When Doug came into my life, it felt like a refreshing rain saturating the drought in my soul and bringing a sense of newness. Yet his arrival definitely shook things up. Along with the excitement there was some turbulence and downed limbs, so to speak, that had to be taken care of. But it was so worth it because of the refreshing new life.
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Doug’s unique calling and character complemented my ministry in a marvelous way. He had spent the last thirty-five years helping heal broken hearts. The Lord is mysterious— wonderfully mysterious. He can use storms to bring in unexpected things, and those things can lead us in surprising new directions. But as I said, this storm left a couple of issues for us to address. Shortly after some people learned that Doug and I were seeing each other, Shawn Bolz told me the Lord showed him there would be many significant marriages in 2023 and that God was bringing couples together in unusual pairings. Doug and I sure fit that description; we are certainly an unusual pairing.
Marriage was part of our discussion early on because neither of us would invest in a relationship if it wasn’t God’s will. We both maintained our sexual purity throughout our dating life. I didn’t want or need a boyfriend, and Doug didn’t want or need a girlfriend. I didn’t necessarily enjoy being alone, but I was fine remaining single if that was the Lord’s plan for me. Yes, we enjoyed being together, which lifted the loneliness, but we were dating to see if we were meant for marriage, if the Lord was pairing us as a team.
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Before we go any further, let me tell you a little about Jimmy Evans. For years he’s been like a spiritual big brother to me. Actually, he’s more than that. Jimmy was a friend of Marcus’, and the two played golf together. He officiated at Jonathan and Rebecca’s wedding and has been a spiritual adviser to me and Daystar many times. Jimmy is also a beloved pastor in the Dallas area who has been instrumental in mentoring many young men in ministry. Most importantly, though, Jimmy is a biblical scholar of the utmost integrity and character.
Jimmy has been a regular on “Table Talk” and “Ministry Now”; in fact, I can’t tell you how many shows we’ve done together. He has dealt with countless church situations, helping church boards and pastors who have fallen to pick up the pieces and put the church back together. However, Jimmy became a marriage counselor in 1982 and has been helping couples for more than forty years.
From the beginning Jimmy told Doug and me, “Marriage is sacred. As a pastor and as a marriage guy, I don’t want to encourage anybody to do anything that God won’t bless.”
Jimmy himself knew that he was accountable to God for what he taught and how he counseled. He later confided in me, “Joni, when you came to me and began to talk to me about Doug, I was concerned as your older brother in Christ. My concern was, I don’t want anything for you that God won’t bless. If I felt like this guy was a bad guy, someone that had divorced without a cause or whatever, I’d chase him off. I don’t care what you say; I’d chase him off! I seriously prayed about it because I knew I needed the discernment of the Lord.”
I brought Jimmy in at the start of my relationship with Doug, and he immediately called and talked to Doug extensively. Not only did Jimmy and Doug talk, but they also went through several intensive sessions together so Jimmy could determine the biblical credibility of Doug’s divorce and whether I could confidently pursue a marriage relationship with God’s blessing. What’s amazing to me and reflects Doug’s character is that just as he submitted to counseling, he willingly submitted to Jimmy’s inquiries. That began a number of serious sessions of intense questioning and evaluation. Then, with Jimmy’s guidance, Doug and I worked through a biblical compatibility and relationship development plan, not because we needed permission from anyone to date or marry but to keep us accountable.
Doug and I continued building our relationship through a sound, godly process. Then, on New Year’s Eve, Doug proposed to me at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. We were married on June 10, 2023. Jimmy Evans officiated at our wedding and said, “In forty years of ministry of doing marriages and helping couples across the country, well, I have never seen a couple walk through a relationship with such integrity.”
One of the Scripture passages we used at our wedding and that has become a foundation of our marriage is 1 Corinthians 13:4–7: “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Everyone around me has noticed that I am happy. I didn’t know I could be this happy again. Doug and I are both surprised by how happy and fulfilled we are and that God put us together. After the storm, not only did God send the refreshing rain of Doug’s and my relationship with all its blessings—the encouragement, the nurturing, the time we spent together in the Word and prayer each day—but He also refined our vision. Sometimes you think you’re created for a certain purpose, but after the storm the Lord clarifies your destiny and the next steps of your journey.
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Joni Lamb is the president of Daystar Television Network, co-founded with her late husband, Marcus Lamb. The network reaches over 110 million homes in the U.S. and over 5 billion people worldwide. She is executive producer and host of her daily talk show, Joni Table Talk, which has earned 10 Telly Awards, three Lone Star Emmy Awards and five Daytime Emmy nominations. Lamb also co-hosts Daystar’s daily, live flagship broadcast Ministry Now with her husband, Dr. Doug Weiss. Her new book Through the Storm is available at Amazon.com.
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