellphone on the weekends, but wanted to know if I was interested in texting and wanted to know if he could write me letters.

At this point I don’t know what this means, because 1) he never flirted with me… and 2) I was convinced he wouldn’t like me and was way too cool for me even on a strict friendship level… But I said yes and I gave him my phone number and address.

During this time while he was away… I passively waited. I waited on the weekends and I waited for letters. Well, one weekend… He didn’t text me, and I hadn’t received a letter from him in quite sometime and at this point… I was disappointed… Way more disappointed than I ever cared to admit, but I was determined not to put all my main focus on him. I liked him, but I wasn’t 100% committed to liking him because I didn’t know him. Or at least that was my reasoning/ only way to talk myself down. I didn’t want to end up infatuated and I didn’t want to ever be careless with my heart again, so I was trying to remain in control of myself and composed.

Then on the 4th of July, I received a text from him out of the blue. And this how the conversation went. Please note the only reason why I know this is because I wrote it down word for word in my journal. I am that person. I literally just copied what I wrote down.

• Asa: “Hello. I just want to say hi and tell you I sent another letter. :)”
• Me: “Hey!!! I haven’t received the letter yet, but I’m excited to read it! :)”
• Asa: “:) I want to be up front; I think you are very beautiful and I think you are a kindred spirit., and that has produced a curiosity in me towards you that leans in the direction of romantic. I want to get to know you firstly because of your heart and spirit, but I secondly want to know you confirm a common interest and compatibility for that. I am saying this so I can get it out the way in the case that you don’t reciprocate that sort of interest, so I can be sure of boundaries and where things could or could not go.”

Uhm. Who is this guy? This is the most round about way to say “Uhm. Hey. I like you. Do you like me back?”

Hahahah! BUT. I loved it so much. I had never ever ever ever ever had a man put so much care in finding out where he stood with me. It was refreshing and it made me feel safe. I knew that if I told him no, that we would still be friends. That he wouldn’t be mean to me or send me harassing messages.

The coffee date at Whitney’s house. This was when I asked her about Asa.

That gesture alone was huge, because I was so guarded and so nervous and I wanted to get to know him but I wasn’t sure who he truly was. So I sent all the people on my FB mutual friends list a message and asked them what Asa Moon’s character was. Then I realized my best friend new him in school, and I asked her what his character was… We had coffee over it! Haha! And she said that he was always super cool and kind and that she knew several girls that really liked him in high school but that he seemed pretty picky and didn’t date around a lot. Then she told me that she hoped I wouldn’t let the fear I developed from my past ruin my future and that this might just turn out to be a God thing and that when I figured out it would be safe to jump on that train, that I wouldn’t regret it.

Then came all the replies from everyone, and they all said the same thing: Really great guy. Really sweet. Very smart and ambitious. A friend to everyone.

And THAT spoke volumes to me. Reputation can be a fragile thing, but if your character is rock-steady more often than not, your reputation will be rock steady as well. People only know you based on how you treat them, others, and how you conduct yourself.

So I told him that I would love to look farther into this and that when he came back that I wanted to get to know him and hang out.

Our first meeting when he returned home was at Starbucks on 92. We sat outside and talked about ourselves. I found out that he’s incredible when it comes to world knowledge and knowing languages and cultures. Which was a huge common interest. I found out that when he talked about God that there was a truth deep down within him that I knew he loved the Lord. I found out that we were raised basically the same way. That we were both ministers’ kids. I found out that our sisters were actually really good friends at one point and that he had been to my house one time with his family to pick up my sister to take to church with them.

I left that night knowing my life was about to change, but I was scared and I didn’t want to make anymore mistakes with my dating life or with my heart. So I prayed in my car and I asked God’s permission that night if it was okay to like Asa.

Literally our first official date. If I remember right, Asa was waiting on me to return from the restroom, so I snagged this picture.

After I prayed “God do I have permission?” things just naturally progressed. I never heard an audible voice, but things felt good and I never had a bad gut feeling about it. We went on our first date to the Tellus Museum and I learned that Asa talks A LOT when he’s nervous. Haha! But positive things just kept happening. I felt secure about where we were. I knew we were friends. I got to meet his friends, and I really liked them. I especially liked Cece. She was the only girl in the group and she was so authentic. And as weird as it may be, it made me trust Asa even more. Because I knew then for sure that he wasn’t the type that flirted around. That when he made friends, he was genuinely a friend to that person. And that’s when I started praying “God do I have permission to date Asa?”

One day after many other days of hanging out/dating and being friends… We were were at Waffle House and he asked me if I would ever be willing to live in another country. I quickly told him that I wasn’t. That I wanted to travel a lot and possibly live in different countries at 3 months maximum but that I couldn’t spend years away from my family. They mean so much to me, and I know I couldn’t do that unless Jesus himself showed up and slapped me in the face and said “You’re going!”

Well, after I said that… Things got weird. His whole demeanor changed. He looked sad. He looked upset. So he drops me off at our meeting place(aka His Hands. I was very guarded about letting him come to my house, because again… Totally didn’t want to play fast and loose with my heart or emotions) and we both went separate ways. On the way home, I cried. I cried because I knew I had said something that he didn’t want to hear and because I knew his dream was to move to Japan after he had graduated. And I cried because I knew I wasn’t going to change my mind. I couldn’t. My first ministry is my family, and that is my calling.

Soon after I made it home and I was about to get out of my car, I received a text saying that he had to leave early because his church was doing a lock in, but that he also needed to leave because he was disappointed about our conversation and he didn’t want to show it. That he really liked me and that he thought I was amazing but that it was disappointing to find out that our life plans were totally different. Now, please know when he said all of this he was being completely respectful, and at this point I’m shocked because most of the time when a man disagrees with me… Or I tell them things they don’t want to hear, it never ends well.

So I tell him that I’m really disappointed too. That I think he is wonderful and that I would love to progress forward, but that I can’t compromise when it comes to my family and that I want to live here and travel on days to maybe months long trips. Then I told him that I would never ask him to give up his dream to go to Japan because I had relationships in the past that didn’t support my dreams and that I did not ever want him to resent me but that we were definitely still friends if he wanted to be.

Then I prayed about it. I prayed for comfort. I prayed for God to have his way and that if I didn’t have permission to date Asa then so be it, but to please let me know and give me an assurance that I was being obedient to Him moving forward.

The next day Asa asks me if we can hang out. When we meet up, he begins to tell me that he’s prayed about it and that I am everything he could ever want and more and that Japan is no comparison to the adventure he knew he would have with me. And listening to all of this, I am floored. I ask him over and over and over “Uh. Are you sure? I seriously don’t want you to hate me. And I don’t want you to blame me for not living out your dream. Are you sure that you’re sure?!” And he’s like, “Completely sure. I know what I want.”

So later that night we’re in his car at His Hands and we’re talking and I’m telling him things that has happened to me. He had just asked me to be his girlfriend and I told him that before I agreed he had to meet my family first and he had to love them because we would be around them a lot, so we would see how things progressed and I would let him know my answer later. As brutal as that may seem, this had been an issue in my past with boyfriends so I wasn’t about to make the same mistakes again. This was a big conversation that basically laid everything out on the table about my experiences and why I’m so guarded. What I can and can not handle in a relationship. What I can and can not handle in a friendship… Etc.. So Asa suddenly sits up and he looks like he’s going to throw up. I’ve never seen someone look so miserable in their life. And he blurts out, “I feel like I really need to tell you this… And I don’t want to, but I know I need to otherwise I might explode.”

And I’m like… “What?” What the heck is happening… “What is it?” And he tells me, “Katie, I love you.” …. And I just look at him. I’m thinking… We’re not even together. How does he know he loves me? We haven’t even talked about what that word means to each other. WHO IS THIS GUY?!

And I look at him and I’m like, “I… uh. I hope you’re not going to be mad, but I can’t say it back to you. I care about you a lot and a treasure who you are… But we just started dating like 2 weeks ago and we said we weren’t going to move fast. I’m not ready.” And he’s like, “Oh. man. I’m sorry. I really really really don’t know why I blurted that out. I don’t know what came over me. I literally did not feel like I had control over myself when I said that. But I am glad that you know. I’m glad I told you. But I probably wont say it again until you’re ready to say it.” And I said “Okay.” and then he took me home.

That night I was so confused. I didn’t know what to think. So I prayed and asked God, is it safe to love him? Is it safe to be his girlfriend? Do I have permission to do both?

So the next day he comes over to my house and he sits down with me on my front porch steps and he looks at me and says, “Katie. I want to apologize for yesterday. I’m not sorry that I told you how I felt, but I am sorry for saying that I wouldn’t say it again until you said it. My love for you is not conditional. You don’t have to love me back. You don’t have to say you love me back, but I am going to keep telling you that I love you… Because I do.”

And again, I’m shocked. Completely floored. WHO IS THIS GUY?! How is he so sweet? How is he so selfless?!?

So I say “Okay.” I know right? Super cold sounding and lame… But I say “Okay” and then we go to Downtown Woodstock’s 92 walking path/trail. The whole time we’re walking and talking and holding hands I’m thinking, “What is going on? How am I here? How did this happen? What should I think? How do I feel? Is this real? Am I gonna wake up from this dream? This doesn’t even seem real.” And then I start praying, “Lord. I feel in my gut I can trust him. But I need to KNOW. I need to know 100% this is right because I can’t relive past things or relationships. I want a healthy relationship or none at all. I NEED affirmation in what I think you’ve told me is okay. Do I have permission to love him?”

And RIGHT when I prayed that two guys came across the field carrying a HUGE cross on wheels. And I thought “What. The. Heck. Who are these dudes? Lord PLEASE let them be good representatives of you. Please don’t let them be crazy.” And they waved at us, so we waved back. Then they put the cross down and walked over to us.

They start asking us if we go to church, if we know Jesus, what our experiences are and what denominations we were. Me and Asa both were raised Church of God so come to find out, these two guys were too. And we all just started talking and encouraging each other in Jesus.. And then one of the guys spoke up and asked if we were together and if we were going to get married. My face turned crazy red because I’m super pale and because I didn’t know at all how to respond to this stranger. Immediately Asa speaks up and says, “I’m working on us being together and one day I hope we will be married.”

And again… I’m totally floored. No one had ever been that persistent or genuine about their intentions towards me. Ever.

And the guy is like “Well, I want to pray for y’all. I want to pray a blessing over your future and your relationship.” The whole time this guy was praying I kept thinking to myself, “This guy is really nice. I can not wait for him to stop praying so I can pray a blessing over them!” Well, the guy says amen… And before I can open my eyes and look up I hear Asa say “Hey! Now it’s our turn. I want to pray for you two.” And he takes off praying. Out loud. In public. We’re all holding hands in the middle of a park talking about Jesus with a gigantic cross on the ground near by and it’s all totally normal.

After the two guys walk away, I ask Asa if we can sit down. So we walk towards the stage that they have towards the entrance of the trail and we sit down. At this point I am crying. A lot. And I am a wet crier. So I finally gather my courage and I turn to Asa and I blurt out, “I’ve been thinking and praying a lot. I know it sounds crazy but I’ve been praying asking God if I had permission to love you. See, all my other relationships.. I’ve never asked. And God straight up told me that I didn’t belong with those other guys, but I didn’t listen and persisted anyways. With you, things are different. I can’t go through anymore heartbreak, and I really care about you and our friendship and if it’s going to last, then I need permission from Him. I prayed for permission to like you. I prayed for permission to date you. I’ve prayed for permission to be your girlfriend. And before those two guys came up, I was praying for permission to love you. Because of those two guys coming over and asking to pray with us and God just revealing Himself in that moment. I know it is safe to love you. I was going to tell those guys that I was going to pray a blessing over them, but you stepped up and did that before I even had the chance. I feel as if we have the same heart like that. We are kindred spirits, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I love you, Asa Moon.”

THAT was the moment I knew. That was all I ever wanted. I wanted someone that loved Jesus truly. I wanted someone that cares enough about people to genuinely pray for them and take the time to encourage them. I wanted someone that wouldn’t be embarrassed by me and by my faith. I wanted someone to be a team with. And since then we made things official and I jumped in with two feet.

Shortly after we became a couple. We were laying in the road up at Carter’s Dam watching the sunset case an orange haze over the lake. It was so beautiful and magical.

So here comes the relationship….