Testimonies - Marriage Testimony

September 29, 2009

Suzy:

In 2003 at the Annual MorningStar New Years conference, the second best thing in my life happened. Kamran Yaraei walked up onto the stage to give his testimony of his conversion from a Shiite Muslim to Christianity. As soon as I saw his 66 frame and beautiful eyes, I knew he was my husband. His testimony brought us to our knees, and onto our feet, all at the same time.

We met after the service when my friends Molly and Briscilla and I invited Kamran to a conference we were doing in Georgia in two weeks time. Kamran lived in Atlanta at the time, and was so excited to come out to the conference in Georgia. He had fallen in love with MorningStar at the New Year's Conference and wanted to experience more. He was not thinking along the lines that I was?but somehow we all knew what was happening.

The conference in Georgia was at Molly Williams' family church, River of Life Outreach, pastored by her uncle, Clint Williams. River of Life Outreach is a fiery, electrified fellowship, full of fresh worship and the arts, with people of all ages. We love to go there to minister.

We all hung out at Molly's parents house and Kamran joined us. As I fell headlong in love, the Lord wasn't saying much to Kamran. I tried to be as calm and cool as I could.

At this point I had been single for 9 years. I wasn't exactly pining away to be married, but I was open to whatever God had for my life. In Georgia we went for walks and hung out with friends, getting to know each other.

I want to share a revelation I received from the Lord while I was falling head over heels in love.

I began to ask the Lord to hurry up and show Kamran what He was showing me because I felt too old to date, and I wasn't terribly interested in the idea of dating anyway. I was like, "If he's my husband, let's just get on with it." I asked the Lord not to put us through a long courtship only to find out us being together wasn't His plan. I didn't want to end up with a broken heart. As I was sharing this with Jesus, I heard him say, "Why not? Why are you afraid of a broken heart? Broken hearts make you more like Me, and that is the most important aspect of your walk with Me , you being changed into My image."

I said, "OK, have at it all! I will fall! If I break, I break. I will always have You."

After this conversation with the Lord I invited Kamran to the MorningStar annual Winter Ball, and he accepted. We talked on the phone a few times and then two weeks later he came to my house for dinner with Rick and Julie Joyner, Steve and Angie Thompson and Emil and Briscilla Zananari. This was the turning point.

Kamran:

A friend invited me to a MorningStar Conference. I almost turned the offer down, but now I am so glad I went!

I fell in love with MorningStar right away, though I had never experienced anything like it. It seemed so real, and I wanted to get to know these people more. I had read Rick Joyner?s book, Final Quest, and it had impacted my life so much. I really enjoyed the conference.

During one of the worship sessions I had a very clear vision. Suddenly a vision of a woman appeared standing right next to me, I heard the Lord say, "That is your wife." I could not see her face. She was tall and thin and her hair was straight, but she had her head down. I knew it was real.

After the vision I went up on stage to share my testimony.

(I saw Suzy when she was leading worship, and then again when she was sitting in the audience, but I didn't connect her with the vision.)

I really enjoyed the conference in Georgia at River of Life. I was really more interested in their fresh, fiery worship than anything else. I didn?t really get the message about Suzy right away.

When Suzy asked me to the Winter Ball I knew I was supposed to go. Two weeks later I drove to her house for a dinner with several MorningStar leaders. It was very strange to be doing this. I walked into Suzy's house and she was cutting asparagus. Her head was down and her straight hair was covering her face. Suddenly I heard the Lord say, "This is your wife." It felt like my heart physically melted when I recognized Suzy as the woman in my vision.

I learned to dance at the Ball. I have learned a lot since we got married, mostly how to have fun. I never had much of a childhood, so I am catching up on doing all the things I missed out on with Suzy.

 

Suzy: The Wedding -

MorningStar's Winter Ball was amazing. It was fairytale like. The day after the ball we both knew that the Lord had indeed brought us together. There were all kinds of confirmations and signs. We communicated over the phone for the next 6 months, with a few visits in between.

On July 4, 2004 at 11am we married in a small private worship center built by Buck and Elaine Petty. It sits on a beautiful hill right up the road from our house.

Angels were everywhere. You could feel their presence as I walked up the short aisle with Buck laughing the whole way. Rick Joyner married us. Buck Petty gave me away. Don Potter sang an amazing prophetic song, and Molly and Sarah Williams sang a favorite worship song. Steve Thompson, Bob Jones, Sheri Haynes and Briscilla Zananari all blessed us with prayers. The entire wedding was spontaneous and free. And of course, I did not wear a veil!

The wedding video is so anointed that Kamran's father in Iran watches it every month and gets his peace form it!

The wedding and reception are a great testimony of God's provision. We didn't have much in the way of finances to pay for a wedding, and we were a bit old to ask our parents, so Jesus did His work through the body of Christ to make our wedding unforgettable. They helped with everything from providing and preparing the worship center to putting together an amazing reception.

We had a worship dance party under the MorningStar tent at West Meadows. We opened it up to anyone who wanted to come and asked them to bring food! Many friends and people from our MorningStar fellowship showed up with loads of home cooked food.

All of my closest friends helped set everything up and it was so beautiful! Kamran built a dance floor on the dirt floor and all my favorite worship leaders came to play and sing my favorite songs. It was really hot and my dress was nearly ruined from dancing and sweating but I didn't care.

It was truly the happiest day of my life since I met Jesus.

Kamran got us a weeklong stay at a resort on the Big Island in Hawaii. Friends, and people we didn't even know, donated funds that paid for our food. We will never be able to thank them enough.

Through another acquaintance at MorningStar we were connected to a wonderful family on the Big Island, Winton and Carrie Nicholson, who offered to let us stay in an apartment connected to their home to extend our honeymoon. We stayed there another week and experienced more miracles.

Kamran learned to snorkel - his first time in the ocean! Carrie taught me how to scuba dive - something I had wanted to do all my life. Then they blessed us financially after we had stayed in their house. God is truly amazing.

Our marriage is a testimony of God's great love for His children. It is a testimony of God's perfect match-making skills if we wait on Him. It is a testimony of provision, restoration, and many other things that would take many pages to write.

Every day Kamran and I thank God for our union. He brought two people, with completely different backgrounds, from opposite sides of the globe, together through the love of Jesus. Only God could orchestrate a plan and meeting this good. And we were only able to find one another because we followed Jesus.

A Persian and a Texan. Ha! What a great sense of humor God has! Now we're off into new Holy Spirit Adventures in faith to see what He will do next.

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