Man receives message from unknown number, responds “amen to that” and 4 months later gets engaged to the sender

There are many ways of finding a romantic partner - chance encounters that develop into something much deeper and meaningful, eyes meeting across a crowded room... Cupid strikes in many mysterious ways, making us believe that when we do find our soulmate, it was somehow predestined - the stars perfectly aligned, it was meant to happen.

Most of us meet partners through friends or work, but some couples are brought together by a series of chance circumstances, a chain of events which, had they not occurred, they would never have met.

United by stray SMS

That was the incredible story of how Brenda Rivera and Isaiah Stearns, came together - two strangers living in different states united by a twist of fate. They shared their tale on The Today Show.

Brenda Rivera, from Augusta, Georgia, had been flicking through the pages of her Bible when a particular verse struck a chord. The words in Philippians 2:3 was something she instantly related to, and gave her the urge to share them with a friend.

She hurriedly typed the text into a text message to send to her friend but was interrupted by work and the SMS was left unsent until she remembered about it later that evening. A few hours later, with work out of the way, Brenda pressed the “send” button and her message was on its way.

At the same time, over in Dayton, Ohio, 700 miles away, Isaiah Stearns was feeling much less inspired. In fact his day was turning more stressful by the minute. He had just arrived home after buying a new cellphone, complete with a new plan. But after unboxing the phone and setting it up, he discovered that the number didn’t work. He’d after to go all the way back to the store to find out what the problem was and get it fixed.

At the store, Isaiah was given another phone with a different number - one that worked. Not long after returning home, with his phone issue sorted, he received his first text message, from an unknown sender. It read: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”

Isaiah didn’t instantly know who the sender was, as he hadn’t had the chance to type in all of his contacts. But he presumed it was from someone he knew. The message had cheered him up so he replied, “Amen to that” then added, “Who is this?”

At the phone store, Isaiah had been given a new number - one which was almost identical to the number of Brenda’s friend - who she had intended to sent the Philippians 2:3 verse to, but mistyped the number by one digit...

When Brenda sent back an apology, Isaiah responded, “We’ve never met, but by the looks of your text, I can see that you love God. That’s awesome.” By a stroke luck, they both had something in common and were now in contact.

Isaiah asked Brenda if she would mind if he called so they could at least talk face to face. Soon, they were chatting every day, their friendship quickly blossoming into something deeper - even though they had yet to meet in person.

But in another stroke of good fortune, it turned out that Brenda’s mom lived in Ohio, not too far from Isaiah. They met, and Brenda’s mom reported back with her first impressions.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, what is he?” Rivera asked. “An 11!” came back the reply. “You’re going to marry this guy!”

Happy ending: Brenda and Isaiah tie the knot

In 2009, just four months after the text message went astray, Rivera and Stearns got engaged. They married the following year and today are blissfully happy and the proud parents of six children.

A couple who would never have met if a set of events hadn’t taken place when they did. A true romance story in real life, as Brenda says, almost like a Hollywood movie.

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