One wrong text led Brenda River to the right person.
Brenda habitually sent Bible verses to everyone in her contact list.
But one day in October 2009, she was sure she sent it to the correct number only to get a reply: “Amen to that. Who is this?”
She introduced herself, thinking her friend may not have recognized her number.
Brenda even added context to her introduction, saying, “you know my sister” and “you were my mom’s neighbor.”
The person on the other line had no clue, but he was honest and friendly about it.
“No, we’ve never met. My name’s Isaiah Stearns.”
And that’s how their love story began.
They both believed that day was something God orchestrated for them.
Every detail of how big of a coincidence seemed like destiny was on their side.
Isaiah just got his number early that morning.
He said his old number wasn’t working, so he headed to the phone company, and they gave him a new number.
Thirty minutes later, he received a text message – Brenda’s Bible verse.
It was also quite a coincidence that she sent that message in the evening.
Brenda planned to text her friends in the morning, but it became pretty hectic that day.
She sent the text message later that evening.
Had she sent it in the morning, Isaiah would have never received that.
The two continued to exchange text messages until Isaiah asked Brenda if he could call.
She was hesitant at first and purposely did not answer his call so she could hear what he sounded like.
After listening to her voicemail, she knew this guy was authentic and finally gave in to the call.
Time passed, and she thought she started to like him, but she still had doubts.
Isaiah lives in Ohio, 800 miles away from Brenda, who was living in Georgia
When Brenda talked to her mother about this, her mother proposed an idea: she and Brenda’s sister would be the ones to meet him over dinner.
It may be weird, but she agreed to her mom’s plan, and it worked!
“You’re going to marry this guy.” That’s what her mother told her after meeting Isaiah.
Brenda asked her mom how their dinner went and asked her to rate Isaiah from 1-10, which her mom rated an 11!
And knowing that her mom doesn’t easily say something like that, Brenda knew he must be special.
Brenda and Isaiah met for the first time in December of that year, and he popped the question a couple of months later.
They married shortly after in June, and their marriage is turning 14 years this year.
The couple has six beautiful children, which tops their serendipitous love story.
Brenda shared their story on her Instagram account, and people loved how their story seemed like it was written in the stars.
“We balance each other out so well, and I’m just so proud of the life we’re leading together and everything we’ve created – our six children. I love our story so much,” Brenda said. “I’ve always felt our story was special. It’s so nice to see it inspiring other people to really find love.”