By MIMI BYRNS, The Crittenden Press
The Internet has changed the way people communicate, form meaningful relationships and even fall in love and get married. Not even in her wildest dreams did Ann Moore, a first-grade teacher at Crittenden County Elementary School, imagine Christian Mingle would be the way she would meet her husband Matt. But, love has its own way of conquering all, and surprisingly to everyone – even to the ones involved – to work out perfectly.
"I am a very conservative, old-fashioned girl. So the general idea of online dating was so weird to me," said Moore. "Also, you hear of so many bad experiences, so I was nervous about that as well."
It all started several years ago. While sitting in her dorm room at Murray State University, she received a surprising email informing her she had just joined Christian Mingle, an online dating site for meeting a partner of shared Christian faith. Thinking it was a cleverly planned joke by her roommate, Moore didn't take this message seriously and continued with her daily activities.
"I did not sign up," she remembers. "Fast forward a couple days, and I had a notification that someone had tried to contact me. I was shocked and still amused at the idea of the site. I was not about to pay for a dating site so I couldn't read his message.
"I was still curious, though, and had to check the guy out. I went to his profile and saw the cheesiest grin that made me smile from ear to ear. I was intrigued, so I read more. He sounded like a super sweet guy."
A day or so later, while studying with a friend, she received another message, but this time, Matt put his phone number in the subject line, which opened the door for Ann to contact him if she wanted to. She remembers being very excited and nervous at the same time, wondering whether she should text him or not.
"I went for it and texted him, and we hit it off right away," she said. "After a couple of weeks talking and texting, we finally wanted to meet.
"Now, I was a nervous wreck about this, excited but nervous! We met in Eddyville at Oasis, and he drove us to Olive Garden in Paducah, which now is one of our favorites. On the drive to Paducah it was such an odd feeling to be sitting in the car with someone I had never met and only talked to. My stomach was in knots and my hands were damp from nerves. But as the night went on, we talked and talked and had such a great time.
"It was so easy and natural to converse with him from the beginning."
"It was a true God thing because my account was created around the same time he joined," Ann said. "He said my picture kept popping up, and he was intrigued. He knew he wanted to message me, so he paid the $24.99 membership."
"We have an inside joke that he paid only $24.99 for his wife," laughs Ann.
She is convinced God has put the pieces together for her and her husband to meet. Before they met, they had both been praying God to send them the right person to spend their life with. Matt chose Christian Mingle because he hoped to find a Christ-like woman and felt it was the right thing to do at that time in his life... This article originally appeared in The Crittenden Press Feb. 8, 2018 issue. To read it in its entirety, grab a copy at The Crittenden Press office.
