Snap Shot

He's from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada; she's from Snake Hollow, Tennessee. He's a popular Christian novelist; she's a popular Christian vocalist. So what happened when the two worlds of Sigmund Brouwer and Cindy Morgan collided? Well, it wasn't exactly love at first sight.

"When I saw his picture on the back of a book, I thought, 'What a snob he must be—so serious and aloof,'" Cindy recalls. But when she met him she was surprised. "He was gentle and kind and funny."

"She struck me as wise," says Sigmund. "We had a lot of things in common—like both of our dads fix cars for a living."

A fax friendship led to Sigmund routing all his trips to the States through Nashville—"an expensive courtship," Cindy admits. "The distance was tough." But their international residences were the least of their problems. "Sigmund had been trashed in relationships; I'd been trashed." Both of them had to grow in trust and confidence.

They married in November 1996, and they split the year between Sigmund's Canadian hometown and Cindy's home base in Nashville. Now that they're up close and personal, they're seeing changes in each other and in themselves.

"I admire Cindy's perseverance," says Sigmund. "She's got an inner core of toughness, but in a nice way. She cares so much for people."

"My career isn't my life anymore," explains Cindy. "One way to serve God is to enjoy his blessings. When you're in the rat race, you never have time to read a book, enjoy a view, take a walk. Getting married and moving have given me a balance I've never had before."

Adapted from TODAY'S CHRISTIAN WOMAN, Sept./Oct. 1997.

1998 by the author or Christianity Today/Marriage Partnership magazine. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or e-mailmp@marriagepartnership.com.

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