OUR STORY
Xanga. To some, it is merely a blog. To others, it means nothing. To us, Xanga is one little tool used by God to change both of our lives forever.
I still remember why I started Xanga. In the Spring of 2004 I was sitting in the lobby of one of the dorms at college and everyone was discussing this new website. Apparently, Xanga, a blog, was the thing to have. (Like today’s Facebook or Twitter). When I got back to my dorm room, I looked it up. It appeared easy enough and I thought it would be fun to write about all the new things I was experiencing in college; so I signed up.
By the time I got home from college for the summer, I was updating my blog daily, if not several times a day. Who knew there could be therapy in letting the world know the details about your day? Some people thought it was crazy but I had several friends and followers, one of which was Katie. She and I met on Xanga, when I first started, and overtime had become good friends.
Through Katie I met “Shaggy21.” He was nothing more to me than some random guy who stopped by my site to comment. He found my posts interesting, and I thought the same. (Shaun says it is because he is a comedian at heart). I became a frequent reader of his blog, along with Katie’s. While reading each others posts, God was doing a lot of work on our hearts. He began to separately reveal certain truths about being a man or woman for God, and that things like dating needed to take a different role in our lives.
At the time we began talking, “he was done with women” and I was in a relationship with one foot out the door. It was easy to talk to each other about it, since we were just friends. (Not only were we just friends but we had several thousands of miles and states separating any chance of a relationship). After ending my relationship we started talking more often, through Xanga and emails. Emails eventually led to instant messaging, which eventually led to video chats online. Finally, we took a big step and started to call one another. We began to talk off and on and then daily. A five minute conversation became six hour conversations in the middle of the night.
After a few months, I realized that God has placed a love in my heart for Shaun. It was the kind of love that I had never felt with anyone else. No other relationship had ever drawn me closer to God. This was something new for me and I not only wanted to know Shaun more, I really wanted to know God more. We continued to communicate for over six months drawing closer and closer together. Our conversations became more in depth. We started our days together in prayer and shared our daily devotional readings with each other, finding that often they were similar.
Through this time we discovered that God led both of our hearts in the same direction. We knew that He had a big plan for us and we wanted to find out what it was. So we took a huge leap of faith and on October 13, 2004 we met for the first time face to face. It was so surreal, but it felt so natural at the same time. We saw each other again in December 2004, when Shaun met my family. Then in March 2005 I flew to Maryland to meet Shaun’s family. On March 10, 2005 Shaun asked me to marry him and we were married 3 months later on June 26, 2005.
It has been an incredible journey. Our marriage has been filled with unexpected twists and turns, but God has faithfully brought us through each day, making us stronger as a couple. God has continued to show us that He knows no boundaries. We realize that it is only by His Grace that we have been brought together and we hope that our love story and our new journey together will encourage and bless many lives.
Shaun & Amanda Wissmann
Reader Comments (2)
You know Amanda I have followed your xanga blog so many times over the years since we were both married in the year 2005. The Lord really placed you on my heart and Shawn and I are so thankful for you and Shaun. Even though we have never met. We love you both so much and are praying for you for how the Lord is working in your lives. You are such an important person for the kingdom of God and you are such an encouragement for many others but also for Shawn and I. We thank you for following where the Lord has you. I know and pray that the Lord will bless you both in this walk of faith to Peru and we are commited to praying for you. God bless.
Love,
Shawn and Tina Beam
Amanda, what an encouraging read! It is such a testimony to be authentic about the details of life so that God may be glorified. How amazing that you and Shaun met at the time that you did. God truly does have a plan. My husband and I are praying for you both!