He advised single people who are dating not to isolate their relationship but instead “date in community.” He saw Jinger’s consistent character by observing how she interacted with her friends and family.
“Then the second thing is, how do you see them living out their love of the Lord?” he said.
“When I met you, your family was literally in hiding,” Jeremy told his wife. “The news broke of the first scandal and your family’s literally in hiding, and I had a relationship with you through those months.”
“And I’m watching how you were responding to your life crumble on international headlines,” he said. “And I was going, ‘Ok, this isn’t theory…this is actually real life that her faith is in practice.”
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Jinger said she was glad Jeremy met her during that time and shared she hadn’t felt “safe” with any man before him.
“I think that God gave that to me,” she said, “because I thought it was going to be much harder, especially walking through those scandals and seeing somebody you thought you knew just be the complete opposite.”
“That terrified me for marriage,” said Jinger. “I was very afraid and I thought, ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever feel confident at the altar.’”
“I think that God gives peace and confidence when you have, like you said, you’re getting to know that person in community,” she continued. “You’re around other people. You have wise counselors in your life.”
Not everyone in her life was a fan of Jeremy, said Jinger, but the “ones who mattered the most” were for him.
“Ultimately, it’s you who’s going to live with the person. It’s you who’s going to marry them,” she said. “And you want to be certain that that’s who you want to live the rest of your life with.”
“If you have uncertainty, fear in that, just ask God for help, too,” Jinger said as they closed the conversation. “It can be scary, but there also can be such joy and peace that God gives when you know it’s the right one.”
“Yeah,” Jeremy agreed. “And he will give that peace.”
