Dr. Marla Woodmansee: [00:00:00] And he said, Marla, would you come up here? And I, I thought, what in the world? The front of this church, I go up into the front of the church and he says, God brought me this miracle to this church. Remember, this man was 37 years old. He’d never been married. He’d been engaged a couple times from what I’ve been told from my mother-in-law to two crazy women, but he’d never been married.

And this, and he, he goes down on his knee and he had his uncle film this. So I go from smiling to my mouth, dropping when he goes down on his knee and he holds out a ring. And he said, would you, will you marry me on our fifth date?

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

She was a single mom of two new in town and just looking for a church instead. She stumbled into an unexpected love story. Welcome to Unexpected Love Stories. I’m your host, Don Perkowski, and today I am so honored to have Dr. Marla Woodman. See with me. She’s a motivational and keynote speaker, a bible communicator, a TV host, an author, and the founder of Dr.

Marla Ministries, a nonprofit dedicated to sharing God’s word around the world, including through her YouTube channel. Dr. Marla’s story began when she was orphaned at birth and later miraculously healed from a brain tumor. Her life is a powerful testimony that [00:02:00] nothing is impossible with God. She’s earned a master’s degree in theological studies and a doctor of ministry, and she’s the author of She Is Possible and Love the Most, a marriage booklet, and today she’s here with us sharing her amazing love story.

This is gonna be so good. Welcome Dr. Marla. How are you doing today?

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: I’m doing great. How are you?

Dawn Pruszkowski: I’m doing fabulous. I’m so excited. Um, I’d love to have you take us back to that time in your life when you were just new in town. You’re looking for a church to call home and life starts to change. Would you tell us about that?

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: I’d love to. Yeah. I. I was a school teacher teaching third graders, and I moved into a new community looking for a church. I was a single mom with two little children at the time who were four and six, and I wanted a special church for my family. [00:03:00] And so as I’m looking for a church, the last thing I had on my mind really was meeting another man.

Because I was focused on the Lord, I was focused on being a school teacher and focused on being a mama of my two little kids. But you know, I really think that God knows our heart more than we know our ourself. He knows us better than we know ourself. He knows our heart de our heart’s desire, and he knew that deep in my heart.

I really wanted to be remarried. I wanted a father to my children. I wanted a Christian, godly man, and I wanted to live a life in God’s abundance with the family that was really in my heart, and God knows what’s in our heart. And so [00:04:00] when we, in the least likely places. God will demonstrate his glory through an unexpected, what I call a suddenly.

And that happened to me because when I went to this new town to teach school, looking for a church, my first day going to this new church that I was gonna try out as I was in the courtyard going to to Sunday school, you know, that’s when we had Sunday school back in the day. I was on my way to Sunday school 25.

Well, it would’ve been 28 years ago now, 25 years ago, excuse me. Um, when I was on the way into that Sunday school, I tripped in the courtyard over some construction things and hurt my ankle. I go into the Sunday school place, tr. [00:05:00] I wobbled in there with my ankle swollen up. I was, um, you know, limping into this church and it hurt.

It was, I mean, it was throbbing. And as I wobbled in there, they had this single gentleman come and look at my ankle, who happened to be an emergency room physician, and he came over to observe. And look at my ankle and he held my ankle in his hands and did all the things that a medical physician would do.

And as he’s talking to me, I felt that little spark because I knew they had told me, someone had told me before I even went to church, oh, there’s a single bachelor there you should meet, which is very interesting because I was not. I didn’t think that would be any interest of mine at the [00:06:00] time, but it just so happens God had a way of having us meet.

And so that’s how I met the man that God had set aside for me 25 years ago.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Wow. And you said you felt a little spark as he’s looking at your ankle.

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: Yes. I remember. As he’s talking to me, I remember just the, you know, that little heart rhythm kick up a little bit and I, I just remember me thinking how sweet he is and, and I remember thinking.

You know, he has the most beautiful blue eyes, and I just remember thinking, I’m never gonna go back to this church again. I thought that is it. I, I feel this nudge and so I thought I’m running as fast as I can. A

Dawn Pruszkowski: point a point.

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: That’s exactly [00:07:00] what I thought. I thought, okay, I’m feeling a nudge. I am not so honestly.

Um, I didn’t go back to that church for like a month, and, and I, because I knew there was this little spark, I, I could feel that little spark. And so the lady that had, um, invited me and told me about him actually was my daughter who was four years old. She was her, her preschool teacher, and her name was Paulette.

And so Paulette. Says to me when I’m taking my daughter there a month later, she said, oh, um, I just thought you should know that Dr. Ray, they all called him Dr. Ray. Dr. Ray was asking about you at Church Sunday, and I was like, Hmm. And then she said, so I gave him your phone number.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Well thank you, Paulette. [00:08:00]

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: So she said, I just want you to know that Dr. Ray has your phone number and you might get a phone call. And I’m like, oh my goodness. So that is how it all started and sure enough. Within a week he called me and he was so sweet. And this was way before cell phones of course. So I didn’t know who would be on the other end of the line when you answer the phone.

But he said, this is Ray that I met you at church. And we talked for a little while. He said, um, you know, I just wanted to see if maybe we could go to dinner sometime. And, uh, and of course, Paulette. Every morning when I would take my daughter to preschool would say all these wonderful things about him and including, he was the men’s director of the church and he did medical mission work overseas and, and she would go on and on and on [00:09:00] about how this single bachelor who had never been married would be just a fine gentleman for me to consider.

So anyway, that’s, that’s how it all started and we went on our first date and I remember telling him on our very first date, now I think you’re really sweet. It seems like everyone else does too. And, and I know you’re a wonderful, godly man, but I just want you to understand that I’m, I am very content being a single mom, having my children loving Jesus, and I’m never interested in getting married again.

So I just want you to understand on our first date that maybe we could go to dinner every once in a while. But I’m just really not interested. So if you’re looking for someone to marry, that’s not me. That’s not me. Yeah, that’s right, sister. That is not me. That’s what I told him. And it’s so funny looking [00:10:00] back because by our third date, I knew the Holy Spirit told me, this is the man you’re gonna marry two dates later and on our fifth date.

He picked me up to go to church. That would be our fifth date. So I called going to church our date, and on our fifth date, he took me to church and he goes up in front of the whole church. Fifth date. He talks about miracles, that God brings miracles into our life and that God had brought a miracle into his life.

He said, Marla, would you come up here? And I, I thought, what in the world? The front of this church, I go up into the front of the church and he says, God brought me this miracle to this church. Remember, this man was 37 [00:11:00] years old. He’d never been married. He’d been engaged a couple times from what I’ve been told from my mother-in-law to two crazy women, but he’d never been married.

And this, and he, he goes down on his knee and he had his uncle film this. So I go from smiling to my mouth, dropping when he goes down on his knee and he holds out a ring. And he said, would you, will you marry me on our fifth date? Now five dates earlier in

Dawn Pruszkowski: front of the whole church,

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: in front of everybody, God and everybody, and I said, yes, and I, I don’t, I can’t even believe the words came outta my mouth because I, I can’t believe that that’s what I did and said, and it all happened that way.

But sure enough, we met in June in the summer of, in June, in the year [00:12:00] 2000 and. Five dates later, he asked me to marry him at the same church. And five months after that, we had our wedding at the same church and we just celebrated 25 years together. So I’m here to tell you, I’m just a witness that with God, all things are possible.

So I went from a single mom of two kids. To meeting the love of my life. We had two more children after we got married and we’ve raised four, but God is so good.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Mm-hmm. Now I’ve got, I’ve got a question. How did people react? I’m sure there was a lot of applause and people going crazy when he asked you to come down.

Proposed for, proposed to you at the church.

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: The church was very excited. Um. To be quite honest, [00:13:00] some of his family members thought he’d lost his mind. Here he was, he’d waited all this time to, to find the right girl, and he had, uh, his grandpa actually founded the church I was in, which I didn’t know that at the time.

So his grandma, grandpa pastored this church and he’d had all these people praying for him for so long in his family. And so a few of those family members thought he’d lost his mind and were, they were trying to get him to wait to get to know me more before we married, which, you know, I understand that.

And, and you know when, when you know God does something supernatural from the Holy Spirit and you know that, you know that, you know it’s from God, and that’s how we felt. Then you just, you go with what God tells you to do, and that became [00:14:00] a beautiful love story.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Okay, so tell us about that special day.

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: Tell us about your wedding. Our special wedding day, um, was so sweet. My two little children. Here’s the thing, I, I really thought there was no way a man could love my two children as if they were his own, because I was so protective. Of my children and I thought there’s no way I could meet someone to love them.

So I’ll probably, that’s why I thought I’d probably not remarry. But what was so special is I would say to my husband, why do you wanna marry me so much? And he didn’t even know that. But he would respond with, you’re a bonus package. It’s not only you, I get to marry, but I get to have a whole family. And he would look at it in a way of, you know.

He would always respond in this sweet kind response of, you’re a bonus package, and he would just melt my heart. [00:15:00] And so when? When? Uh. When we married on that special day, my daughter, who was four actually got to be the flower girl. And my son who was six, was the little ring barrier barrier. And so we have these beautiful photos of all four of us and it was just such a special day.

Um, it’s kind of funny because my daughter was really upset about it and she was not gonna allow her heart to be softened and she was kind of. Little, she had this little, you know, little anger like persona that she was putting on. Like, you know, she wasn’t gonna let him into her life. And it was so sweet because shortly after that was spring break and he took us to Disney World for spring break.

And it was so funny because at one point at Disney World and she, she just kept. [00:16:00] Hardening her heart toward him. But at one point at Disney World, she was, she’d gotten wet, it got a little cold, it got nighttime, and he, he, he said, come on. Oh, he wrapped her in a towel and put him on her shoulders, you know, carrying her on his shoulders.

And that was it. She, he melted her heart. And, and the, her heart changed from that day forward. And, um, you know, he’s always been like a dad to them. So, um. You know, he was very persistent in winning their heart. And, uh, to this day, um, now they’re 31 and 30, they’re only 18 months apart, but to this day, he’s a dad to them.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: So it’s a beautiful story. Um, God is so good. That is, of course, along those 25 years we’ve had our challenges, but. Even in the midst of any challenges, we go back to [00:17:00] our foundation and God is our source and God is our foundation. And I would honestly say I’d love my more, my husband more today, and I’m more in love with him today than I’ve ever been.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Oh, that’s, that’s so good. I love that. So did you guys go on a honeymoon?

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: We did, yes. We had a beautiful wedding.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Fabulous wedding.

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: It’s so funny, I, I was like, you know, I’ve been married before. Let’s just elope. And he was like, are you kidding me? I’ve waited 37 years to get married. We are not just eloping.

And he wanted a church traditional wedding and all. He’s very close to all of his aunts and uncles and cousins and mom and all these people, his grandpa. And so we had a, a nice church wedding. And then, um, we went to Hawaii. For a week I was teaching school, I was a school teacher, so we went on Thanksgiving break and the church or the school let me go a few [00:18:00] days extra.

And so on our honeymoon we had such a wonderful, pleasant time and we said then 20, in 25 years on our 25th wedding anniversary, we’re gonna go back to Hawaii and spend more time. ’cause we were rushed, you know, it was a kind of a rushed week. ’cause he was working and I was working a lot. So this past 2025, we went to Hawaii for two weeks and I mean we just, we spent a week in Maui and a week in Hawaii.

We had the most blessed special time, uh, of just relaxing and being together. And I just thought, you know, God, you’re so good. Um. It’s just been a beautiful, sweet time in our marriage. And, and like I said, like everyone, we’ve had our times of trouble and our times of, you know, mm-hmm. Having to pray through, but [00:19:00] never to the point where we thought we’d ever split up.

’cause God is our source. God is our foundation, and he put us together.

Announcer: How do you know when you’re falling in love? Join us for the Love Unexpected podcast. This true life romantic journey dives into the whirlwind story of how one woman’s life miraculously transformed leading her across the sea, where she discovered the love she didn’t expect. Listen now on your favorite podcast platform.

Dawn Pruszkowski: That’s so good. Okay, so your life’s changed now that you, you’ve become one and you just said you weathered storms and things like that. Would you just share some of those seasons and those challenges and, uh, opportunities with us?

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: I would say one of our greatest [00:20:00] challenges without being too specific was someone in our family.

That, um, really made a lot of challenges for us and it was really, it was really difficult. Um, and God had a, a lady in my life, this is why women need other women. Iron sharpens iron, and I was younger then and God put this special lady in my life who was older, more wise, had already lived a lot of trials herself, and I would share with her my frustrations with this person that would come in between my husband and I, and it went on and on for.

I would say several years, I would mention these things to [00:21:00] her, and one day she said, I’m, I’m gonna tell you straight up what I think, and I want you to hear what I have to say, and you need to sit down. And I said, okay. She said, here’s what I think the Lord is telling me to tell you. The enemy is trying to confuse.

He’s trying to kill still and destroy your marriage. And the way he’s showing me, the way he’s showing me to tell you is right now you’re allowing him to win because you’re playing into his trap. Because every time you’re allowing this person to have a foothold in between you two, he’s winning. And she said, I want you to try something.

This changed my [00:22:00] life, really. She said, I want you to try not mentioning this person’s name to your husband or any negative thing about this person for one month. And no matter what happens when you’re around this person in your family. You will not tell him about what happens, this person, what she says to you behind his back or what she does.

Not one negative thing at all. I want you to tell me or tell God, but I don’t want you to say one thing and then I don’t want you to respond to that person either. On top of that, not one word, because the trap is you responding. To that person. And the trap is you then telling your husband and then the confusion goes on and on and the trap is the enemy wins.

So she said, I want you to see if you can rise above it. [00:23:00] I wanna see if you can win by rising, rising above it. So I was like, wow, I’m not sure if I can do that. ’cause I’d gotten into this. Way of frustration. Mm-hmm. But I said, okay, I’m gonna try it. With God’s help, I’m gonna try it. And the next time we were around that per, around, that person in the family, I didn’t fall for the bait, I didn’t respond at all.

I, I bit my tongue. I walked away. On top of that, the bait that was given, I didn’t tell my husband, I didn’t say one word. And time went on and I did this over and over again. I didn’t say a word back to the person. I didn’t say a word to my [00:24:00] husband. And what I noticed is how much peace came between us. And it also showed me.

That I was not allowing the enemy to control me anymore. The Lord was controlling it through me because what the enemy wants is to control us. He wants division. And if we can understand in our marriage the source of division, the source of confusion, and where it’s coming from, and how to fight the battle.

Then we win. And so in that time period, God said to me, in my spirit, I want you to go to the word of God and I want you to write down every scripture you can. That has to do with marriage. And then I want you to go to your husband and pray with those scriptures. Pray those [00:25:00] scriptures with your husband.

Say those verses out loud together. Take turns saying them, and then pray the ver pray together. So I ended up making a list of scriptures. And I would say, honey, he, my husband, loved the Lord with all of his heart. It was no problem for him to talk to me about scripture and pray with me. And without bringing up this other person’s name, we were drawing closer in the word of God and in prayer at the same time.

I was learning to shut my mouth and really God was training me. I didn’t really understand back then. That this was a whole training ground for ministry because as soon as you step into anything for the Lord, and in any good marriage, the enemy wants to steal it. It’s the truth, and we have to learn how to fight the battle and [00:26:00] win.

And the way to win is number one, there’s life and death in the power of our tongue. To give life or death. Mm-hmm. So we either are controlled by that life-giving word, or we’re controlled by the enemy’s words. Which one will we choose? We have the choice, and I learned this amazing thing, is I can control my tongue and I can also draw closer in my marriage through the power of prayer.

And the power of scripture. You draw closer through the word of God and through prayer, and then you guard your tongue. So,

Dawn Pruszkowski: so is that okay? I was gonna say, is that what, what led you to, um, writing the booklet?

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: What happened is I made a list of all these [00:27:00] scriptures and I had ’em, I about wore ’em out on these pieces of paper by my bed that I would handle ’em, you know, on these pieces of paper.

And it was like getting worn out and I became a women’s director at my church. God called me to that position and women would come and tell me their problems in their marriage, and I would say to them, oh, I have a list of scriptures for you. And I would tell ’em exactly what I just told you, and I would make a copy of these scriptures and I would give them these scriptures and I would tell them what to do.

This is what worked for me, and I would mentor them on what could work for their marriage. Well over time women would say, I wish you would write your story in a booklet so I could read it and see the scriptures altogether. So I thought, well, okay. And that’s how the booklet came about. It’s really simply, um, my story and a set of [00:28:00] scriptures.

I just put it in a booklet.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Any other seasons that you wanna share about, uh, your marriage and how things developed, how they grew, things that you’ve done?

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: Well, I, I was born in Orphan and I was adopted at three and a half months old. I was in foster care the first three and a half months of my life, and I didn’t realize until really till.

Not too long ago that I, I dealt with some rejection and that I had sort of an insecure insecurity in my heart. And so it’s always a process as we follow God. There’s always things to grow in. None of us have arrived and none of us are perfect. And so one of the areas I’ve, I’ve had to learn to grow in is to trust my husband.

My husband has [00:29:00] never given me a reason to not trust him, but honestly, I didn’t trust him. And it’s really funny and ridiculous to think about because he’s really the most about the most honest, trustworthy person you could ever meet. So yeah, there’s always room to grow. I’ve had to learn to trust my husband and, and, you know, not constantly try to, uh, like micromanage.

Where he is or what he is doing. Over a year ago, I bought some mustard seeds. This makes it probably more like two years ago and. I believe with all my heart in scripture, and there’s a scripture that says if you have faith as small as a mustard seed and you say from this mountain, move from here to there, the mountain’s gonna move.

Well, we know the mustard seed, you even held up your hand. It’s about as small as the tip of my pinky. I mean, it’s very tiny. Right In the store, grocery [00:30:00] store, there are mustard seeds. And I thought one day at the grocery store, I’m gonna buy some mustard seeds as a remi, a tangible reminder to look at of what faith to God.

If I have that much faith and I believe with all my heart that God can move mountains, then he will move those mountains. And so I bought mustard seeds and I said to my husband, you know, if you don’t mind. Could we ingest mustard seeds and pray the prayers of faith? And believe for some mountains to move all kinds of mountains.

We have four children. We pray for our children. We take a mustard seed and we pray for our children. And say, God, we believe in, in faith that you can move the mountains for our family, for our children, for our marriage, for our work, whatever, whatever problem that we are facing for open doors, for favor, for [00:31:00] ministry, all the things that God has put in us to come to pass.

And so we regularly, even this morning, it’s funny, even today, I, I went and got the mustard seeds and I dumped. Dumped it into my husband’s hand and I dumped it into my hand and I said, honey, would you pray? Sometimes I pray, sometimes he prays and we ingested the mustard seed and ate it and we prayed just as a tangible reminder, God, we have faith.

God, we have way more faith in this little tiny mustard seed. We have big faith right now. Um, we’re considering. A whole lot of things that are, I can’t divulge, but a whole lot of things that would drastically change our way of living. And we want God’s will, we want God’s plan. We wanna be in the right place at the right time, in the right season.[00:32:00]

So it, you know, if we’re not, there’s always areas to pray about and, and God is our source, I don’t want to be. Mm-hmm. At my age, anywhere, but in God’s plan. I don’t wanna be in the wrong place. I don’t wanna be in the wrong season. I wanna be where God wants me to be, and I want our marriage to be closer than ever.

I wanna be more in love. I wanna have more love in my, in my marriage, in the latter half than I did in the former. So I’m constantly praying for my love to grow deeper. And for us to love deeper, for us to give more. So, um, there’s always room for improvement. And I think till the day we die, we can always go deeper.

So, mustard seeds,

Dawn Pruszkowski: go buy mustard seeds today,

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: I [00:33:00] think the most, you know what a great connection. To have with your spouse. What a great thing to put between this and will always be a memory, you know? And if we do this for 20 years and 20 years from now, anything surrounding a mustard seed or faith or believing and mountains, it’s gonna be a wonderful memory of something we’ve done for a long time.

And what a beautiful, a beautiful thing to engage in, in your marriage to say, um, you know. My husband and I have been praying the prayer mountain, moving faith. For right now, it’s been about two years, but someday we’ll say 10 years, and someday 15 and some you’re 20. And so, you know, our children need the prayers of a mom and dad.

I don’t have grandchildren yet, but someday my grandchildren. We will need the prayers of her grandma and grandpa. My children’s marriages are gonna need the prayers of [00:34:00] us. So, um, you can’t ever pray too much and believe God for too much. So that, that’s where my heart is. And, um, mm-hmm. Yeah, I, I think, um, what a beautiful way to bring unity.

Into a marriage. Mustard seeds.

Dawn Pruszkowski: I love that. That’s great. Well, would you share us a little bit about your book? She’s possible.

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: I would love to. Um, she is Possible is written about the women in the Bible. So I wrote about Esther and Mary Magdalene, Rahab. The woman with the issue of blood, Mary, the mother of Jesus.

I wrote about these women, and this is the first of a series, but I wrote about women in the Bible where that seemed [00:35:00] impossible. They had unlikely odds for how their life turned out. So I wrote about turnarounds, how the least likely thing. Could happen in a, in a woman’s life and how it turned around and God changed it all.

So she is possible, is about with God, all things are possible because God can take the least likely situation as in my case. As in Esther’s case, who was an orphan and God made her the queen of Persia, the least likely person, she wasn’t even Persian, she was Jewish. And I write about these women in the Bible who once they trusted in God with all their heart, that is the key.

When they trusted in God with all their heart. God [00:36:00] changed their circumstance and, and things they thought that could, that would never happen. Rahab a prostitute. How in the world could Rahab become the great, great, great grandma of King David and be in the lineage of Jesus and yet she was a prostitute?

So I talk about the women in the Bible who their situations changed when they trusted in God, and we know Proverbs three, verse five and six says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways and he. We’ll direct your footsteps and sister, that’s exactly what happened to me.

The day I met my husband, God was directing my footsteps and you know, God can do anything for anybody when we trust in him. That is the bottom line. So that’s what my book is about. [00:37:00] Women in the Bible and I tell some of my story how I had a brain tumor at one time be when I was a single mom and how God healed me.

How I was falsely accused of child abuse and was, uh, DHS called me and investigated me, which was the most horrific, one of the most horrific things I’ve ever encountered. The lady that investigated me said, there’s no way I see that you could be an abuser when my kids were loving on me left and right when they were little.

Someone was mean and hateful and called in a hotline number on me. So I’ve, I’ve gone through a lot of unexpected challenges, but I told God during the time when I was a single mom and I had a brain tumor, and I was being faced with [00:38:00] DHS invest investigating me, and that means the possibility of your kids being taken away by the way.

I told God, I said, God, if you’ll heal me, I promise you, I will give you my whole life and I will do anything you want me to do for your kingdom. And he did heal me. He turned all those situations around and he put my feet on solid ground and I am a living testimony.

Dawn Pruszkowski: That’s a beautiful word of wisdom for, for everybody.

Um, and I think that particularly single moms are gonna want to,

Announcer: um,

Dawn Pruszkowski: get hope out of hearing your unexpected love story. Is there anything extra that you would like to share with a single mom since you are someone who was in that situation?

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: Well, I would, I would give you a warning. [00:39:00] As a single mom, I would, I would highly recommend you making sure that whoever you allow into your life is a, you.

Make sure that he’s a godly man. How will you know if he’s a godly man? You’re gonna know by his actions. Is he trying to do things that he shouldn’t try to get you to do before you’re married? Or is he honoring you until your wedding night? Is he taking you to church? Is there, is he honoring your children?

So there’s a warning of wisdom. God wants to give you a Godly man. I believe that with all my heart, but you have to be wise. Not fall into the same trap of marrying the wrong person again. [00:40:00] So you know them by their actions and by their fruit. That’s what God tells us, and you don’t have to have words to know you.

You judge by according to their actions. What are they showing us by their actions? My husband said to me, we will not be intimate until our wedding night. My husband took me to church. Mm-hmm. My husband prayed with me. My husband was the real deal. And if he, if they are not the real deal, then you sever that relationship and run away as fast as you can because you’re gonna get yourself in a sane, miserable place and it’s a distraction.

So that is my warning. Be wise, God has. Men all over this earth, and if you desire a godly man in the least [00:41:00] likely place, when you least expect it, God has a suddenly just for you. I mean, this church that I met, my husband is out in the middle of the country, in the middle of nowhere, literally surrounded by pasture land with cows.

So it wasn’t like a really big church. Full of like, like it wasn’t a singles group. All those singles groups are good. I’m not. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go to singles groups. Those are wonderful places to meet someone at. At church. I’m just saying God knows the desires of your heart, and if you trust him with the desires of your heart at the right place at the right time, he’ll give you.

The desire of your heart, but you have to be wise because right before my husband, there was a man that tried to win my heart. That would not have been the godly man. It was a distraction. And even three weeks [00:42:00] before I married my husband, that man wanted to get back together. So you have to be wise and know them by their fruit and by their actions, and you’ll know.

And if they’re not, if they’re, listen, the world is the world and God’s people living for him or God’s people living for him, you will know them. And if, if they are showing that they’re living in the world and they’re not following God with all their heart, you don’t want them, you’re not desperate. You are a child of the most high God and the most high.

God wants his daughter to have a son to be united under him. So don’t give up, but live for God with all your heart and at the right place at the right time. I’m telling you, sweetheart, as a sister in the Lord, God will do it. You just have to wait and trust in him. And then, I [00:43:00] mean, you know, I would rather be single.

And full of God’s joy living for him than to be married and miserable in a, with a man that is putting, causing me to go down into the gutter. So you don’t, you’re not desperate. You’re waiting for the prince of the king of kings to bring to you the right man. So just lean back. Have the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord’s, our strength, and let God be everything to you.

Let the Lord Jesus be everything to you. He is your husband, he is your father. He is everything. And when you just allow him to be everything to you, he will take care of you. And at the right place at the right time, he’s gonna make it all fall into place. So that’s my word of wisdom, just trusting. He’s good.

He’s a good daddy. Beautiful.

Dawn Pruszkowski: [00:44:00] Well, friends, if you’d like to learn more about Dr. Marla, if you wanna see photos of her love story and find the different ways that you can connect with her, just look in the show notes for the link that says more info and photos of Dr. Marla and that’ll take you directly to her page on our website, unexpected love stories.com.

Thank you so much, Dr. Marla, for sharing your story with us. This is a very precious story.

Dr. Marla Woodmansee: Thank you for having me. This has been such a joy to talk about my story. Um, I appreciate it.

Dawn Pruszkowski: I appreciate you being here. Friends. Remember, sometimes when life makes you stumble, it may be the very moment God is guiding you into the story that he’s been writing all along.

Now, if you were encouraged by Dr. Marla’s story, then would you be someone who uplifts another today? And would you share this episode with someone who could use just a little hope? And while you’re here, take [00:45:00] a moment to leave a rating, a review, or write a short comment on this platform so that more people, cantor discover these love stories.

Well, I hope your heart feels lighter and full of hope after hearing this story. As you know, often the best love stories are the ones we never saw coming. So keep your heart open because love truly is waiting for you. We’ll see you next time. Bye.