Brian Sims: [00:00:00] Yeah, at some point in the summer, you know, my plan was to eventually go to medical school and I had this idea that it was gonna be, you know, it was gonna be difficult. Um, and that, you know, I just couldn’t put any woman through that, you know, and, uh, I guess I’m just gonna be a bachelor rest of my life.

Julie had a different thought about that.

Julie Sims: Uh, totally, totally different perspective. So I remember we were sitting in his car having that conversation and him, you know, conveying, I’ll be a bachelor and I’m gonna go to medical school. And, uh, I remember thinking, uh, we are not wasting all of this good manhood on Bachelorhood.

No, that is not happening. You are going to marry me.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Love stories fill us with joy and inspire hope for the future. And a true life romance can remind us that sometimes just one spark is all it takes to change everything.[00:01:00]

Since birth, their paths kept crossing. But it wasn’t until God whispered to Julie at 2 31 morning that their love story truly began. Welcome to Unexpected Love Stories. I’m your host, Don Kowski. Today’s guests are Julie and Brian Sims with a truly amazing love story. Brian is a board certified orthopedic surgeon, senior partner at Amarillo Bone and Joint Clinic, and he also serves on the Board of Heartstrings, a film distribution company.

And together he and Julie run Canyon Beef in Canyon, Texas with a degree in nutrition. Julie is the heart behind Canyon beef social media presence. She’s known for a gift of hospitality and her great cooking. Together. They also host Relation EQ podcast, sharing wisdom from 40 years of marriage, parenting, and business [00:02:00] building.

Welcome you guys. How you doing?

Brian Sims: Doing well, doing great. Thank you. Excited to be here.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yeah. Oh, so glad to have you here on that side of the microphone.

Julie Sims: Yes. This is a real treat for us. Yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Oh, good. All right. So I always start by saying, let’s go back to just before you met, but that’s kind of impossible for you guys.

So let’s go ahead and start your amazing story with where it all began.

Brian Sims: Well, I know a lot of stories start with, you know, who saw who first?

Julie Sims: Mm-hmm.

Brian Sims: Mm-hmm. And I, I was definitely the one that saw her first. Um. She had this beautiful, long, you know, curly black hair, and I found out I was just really attracted to her.

But I, I remember thinking, what am I am, I’m, I’m crazy because I’m twice her age. And about that time, the nursery, uh, nurse picked me up to [00:03:00] change my diaper. Um, and so I was born on May 30th, and Julie was born on May or on June 1st. So, and our mothers both attest to us, uh, that, that back then they stayed in the hospital for five days.

So we know we were in the nursery, uh, in Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo, Texas, uh, at the same time.

Julie Sims: Yes. So we, uh, we didn’t find that out until, uh, much later in our love story. The first time that I laid eyes on Brian was at the local Pizza Hut. And there are two sisters that are very key to our story and they’ll weave in and out.

And their names are Liz and April. Remember those names? Liz and April. And so I meet Liz and April at the Pizza Hut and they happen to be there with their, uh, cousin Patrick [00:04:00] and. This other guy, Brian, the Brian Sims. Now I had heard about Brian Sims from Liz in April and this is my first time to ever encounter him.

And while we’re there, um, I am thinking, wow, he is so cute and he is so funny. Only problem is he is dating April. That’s a problem. Now, me being a respectful woman, I’m going to, you know, not interfere in that relationship. And so that was the, that was the first meeting that I had ever recall that I saw him.

But he definitely made an impression upon me at the Pizza Hut.

Brian Sims: Yeah. And then, um,

Dawn Pruszkowski: I, and so many people now today would go like. Pizza Hut late. Okay. It’s a local pizza diet.

Brian Sims: Yeah. Yeah. It was actually a dine-in restaurant then. Yeah.

Julie Sims: You Yes, yes. We’re, our story goes back so [00:05:00] far. You actually could walk in and order pizza and sit down and eat it.

Okay. Yeah. So yes, that’s encounter number two in our love story. Yeah.

Brian Sims: So, um, okay. We were 16 back then, but then at 20, uh. Our friend Liz, she said, Hey, we’re playing cards with some friends tonight. Um, and would you like to come over? And I was like, yeah, yeah, I’d love to. Didn’t know really who, uh, else might be there.

And when I got there, uh, this Julie girl’s there and I was like, oh, yeah, I, I do remember meeting her once and I thought she was pretty cute, but she was at Texas Tech and. I always had the idea that, uh, ’cause I, I was planning to go to Texas a and m and so, you know, rev rivalry there, rivalries and I thought, oh, she’s a party girl, so she’s not for me.

But it’s like, hey, we’ll play cards. So.

Julie Sims: Nothing could be further from the truth. I was not a party girl [00:06:00] at all, but I did like playing cards with friends. And so I remember, you know, being there. And again, he was cute and funny, but now April is not in the picture. So it’s like, so you’re saying there’s a chance.

Um, and so I just was so impressed with him and so I left that evening and I’m sure my head was in the clouds and I went to bed with him on my mind and I, I could not get him off my mind. And at exactly two 30 in the morning, I feel like the Lord wakes me up and I, I get outta bed and I get on my knees and this is what I prayed.

Dear God. I would really like to date that Brian Sims someday. No, I would like to marry him. What? What? Just came outta my mouth. But that was, that was it. That was the prayer. [00:07:00] I crawled back in bed, went fast asleep, and I did not see him again for about another year. Totally forgot about the prayer until.

Brian Sims: Well, I had just turned 21 and I usually would go backpacking when I would have my birthday. And so I just got back in town and our friend Liz, who was actually getting married in a week and I was gonna be a, uh, an usher in the wedding and Julie was one of the bridesmaids. And so Liz called me up, she goes, Hey, Julia’s turning 21.

And her parents called me. Uh, they’re having a surprise. Uh, cookout for her. Uh, but they asked us to invite guests ’cause they didn’t know what friends to invite. I said, oh yeah, sure. I’d, I’d love to come. So I showed up, uh, at the backyard Barbecue.

Julie Sims: So I’m there and I am suspecting nothing, and I’m not [00:08:00] exactly dressed in the way that I would want to see, um, someone that I had prayed about to.

Mary, you know, you’re just, you’re kind of in a, you know. Old pair of shorts and a t-shirt and, and in walks into my bath, my parents’ backyard, Mr. Cute and funny, and immediately I’m like, oh my gosh. There he is again. This is time number three. And so I, you know, I, my mind, I’m on red alert, here he comes. And so.

Shortly after walking in, he says, Hey, hey. So like, we’re going to, uh, the rehearsal dinner. Um, can I pick you up? Well, my response was like, I, this is what I said. Are you kidding? And it was like me trying to protect my heart. Like, are you kidding? Like, don’t mess with me, don’t mess with my heart. Like if you like, if you really mean it, but, um, and that’s.

That’s how I thought I said it, but Brian has a different version of how I said [00:09:00] that.

Brian Sims: Yeah. It was more like, are you kidding? And I was like, whoa, okay. Maybe not,

Julie Sims: maybe not. So, uh, honestly, I am doing cartwheels on the inside the rest of the night and he does not talk to me to the rest of the night because he’s thinking, oh wow, what have I just stepped into?

Oh, this is gonna be a, a real great rehearsal dinner.

Brian Sims: So, um, so I’m going into this thinking. She, she’s just putting up with me for the night. And in the meantime, she had gotten a call from, uh, Liz’s mother’s and she was kind of saying, okay, we got you. You know, everybody was paired up for the rehearsal dinner.

And at that point Julie thought, oh, she had just asked Brian to ask Julie out for as a favor.

Julie Sims: Yeah,

Brian Sims: she did. He doesn’t really even really wanna go out. So neither one of us had great expectation for this. First date. [00:10:00]

Julie Sims: Yeah. So I’m, I’m honestly like devastated when Mrs. O’Keefe calls and I’m just thinking, oh, he didn’t really wanna ask me out.

This is, this is a favorite of Liz’s mom. Oh, this is a mercy date, you know? And I just was like, the cartwheels were over by that time. It was like, oh, okay, so we’re, we go into this. And um, I had a funny little quirk. I, you know, I. I’m not the only one, but all of us kind of had that little list of what we wanted to mate, and I don’t know why, but I wanted whoever I married to have a J name quirk.

Right. But uh, so we get there and we sign in and Brian signs in ahead of me and he signs. J period. Brian Sims and I, my eyes just bug like, oh, he has a J name. And I know that’s quirky, but I know listeners have those kind of things. Don’t tell me you don’t. ’cause you do. So any that was, that was kind of a little sign to go, okay, maybe we could be on [00:11:00] the right track.

Like maybe there is a hope about this situation. So we have the date. We don’t have much recollection at all, except until we get to my parents’ driveway and he drops me off.

Brian Sims: Yeah. I was like, well, it was nice, nice seeing you. And I didn’t open her door. I didn’t walk her to the door. I was. That was a terrible date.

Uh,

Julie Sims: see that? A quad. A totally quad. See ya. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And so I, I let myself out of the car, close the door, walk up to my parents’, uh, front porch, walk in and go, okay, well that was not stellar. That was not, uh, that was barely noteworthy. Um, and so. You know, I’m, I’m starting to doubt this, this, um, dear, dear diary, dear diary, the man of my dreams is disappointing me terribly.

You know, [00:12:00] signed, give advice. So anyhow, um, so I, I, at the time I was working at a local health food store and I was on break and I was. Had they had frozen yogurt and it was the kind that, it was like a dairy queen where it had the, the humps and then the curl on the top. And I’m sitting there and I’m about to enjoy this nice piece of, uh, cup of yogurt.

And out of nowhere, a finger up appears and it goes across the curly cue of my yogurt, and it’s gone. And I turn around and look exactly. There he is licking his finger with the tip of my yogurt. And I am like, oh, what did he like whatcha doing here? And in that moment it was like. He made the choice to come see me.

He, he’s pursuing me now. It’s like, oh my gosh. And so it brief, you know, just there, Hey, just thought I’d stop by [00:13:00] work and say hi to you. And so I was so overwhelmed once again, the cartwheels started. I was absolutely work, uh, worthless at my job. You know, I couldn’t check anyone out. They were like. Get away from the cash register, just go stock vitamins.

You are worthless right now. Because I was just like, hi, you came to see me. Uh, and so that kind of, he began to kind of, uh, show up unexpectedly and, and once again, I would be banished to just go stock the vitamins.

Brian Sims: Yeah, we, that summer I was, uh, I’d been working with a couple that, uh. Doing Bible studies and stuff.

And so we had a Bible study on the Wednesday, and so I’d invited, I said, Hey, you want to come to this Bible study? And so, uh, and at that time we were actually going to the same church too, so we had, you know, a couple opportunities to Yeah. Run into each other. Um, but I think her mom, uh, accused her of it was actually boy study as she [00:14:00] was going to in the middle of the week.

Yeah. But, uh. Yeah, those

Julie Sims: moms are perspective, they’re a perspective on these things.

Brian Sims: And each, you know, after each Bible study, the time we spent out talking by the car before we went home, you know, got longer and longer and, and so, um, things were progressing.

Julie Sims: Yes, they were. And so that was at the first of the Sunday.

So now we get to July 4th. July 4th. And so we had gone to the family picnic down on their family ranch and um, there was kind of a certain bluff that we went up and we were sitting and watching the fireworks and, and it was just a beautiful, beautiful evening. And so, um, later he took me home after that picnic, and that’s when I got.

My first kiss, and that’s even more fireworks were going off, let me just say, it was like, okay, things are, you know, wow, things are really progressing now. So, had that first kiss and uh, continued to date for the rest of that [00:15:00] summer.

Brian Sims: Yeah. And some point in the summer, you know, my plan was to eventually go to medical school and I had this idea that it was gonna be, you know, it was gonna be difficult.

Um. And that, you know, I just couldn’t put any woman through that, you know, and I guess I’m just gonna be a bachelor the rest of my life. And Julie had a different thought about that.

Julie Sims: Uh, totally, totally different perspective. So I remember we were sitting in his car having that conversation and him, you know, conveying, I’ll be a bachelor and I’m gonna go to medical school.

Uh, I remember thinking, uh, we are not wasting all of this good manhood on Bachelorhood. No, that’s not happening. You are going to marry me. And I mean, I just like not happening. But then also I think something else that was so intriguing to me that I found very attractive was, okay, this is a young man who’s going to do something with [00:16:00] himself.

He’s got a plan. And I thought. That’s attractive. Um, and that I, I wanna hitch my wagon to you because you’re going somewhere and I wanna be the woman who’s gonna go there with you. And so I remember him telling me, you know, that this is gonna be hard. And I’ll tell you in years later, we’re in the thick of medical training.

I would look at him and go, you told me this was gonna be hard.

I’ve warned you, and

you, he warned me. And I’m like, yes, it’s so hard. I, you know, I wanna throw in the towel. And it’s like he told me. And, uh, but you know, I was so Twitter painted and, uh, in love. I was like. Where you’re going, I shall go to

Brian Sims: Yeah.

And you did. And

Julie Sims: I did.

Brian Sims: I think, um, you know, by six weeks into the summer, uh, we, we knew we had a match. Mm-hmm. And, uh, my, my smooth [00:17:00] move was, you know, we were going somewhere and I kind of put my arm around her and pulled her up next to him. And I said, you know, that missing rib. I used to have, I think that you fit it.

Julie Sims: Yeah,

Brian Sims: I think it fits. And, you know, and I just, by that I meant like you’re, you know, it was, I think that’s as about a good, uh, proposal as I had, um, again, I, my dating etiquette and, uh, it was not great, but I think she got the message.

Julie Sims: He was kind of raised by wolves when it comes to dating addict. Yeah.

Because he truly, um, in the end, I, I really never got a proposal. That was it. It was like, Hey, we just

Brian Sims: understood. After that I

Julie Sims: understood we’re gonna get married. Um, but we ended up dating long distance for three years because of, uh, he was behind in school, not because of age, but he had delayed getting into college.

So he still had. Um, I had my senior year to [00:18:00] finish up and I had a great job at Texas Tech University and then he went off to a and m for two more years. And so it ended up being a total of three years that we dated long distance and we averaged seeing each other about one weekend a month, with the exception of holidays.

Um. Back then, no cell phones. We could only call once a week because that’s all we could afford. And so we had, we looked forward to the one phone call on Sunday night, but we have a treasure trove of letters and cards that we sent, and I tell you when one of us got. Got mail and saw their, you know, the name on it.

It was like, oh my gosh, I got mail. And, you know, we’d go back to either a dorm room or, or back to the apartment and we would carefully open it and just savor that, that letter, uh,

read it over, over and over

until the phone call. Uh, and so honestly that’s, that’s a beautiful thing that came from that [00:19:00] was it forced us to record our romance.

It’s totally recorded. Exactly. And so someday, we’ll, it would take a while to go back through all of them and maybe someday some of our kids will read them and go, wow, wow, look what our parents, uh, went through. And so, but I really feel, Dawn, that. That three year period was so critical to prepare us for what we were heading into because, um, leading up to our marriage, uh, Brian was finishing up college, so you wanna finish up there?

Yeah.

Brian Sims: So I, uh, finished my last year at Texas a and m, but I didn’t have a ring and we were getting married like a month after I graduated. So, um, fortunately, you know, my. Sister-in-law’s cousin was a jeweler in Dallas, and uh, he needed a house to be painted and we made a deal. And so on my way home, I stopped in Dallas for, you know, a week or so, and I [00:20:00] painted a house.

Got a ring. And, uh, so we were, we were, we were kind of poor back then. Yes.

Julie Sims: Poor. And

Dawn Pruszkowski: so his, his original

Julie Sims: plan, well, you’re just

Dawn Pruszkowski: college students. Yes, of course. You’re exactly,

Julie Sims: I mean, yes. Which was typical. And so, um, we had kind of been officially whatever, engaged for over a year. So no ring. No ring. And so I’m like, no, no, no.

This guy really is gonna marry me. He’s not a fraud. I mean, like, he.

Dawn Pruszkowski: You are, you are officially ribbed.

Brian Sims: Yeah, that’s right. Right. Rib. I was rib there.

Julie Sims: It’s hard to show. Okay. Hard to show. So, and in the meantime, I am, I am working in food services Texas Tech, and I’m in a men’s dorm. I have 500 guys about Brian’s age for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.

None of them are the right guy. My man is 500 miles away. So, 500 guys. Nope. 500 miles away. And I keep telling ’em, [00:21:00] no, no, really, this guy is, he’s gonna marry me, trust me, you know? And they’re thinking, oh, poor dear, poor dear. She’s bless her heart. Bless her heart, delusional. So anyhow, um, so it’s two weeks before he, he brings home the ring and I finally get to wear it.

His original plan was to shock me at the wedding and slip it on my hand.

Brian Sims: Not shock. It was more surprise. Okay. Surprise, surprise for you.

Julie Sims: Surprise. And I, I told him, I flat out, I said, I am so glad you did not do that. I would’ve punched you right at the altar, like. What the heck?

Brian Sims: This isn’t what I wanted.

Yeah.

Julie Sims: You know, I, it was, it was the ring I wanted, but it was just like. Don’t do that to me. So anyhow, I got to wear it. And his, I remember his mother wasn’t very happy, like, it’s a wedding band. You shouldn’t be wearing that before your wedding. I’m thinking, lady, do you know what I have gone through? I am wearing the ring.

I took it off for the ceremony [00:22:00] so he could put it back on. But, so there we were getting, uh, getting married. He had, he had graduated college, uh, the prior week. Next, next weekend we get married and then three weeks later off we go to start medical school. And that would take 10 more years of training to get us through that.

And so we had to be prepared. To be apart. And so that was honestly God’s provision and kindness to us, to prepare us to be apart from each other and to be able to handle it. And so that was the purpose. Yeah. That helped us a lot. But, um, the wedding was beautiful, honestly. Went off without a hitch.

Yeah.

Um, and then.

Um, I had a very, um, generous uncle who offered two weeks at his, uh, condo at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. And so we had a two week va, uh, [00:23:00] two week honeymoon. And there again, I think God knew we needed two, two whole weeks. One, we were finally in the same town. And, um, I think that that was just such a sweet gift from God to give us that much time to acclimate.

But honestly, the first six months of our marriage, we would look at each other and pinch ourselves and go, we’re in the same town. I don’t have to cry in a driveway. I don’t have to cry at an airport. Like, this is amazing. That was,

Dawn Pruszkowski: you don’t have to run to the mailbox and see what he has to say. Yes,

Julie Sims: yes, the male, the male diminished then.

But, um, so that was just a really, really sweet time. But, um, you know, the, um, and medical school is such a time where everyone’s in the same boat. We were all poor, all of our husbands were studying and, and every, you know, so it was just a continuation. It was like grad [00:24:00] school, everybody being in grad school.

Uh, but it was an intense time. And so Brian, you wanna share a little bit about what that was like for you? Well, let me start really quickly here

Dawn Pruszkowski: and do an invitation because you did have a wedding. We do wanna see the photos from the wedding.

Julie Sims: Okay. So,

Dawn Pruszkowski: uh, I wanna Oh, for sure, invite. Yes. I wanna invite everyone to go to our website, unexpected love stories, and see Brian and Julie’s wedding photos, as well as so many more photos from.

Um, the summer of falling in love and, uh, the distance apart and all the things that happened afterwards. Just click the website, link in the show notes, and you can find so much to enjoy on their episode page. Have you Lived an unforgettable love story? We wanna hear it. And unexpected love stories. We’re collecting real stories of love that came out of nowhere or changed [00:25:00] everything.

Whether it started with a glance, a prayer, or a second chance, your story matters and it could inspire the world. Visit unexpected love stories.com and share your love story today because the world needs more stories like yours.

Okay, so you’re, you’re in your early married life and. It’s a little rough with medical school, so go ahead and share with us about that.

Brian Sims: Yeah, I, um, you know, the first couple of years of medical school is mainly just classwork and, uh, but it’s a lot of classwork. Um, so there’s a lot of study and then I was trying to be a good husband and putting my all into, uh, preparing for, you know, my future career.

Um, but then when you start to get into the clinical rotations, the last couple years of medical school and [00:26:00] certainly into your residency, so I did a residency in Lubbock as well. That’s where I went to medical school is at Texas Tech. And, um, your, your time is not your own. Mm-hmm. You know, you show up when you are supposed to.

And a number of years ago, they, for residencies, they put an 80 hour per week limit. On residency, I, when I was in a resident that was before that limit, so we would literally, you know, if you take the hours that you spent on call two to three times a week, we worked over a hundred hours a week. And, um, and so I was a little tired when I got home.

Um, maybe I wasn’t real attentive.

Julie Sims: That’s an understatement.

Brian Sims: Yeah. Probably the, yeah,

Julie Sims: I’m laughing now. I wasn’t laughing then. He would literally, I remember he had his head hitting [00:27:00] our dining room, you know, hitting our family dinner table out of sheer exhaustion. I mean, he was just toast. But that was how everybody was. Yeah. Uh, it wasn’t just him, but it was it, it was taking a toll.

Uh, you know, once again, I’m finding myself lonely. You know, I’m a, I’m separated from him and apart, and I remember at one point he, he just kinda looked me at the face and he said, Julie, he said, it’s, it’s, it’s,

Brian Sims: it’s not me against you, it’s us against them. It’s

Julie Sims: us against them. You know?

Brian Sims: And yeah,

Julie Sims: I, I just needed to hear that, that truth of, Hey, this is not a fight between you and I.

We have to stay together to survive this. They owned him, they owned his time. There was no time that he could say, well, you know, my wife would really like me to stay home tonight. I’m calling in. I was like, no. That was unheard of. Impossible. [00:28:00] And so, um, that’s just how it was and you just had to live through it.

Um, and so we, we got through that and then we, um, decided to. Moved back home and start his medical practice, and it was years later that Brian explained to me just how. Honestly, how f how frightening that was for him. So do you wanna tell a little bit about, you know, what you were feeling at that time?

Yeah. You know, as a

Brian Sims: resident you’re doing all kinds of surgery and, but you always know that there’s, um, your, your attending other words, your staff person that was ultimately responsible for, uh, anything that might not go. And, uh, but you know, when you’re in private practice, it’s you, it’s all, it’s all on you.

You, you’re the, you’re the end of the, the malpractice, uh, string of things if, if something doesn’t go well. And so, um, that was really, I don’t know why I, I mean I was just, I [00:29:00] was really stressed out for the first, probably two to three years, uh, starting my practice. And I think a lot of physicians feel that as well, is that you’re just trying to figure out.

Your own place and figuring out that you are actually competent to do the job that you’re doing, and, um, so that, and then, you know, you’re all of a sudden now you’re a business owner.

Julie Sims: Hmm.

Brian Sims: And, uh, they don’t teach you anything about business in medical school. And unfortunately, I had pursued just scientific fields, uh, in college.

So, you know, that’s, that’s another stress now is that you’re. You’re managing a, a business that, you know, uh, brings in a, a fair amount of money. And so how do you, uh, navigate that? And so mm-hmm. You know, I think, I think the thing about our story is, is that it was 25 years into our marriage [00:30:00] before I’ve, you know, God humbled me, um, to, you know, reali, you know, reveal to me how poorly I had.

Provided emotionally for my wife, you know, financially, physically, you know, for our kids and everything. I was doing a great job. Um, but just from an emotional standpoint, I didn’t understand the emotional connection at all. Uh, and I’m, I’m afraid most men really don’t get that. Um, and so we went through a very difficult time mm-hmm.

Where we had to come to, to grips with that. And, you know, man, praise God that he pursued us. Yeah. And, um, you know, brought us through that. And, you know, our relationship now is, you know, is just, we, we so enjoy each other and, uh, and now just I bring that up [00:31:00] to give people hope.

Julie Sims: Mm-hmm. ‘

Brian Sims: cause I’m sure there’s people that listen to this story, maybe just because their own story is.

Is not great and they’re looking for some happy. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I think that’s the thing is that there is hope. We were one night, we were one night away from a divorce, um, and we had six kids by that time.

Julie Sims: Mm-hmm.

Brian Sims: And, and yet God stepped in, you know, the scales fell off my eyes to my part of it, which gave her hope and.

We were able to move ahead. And from that point, God has just revealed himself so much to us that now we love, you know, building into other couple, you know, young couples who are in that hard time. And, you know, we’re like, yeah, we, we’ve kind of been through some of that and we understand,

Julie Sims: you know, [00:32:00] and which takes me back to our birth.

Uh, that birth was a sign, a wonder and a miracle. That doesn’t happen every day. Um, and God would remind me, no, Julie, I put you together. Stay the course, stay in the game. And he truly would speak to me. Um, just so clearly, like he was waking me up night after night, having conversations with me and pursuing me and saying, no, you know, go back to the word.

What does the word say? You know? Honor your husband, you know, love your husband, submit to your husband. And, um, and just, just re that was when God became extremely real.

Mm-hmm.

Extremely real. And, uh, one morning Brian was preparing to go on a medical mission to Africa with mercy ships. And, uh, the Lord spoke to me and said, um, if you go, if you’ll go with him, I’ll [00:33:00] heal your marriage.

And I thought. Well, okay. At that moment I was like, okay. And so I go in, he’s getting ready for church and I told him, this is what I told him. I said, uh, the Lord told me I was supposed to go to Africa with you. I said, nothing about the healing marriage part. Kept that to myself. Um, and he looked at me and he said, well, you have two weeks to get your application and your immune immunization.

And I said, okay. And I mean, sure enough. God made it happen. And in two weeks we were on our way to Africa, and the short story of that is we were to be there for two weeks. And after two weeks of serving there, I mean, nothing has shifted. Nothing had changed. And I’m, and I’m, and there again, God’s still waking me up.

And the well night get up. I want to talk to you. And so I told him, I said, nothing has changed. Well, like the next day, a volcano erupts in Iceland. And [00:34:00] every flight across Europe is canceled. Nobody can travel because of the volcanic ash. So even though it erupts in Iceland, we can’t leave Africa and we end up staying a whole nother week.

We had to call the babysitter and go, Hey, I hope you can keep the six kids. We can’t get home. You know, have mercy on us. So it ended up at the end of the week that we. Took a chance and crossed over from Togo into Ghana, I mean, a crazy experience, um, to get to Accra, the airport there. And we honestly thought we were gonna lose our lives.

It was such a sketchy deal. Um, but that it, it was sketchy. Um, but that was the moment when God forced us to work together. It’s like if we’re gonna get back home to our family and children, we have to pull together. We have to be a team to get ourselves back. And so, uh, we did [00:35:00] make it to the airport, got on that plane and got home and, um, that’s what it took to get our attention to go.

I am serious about you two staying the course work as a team, not against each other.

Brian Sims: Yeah. So hope for, hope for the situation.

Dawn Pruszkowski: So that, so that one, that life and death situation kind of took the, took the blinders off and was like, wait, hold on. We, it was a marker. And, and, and, and then, so how, how after that did you keep that going?

Julie Sims: I think that one of the things that we began to be much more intentional, um, Brian made it, made it a priority that we would have a regular date, lunch or date night. And we still do it. We still do it. And so it’s like, no, I knew that I could handle the [00:36:00] week if I was gonna for sure get a date, lunch or date.

Date and night with him. It’s like, I could live for that, but it was promised to me and he upheld that. And um, so I think that that was one thing. And, and another thing that we’ve done of recent is we have a pair of talking chairs. And so our chairs are comfortable, they swivel. And so whenever we have anything that we need to hash out or talk about or encourage each other, just hear each other’s day, it’s like, Hey, let’s go to the talking chairs.

And so that’s a place of refuge for us. Yeah. To be able to stay connected. And so, um, and to do it in a way that’s not aggressive. You’re sitting, you’re relaxed. So even when we’ve discussed difficult things, we are doing it in a, a relaxed, um, calm manner to where we can just maturely say. You know, I kind of feel like I, I could use a little [00:37:00] more time this week, you know, I know you’ve been busy, but, um, sure.

Need that date night. Um, and so we, we do love our talking chairs. That’s something that we’re, we’re pro for the talking chairs. Yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yeah. I love that. And then, and then several, it seems like God just kept opening doors for you after that to. Partner together for things.

Julie Sims: Yes. So you wanna talk, um,

Brian Sims: about the prophetic team?

Julie Sims: Yes. Well, we’ll talk about the prophetic team.

Brian Sims: Yeah. Uh, Julie, we had, okay. When we are at the point of, of breaking with our, uh, our marriage, we, Julie said we, we need to go to a different church. And there’s a church in our town that was kind of known for marriage ministry and stuff. We thought, well, we need that.

And, um. You know, it was, it was a charismatic church, which neither one of us had grown up in. Um, and so that was outta my comfort zone. But by that point, the God had [00:38:00] me in a headlock and I was just like, okay, wherever. That’s, that’s where we Yes Lord. Yes Lord. Yeah. Yes Lord. Um, and so we started going there and one of the things that, uh, Julie got involved in pretty soon after we started going there was a prophetic team.

And I was, I was skeptical at best. Um, you know, it’s like, okay, you’re doing what you’re, you’re prophesying to people and o okay. Um, and so fi but I, you know, it was like God was saying, speaking to me and saying, you need to do this with her. You know, you don’t let her get out ahead of you in an, in an area.

Um. And that let that be a division between you. And so I went to the classes that you needed to go to, to start going to the, the, the real classes. Uh, they had kind of a seminar, you know, where you’d learn about it. And I remember being in that [00:39:00] seminar and very quickly understanding that I’d been hearing God all my life.

Um, I, I remember, you know, the man that was, uh, teaching us, he said, God is a communicating God. He’s communicating to us all the time. It’s a matter of us understanding and learning how to hear him. And, and it, it was funny because, uh, an experience I would have often would be, you know, I’m in the shower, it’s a day of surgery.

I have maybe a particularly hard case. And so I’m going through it while I’m, you know, I’m showering stuff and the shower’s the best place for thoughts, you know, and it was like, God would give me an, an idea of like, well, how, you know, approach it this way or maybe you can fix it in this way. And it, it was like, oh, that’s not in the textbooks.

And I hadn’t thought about that. Mm-hmm. And so I always knew that was from God, but for some reason I never equated that with hearing God [00:40:00] until I was in that seminar. And so. At that point I was intrigued. And so I started becoming involved. Um, and that was, that was probably one of the, the best things for our marriage.

’cause now we both understood that Yeah, we hear God. Mm-hmm. And we can actually hear God for other people. Uh, and that’s what prophetic ministry, that’s all it is, is just being a, a conduit for God to speak to people and speak into their life. And that, that, that tool has opened up so many opportunities for us.

Julie Sims: Yeah. I think that we, we tell other couples that this took our marriage to a whole nother level.

Yeah.

Because we are now, uh, so in sync spiritually. Like, you know, we are, we can hear for each other. Um, we can hear for other people. I mean, God has been talking to both of us our whole lives. I mean, it was, honestly, I’ve heard him since I [00:41:00] was a little girl.

He would just say, give, uh, a word of instruction. I mean, like that day in the in, you know, Hey, go to Africa with your husband. I heard it clear is a bell. Uh, and so, but so now it has just bonded us together to be able to serve together in our church and, and we can be out and about and, and the Lord will, he, he’ll give us a word of encouragement for someone and we’ll speak it to a waitress or a bus boy or, or you know, someone honestly, total strangers, and they will look at you and go, oh my gosh.

That’s, that’s exactly what I’m going through. How did you know that? And you’re like, well, I, I didn’t. We

Brian Sims: didn’t. We didn’t. We didn’t. But he does.

Julie Sims: But, but he does. And he cares about you. He loves you. And he cares about you, and he just wanted to, to communicate to you that he’s very aware of what you’re going through.

And so these people receive a touch from God. Many times they’re, they’re, they’ll start to cry. Uh, they’ll hug you, can I [00:42:00] hug you? And, uh, you know, by all means, we take all the hugs. Um, they’re, again, it’s just another way of God touching them by hugging them. And so that has been just a very powerful way that Brian and I have been able to.

Truly come together, um, as one, as husband and wife, and work as a very powerful, I always think of, uh, two oxen pulling, uh, you know, a team of oxen pull and can do much work when they work together than when they’re fighting with each other and trying to go in opposite directions. Yeah. And so, you know, I think the beauty of our story, um, as we’re wrapping up is, you know, we feel like now we pull.

As a very powerful team and that we get to partner with God in ways that we never, yeah. Never had done before, never knew existed, and it’s just been such a beautiful journey for us. So we feel like the best is yet to come. Like we’re just getting [00:43:00] started. It’s just

Dawn Pruszkowski: getting better and better and better.

Julie Sims: Yes. Yes. And, and I hope that people, um, can have hope for their marriage that, um. You know, it is, remind yourself, it’s not me against you, it’s us against them, or whatever it is that’s coming against you. That the power is in staying together and staying in sync with God.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and then, and you share things like this on, on your podcast.

Brian Sims: Yes,

Dawn Pruszkowski: we

Julie Sims: do. We have relation eq and like you, we we’re very relational, like we want to hear people’s real life stories. Our point in having that podcast is we know a lot of people who carry life’s wisdom. Like we have gained wisdom and so have many of our friends and people that we interview, and so we want them to tell their story and tell what worked, but then if something didn’t work, it’s like.

Maybe come around and tell, you know, I would’ve [00:44:00] done it this way. In hindsight, I probably would’ve done it this way. Because there again, it’s just imparting God’s wisdom to people, um, in a format to where it’s real life stories, real life situations that other people go, uh, are dealing with. One of our, uh, episodes is a couple that, um, have.

A severely handicapped young man and he special needs and just their story of how do they live life with their son McCoy, who’s in a wheelchair and blind and 27, and how many people are out there dealing with a special needs person in their home and they, they need hope about that situation. Yeah. And so those are, I mean, we have a variety of, uh, conversations with people.

And so, um, please go to relation EQ and check us out

Dawn Pruszkowski: the amount of wisdom that you have acquired. Um, would you mind sharing a final word with our listeners? Um, I think [00:45:00] that there are so many people who think that God’s busy doing all these other things, um, and that find, that finding a spouse is, is not, you know, top on his priority list for you.

Um, so would you just share a word of wisdom about how the father does want to be a part of that in, in our lives?

Brian Sims: Yeah. I think, um, as we became parents, you know, that was probably one of the best revelations to me of God’s heart for us, is just seeing those feelings and those emotions that were welling up inside of us as we were having children and wanting the best for them.

And. It’s, and so if I take that mindset of, of that’s God’s mindset towards me mm-hmm. Then there’s, there’s nothing that concerns my child that I am not wanting to be there and [00:46:00] be involved in and help them with, and certainly a spouse. We take that very seriously in our family. We do, um, you know, who our, our children marry is, is really important.

And, and so our, our third child is gonna be coming up on, on their wedding here in the next year. And, you know, we are so thrilled with the person that they’ve picked and, you know, and our other two married children the same thing we say. You guys have set the bar high for our family. Yeah. And. So, yeah, we’re, we take a really big interest in that and the, our Heavenly father is even more so in interested, so, yeah, no, it’s, I agree with you.

It’s, he has a keen interest in who you choose as a mate because it, it, it impacts your life so incredibly. Just like for us, it took us a while to get, get to [00:47:00] the point where we felt like, okay, like Julie said, we were pulling together. Um, but now it’s like, man, but those, you know, those 25 years in the wilderness, uh, was building, it was building experience and, and lessons that we could speak from.

Julie Sims: Yeah. Good. Yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yeah. That’s perfect. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful story today. It was so much fun. Thanks. Yeah. I’m glad you enjoyed it. We lived it.

Brian Sims: We enjoyed telling story too. Yeah. It’s fun to tell that. Okay. Yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Good. Um, and friends, remember God started writing our stories long before we could see it. We just need to trust him and let him be the loving author that he is. And don’t forget to go to our website, unexpected love stories.com to learn more about Brian and Julie and all the things they’re doing.

You can view [00:48:00] their love story pictures. You can see all the ways that you can interact with them and their businesses. The link to their episode page is just in those show show notes just down below. Um, and are you following us on social media yet? Look for Unexpected Love Stories podcast. That’s unexpected Love Stories podcast on, uh, Instagram, on Facebook, and on TikTok.

Besides giving you like sneak peeks into the episodes that are coming up. We also post Fun Man on the street interviews where we ask people, uh, funny stories, uh, uh, tell us their stories about falling in love. Or what their ideas are of a great date, things like that. We show photos and reels regularly.

It’s a great way to stay in touch with us. Well, I hope that your heart feels lighter and full of hope after the story. So, you know, sometimes the best love stories are the ones that we never saw coming. So keep your heart open ’cause love is waiting for you. We’ll see you next [00:49:00] time. Bye.