Let me tell you a little bit about Elizabeth.  On our first date back in the fall of 1998, I learned very quickly that there was something very special about Elizabeth.  When I opened the car door for her and began walking…she didn’t.  I jokingly told her she could come too, and Elizabeth’s response was that she couldn’t.  It was dark and she could not see.

Elizabeth was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa at age eight, and according to John’s Hopkins Hospital – it was predicted she would be completely blind by age sixteen.  

RP, as it is called, causes the degeneration of photoreceptor cells in the retina in which the patient experiences progressive vision loss.  In Elizabeth’s case, her RP has been in remission most of her life.  She has no peripheral vision and is night blind – which makes her “legally” blind.

Elizabeth’s journey, in some ways, has led her down a path that Pierce will cross and prayerfully choose to take.  The path of choosing to trust God despite your circumstances…to know that He loves us, has a plan, and we can trust Him.

As I travel the country, oftentimes telling people about the truths God has taught me during the course of Pierce’s short life, I don’t even mention Elizabeth and her eyesight.  Maybe it’s because of what happened to me in my office one day in Nashville.  A “maintenance” guy was fixing a water leak, and as we talked, Elizabeth’s RP came up in the conversation. 

This guy had such compassion and heartfelt sympathy toward Elizabeth, that when he noticed a picture of Pierce on my desk and asked if it was my son…I didn’t have the heart to tell him about Pierce’s Spina Bifida.  I just said, “Yep, that’s my boy!”

But, Elizabeth’s story is not about her eyesight.  It’s about her trust in God, her love for life, and her love for family (that’s me and Pierce).  It’s about her support and encouragement and all the other things she does. 

Currently, Elizabeth is a full-time wife, mommy, and teacher (home schooling Pierce).  She plans to finish her “Masters of Theology” degree at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC beginning next year.

Henry met Elizabeth at her church in 1998 while touring with “Images” in North Carolina.  They spent 8 months e-mailing before their first date in Nashville.  One year later, Henry proposed and the two were married in July of 2000.  Henry and Elizabeth continued to tour with “Images” for the next year before getting off the road.

The untold story of Henry and Elizabeth’s marriage is as follows.  Several years before meeting Elizabeth, Henry heard a message which mentioned the need for Christians to “give their entire heart to God…for He wants to own all of it.”  While saying his prayers that evening, Henry posed a question to God about what he had heard.  He asked God, “…if and when I marry…how can I give my heart to my wife if you want to own all of it?”  What Henry believes God immediately revealed to him was this.  “Yes, Henry, I want to own your whole heart.  As a matter of fact, I want Jesus to sit on the throne of your heart and be the King of it.  When you marry, there will be a throne next to His for your wife.  She will be the queen of your heart and will not own it…but will have all of the benefits of it.”  Henry was just glad that a reference was made to marriage and didn’t think much more about it.  But, from that moment on, Henry would consistently pray and ask Jesus to sit on the throne of his heart and save the throne next to his for his wife…the queen.

Several years later, Henry began dating Elizabeth, whose first name happened to be Anne.  Her nickname was Queen Anne, or Queen Lizzy.  Her e-mail at seminary (Southwestern Baptist Theological in Ft. Worth, Texas) was “queenlizzybug@juno.com”.  All of that went unnoticed by Henry till one night when the two were talking on the phone.  Elizabeth, in her playful demeanor, made several references to herself as being the “Queen.”  Henry played along, but that night before going to bed it hit him like a brick upside the head as he prayed and asked Jesus to sit on the throne of his heart and save the throne next to His for the…QUEEN!  He actually stopped praying and said, “Woa.  You have got to be kidding me!”  From that night on, Henry had a pretty good idea of where their relationship was headed.