If you haven't met her, this is Emily Copeland Durham. She's a LEGEND and HALL OF FAMER in Profesional Wakeboarding.  Yes, I'm partially biased as her husband, but seriously there aren't many people on the planet like this beautiful woman.  I'll brag just a little bit on her insane athletic talents. She turned pro at the age of 14, and was Rookiee Of The Year.  At age 16 she was sponsored by Nike, the youngest female athlete to be sponsored by Nike at the time.  She's also won ever major world title in her sport from X-Games Gold Medal, to World Champion to everything in between... BUT CHECK IT OUT: This podcast is NOT about these things. These are temporary accomplishments. If we're not careful, we'll miss knowing Emily, the REAL, life after X, Emily.  This stuff...It all fades away, right! And yeh, it is all gone! The fame has faded. The money stopped coming in... The sponsors left. BUT, GOOD NEWS IS HERE: This show is about something far more lasting...KNOWING GOD, and his promises and finding your purpose in life. In this episode of the This Is My Story Podcast, Emily will be joining me as we share the CRAZY LOVE STORY of how we met, and YES, how I first saw Emily in a magazine and said I was going to marry her.  Stick around to the end of this episode because the fairytale beginning was all but a blip in our memory as we walked through the most painful part of our journey together. Have you ever wanted something so bad but it just never happened? Perhaps it's getting married? Not landing that higher paying job? Not getting the scholarship to School?   Is there a painful part of your story that no matter what you can't see to make sense of or find answers for? Do you ever feel like everyone else you seems to be getting ahead or has it all together? Well if you can relate to any of the questions above, just know that you are not alone.  Everyone struggles with situations that take us on a painful journey asking God, "WHERE ARE YOU GOD?" For Emily and I is was our desire to have children. We wanted nothing more but to have children, only to find out we had zero percent chance of it ever happening. I want you to remember, that God doesn't cause the pain or the suffering, but if we allow him he can walk through it with us and see us to the other side.  Eventually, after years of sorrow, sadness and shedding of many tears, God first provided us with our daughter Hope and a couple year later we adopted our son.  Although it was unbearable pain at times...God was at work and He's at work in your life to, if you'll look for Him. Enjoy this episode! Remember you have a story and it matters more than you know!!!