Online dating is a big business these days. When Beth and Steve met online over 12 years ago it was a real taboo and something that a lot of their friends and family felt wasn’t a safe or wise thing to do. Now ‘more than 20 million people visit at least one online dating service a month and there are more than 280,000 marriages a year that occur as a result of online dating.”[1]
Beth was living in Dublin and dearly longed to be in a relationship, Steve was a very contented singleton from the UK. As Christians, they wanted to meet people that shared the same values. So signing up to a site and giving all their details was something they both put a lot of thought into.
“I liked the site’s statement of faith and their security policy”, says Beth. “As someone who was eager to find someone special, I was aware of my vulnerability. The internet can be a dangerous place if we are not careful, so I wanted to be sure that if I shared my profile (and my heart) I would be safe.”
I did it more out of vague interested, says Steve. Me and a friend were surfing the net and thought it might be an interesting thing to do. I was quite content with my life and was not expecting to meet anyone, let alone my wife.
Beth and Steve connected very quickly and chatted online for a while but soon they were talking on the phone. Before they met face to face they knew that they would marry. “I know that doesn’t happen for everyone”, said Steve “but we when we shared our attitudes to faith, family, music and life in general it just felt right.”
Steve travelled to Dublin for a weekend and rather than staying in a hotel, Beth’s sister had welcomed him to stay in her house. “My sister didn’t want me going into town to meet a total stranger in case I didn’t come back. She wanted to keep him close so she could check him out I think”, laughed Beth.
Obviously, we need to take care when talking to people on the internet. But, that is the same for meeting people when out socialising or getting set up on blind dates.
Beth says, “We feel very blessed to have found each other. It is God who brought us together. He just happened to use an online dating site. I emailed a lot of frogs before I emailed my prince.”
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[1] Online Dating Magazine – http://www.onlinedatingmagazine.com/faq/howsuccessfulisonlinedating.html
