Cari’s story is about learning to trust God’s wisdom over her own emotions. Through seasons of love, loss, and renewal, she discovered that following God’s best—not just her heart—leads to a life of peace, purpose, and redemption.
Following God’s Best, Not Just Your Heart
Cari’s story is a testimony to what happens when we stop following our own emotions and start trusting God’s direction. For years, she lived by the popular advice to “follow your heart.” But over time, she discovered that the heart—while sincere—is not always wise. Feelings can change, but God’s truth does not.
Her journey began in her twenties, when she was single and navigating relationships with sincerity but also uncertainty. In those years, Cari began to sense what she describes as a “God-placed knot” in her stomach—an unmistakable feeling that something wasn’t right. At first, she brushed it aside, convincing herself that her plans made more sense than her doubts. But as time went on, she learned to recognize that inner prompting not as anxiety, but as discernment—the Spirit’s quiet nudge toward obedience.
Learning to trust that voice was transformative. Proverbs 3:5–6 became her anchor:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
It was through this process that Cari learned one of the most important lessons in faith: obey first, then discern. Clarity often comes after obedience, not before it.
Another key truth God taught her along the way was the importance of being equally yoked. Reflecting on 2 Corinthians 6:14–18, Cari now emphasizes that spiritual alignment in relationships is not optional—it’s essential. When asked if dating a Christian should be the standard, her answer is immediate: yes. She encourages others not to enter a relationship with the hope of “converting” someone later, but to first cultivate friendship rooted in shared faith and values.
Her conviction comes from experience. Cari spent seven years in a long-term relationship with someone who, after all that time, admitted he wasn’t really interested in following Jesus. It was a painful realization—but one that became a turning point.
Rather than viewing those years as wasted, Cari now sees them as a season of preparation. They were the years that refined her trust in God’s wisdom and led her home to Hawaiʻi, where redemption awaited. There, she met her husband—a man who shared her love for Christ and her desire to build a family grounded in faith. Together, they now have two beautiful children and a testimony that God can redeem every chapter of our stories.
Cari’s journey reminds us that God’s plans are always better than our own. When we learn to follow His voice over our impulses, He leads us along paths of peace. And even when we take the long way around, His grace ensures that no experience is ever wasted—only woven into the greater story of His goodness.