One of the wonderful things about being the new person in any setting is that you have an opportunity to make different decisions about who you want to be with the people you meet. It seems like a million lifetimes ago, but I attended a different school each year from sixth grade through eleventh grade, so I understand the freedom that comes with this well. When you are the new person, no one knows your history or has prior experiences with you that color their opinion about who you are. Yet we also have a God-given desire to be known.

Over the years, serving couples in ministry has been an area my husband and I have felt led to pursue. It has given us the opportunity to walk alongside couples through difficult seasons while also growing in our own understanding of marriage. This year, we have been able to do that in another way through Re|engage. Before serving as small group leaders, we went through the program ourselves, and it was such a blessing to our marriage. We had conversations we had never had before, looked back over more than 28 years of marriage, and had the opportunity to see and celebrate God's faithfulness throughout our story.