In the wee hours of the morning, Angela felt someone prod her awake. She sensed that something was wrong and that she should pray for Terrence, whom she had recently met on CatholicMatch.
The Accident
At the time, Angela, originally from Nigeria, was living in Italy, and Terrence lived in Georgia. During a late night/early morning conversation on Skype, the two realized that they had an undeniable spiritual connection—one that would reveal itself again and again.
While Skyping with Angela, Terrence was called away to help a family stranded along the side of the road. “He asked me to wait for him and not to sign off,” Angela remembers. “It was late in the evening for him, but it was around 4:00 a.m. in Italy for me. While waiting for him to return, I dozed off.
It was then that I felt somebody tap me. I woke up, and it came to me, ‘Terrence has not come back. He's been gone a long time.’ I slipped back to sleep, and then suddenly a scary thought came to me, ‘What if you are here waiting for him and he has had an accident, and he will not come back?’ My heart jumped in my chest, and I felt prompted to pray for him. Sleepily, I recited one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be joined with the blood of Christ for Terrence’s safety.”
When Terrence returned, he told Angela, “Do you know that I had a terrible accident?”
“I interrupted him and cried, 'Somebody woke me up to pray for you!'”
He told her “At that same moment, I was battling with the steering wheel of my car because an animal had run into my car [causing him to drive off the side of the road].”
“This incident was the first sign that made us start falling in love with each other even without seeing one another face-to-face,” Terrence, 42, shares.
Angela’s secret
Angela had left religious life after four years due to serious health problems. She moved to Italy, where her sister lived, to get medical care. The doctors cured her, but in the process, they had to remove her womb, and she would never be able to have children. “In my Nigerian culture, it is very difficult to find a man that would accept me because I am unable to give him a child. A wife is expected to conceive within a year,” shares Angela, 41.
She thought it would be almost impossible to find a Nigerian husband, but she knew that the men in Western cultures were more open to adopting.
Still, she was surprised by Terrence’s reaction when she told him early on in their relationship that she would never be able to conceive a child. “He asked me if I liked children and if I wanted to have them. That was the moment I told him that I was not able to bear children. He kept quiet for a moment, and then he said, ‘Okay. No problem. After all, we have so many children in foster homes. If it is God’s will that we become husband and wife, there are so many children that we can give a joy-filled family.'”
Six months later, Terrence traveled to Italy to spend a month with Angela. “Before I left, we started to look at the immigration process. We decided to begin the process by having a civil marriage in Italy so that this marriage could be the foundation for Angela's immigration,” Terrence explains.
You Can't Count on Love at First Sight
Terrence worried that he did not have much to offer this beautiful Nigerian woman, except for his love and his deep faith. When he arrived in Italy, Angela grappled with whether she should marry Terrence because she initially did not feel physically attracted to him, but it was clear to her that he has a good heart.
“I had prayed for a husband that was a Catholic because I wanted to be free to discuss my faith and to pray my Rosary. I asked God to provide a man for me that would accept my situation, and who would love and treat me like a queen.”
Terrence did all of those things but, still, Angela had concerns about Terrence not having a permanent job, having a roommate, and not being confident.
Terrence had prayed long for God to give him a wife that would make him a better person. He told Angela that he would get a permanent job and find a small apartment for their home. “Terrence revealed to me that he would like to change, but he never had the courage. He began changes for me, but now he is changing for himself, and he appreciates who he is,” she says.
First Love, Then Attraction
On Saturday, July 30, 2016, at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, in Stone Mountain, Georgia, the couple had a small wedding ceremony.
“Since meeting Angela, my life has been wonderful, and I feel like I am moving closer to God every day. I am now an Extraordinary Minister in the church. I am also a member of the Honor Guard with the Knights of Columbus.
Angela is now a student at Georgia State University, working on her lifetime dream of attending school to be a nurse,” he says.
Angela says, “We are happy, and now I feel attracted to Terrence [who has proved himself to be a holy and supportive husband]. I believe my marriage with Terrence is not a worldly marriage; it is beyond that.”
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