Living For Love: How Denise & Steve Came Together
It would be easy to look at Denise on the surface and see an attractive 27-year-old woman, blessed with a loving family and countless friends and think that perhaps she had it easy when it came to finding her spouse. It would be easy to think that, but it would be inaccurate.
Denise spent nights wondering if she was really called to the vocation of marriage. She went through a painful break-up four years ago. And one thing she really didn’t believe in was online dating. In spite of it, she decided to give CatholicMatch a try.
If you think this is the point in the story where everything comes up roses, that isn’t so. Denise did meet someone and start a whirlwind two-month long-distance relationship, but it ended in yet another very painful breakup. “I swore online dating wasn’t going to get a second chance,” she said.
But a second chance it was, and Denise sees the workings of the Holy Spirit behind it all, gently prodding her to give it another chance. She began to read through the success stories, look at people’s photos and with the eyes of faith, saw the working of God in their lives. It inspired her to share her experience with CatholicMatch with other friends. “I have watched THREE of them meet their future spouses, fall in love, and get married!” she said enthusiastically.
There were other life changes going on for Denise. After finishing her graduate degree at Creighton, she decided to settle in Denver. This was done after prayerful discernment, so it was ironic that she found the man of her dreams soon after…in Texas.
Steven was 31-years-old and was having his own dating struggles, albeit not quite as painful as Denise’s. South Texas is not exactly a Catholic hotbed and his dating prospects were slim. He saw online dating as a necessity in expanding his available pool.
A quote in Russian that meant “living for love” was on Steven’s profile and it caught Denise’s eye and inspired her to write to him. That message led to correspondence back and forth and ten days later Steven was on a plane to Colorado.
The young couple met for a drink on Friday night and then went hiking in the Rocky Mountains on Saturday.
“Neither of us could stop talking all weekend and from that very first night we both knew we had something special,” Denise told CatholicMatch.
Seven months later Steven relocated to the Denver area so he could be close to Denise. Shortly after his move he took her to Beaver Creek. There’s a beautiful stone chapel where he proposed, with the picturesque backdrop of snow falling. Their engagement is set for this coming June.
Denise learned a lot of lessons along the way and one of them was being open to having one’s preconceived ideas challenged — in this case, online dating. When Denise began, she was so embarrassed about being online that she made sure her family and friends couldn’t see any “evidence” on her laptop. Filling out a profile required her to think more deeply about who she was. And in the end, with all her journey’s crazy twist and turns, it will end when she weds her best friend.
