Smile! The happy couple pictured below are Sarah Misener, née Dershem, and her husband, Bradley Misener, following their marriage at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Lansing in September of last year. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Misener! Ad multos annos!
Both Sarah and Bradley are parishioners at Immaculate Heart. It's also where their romance began …. at Catholic speed dating! Ahead of the next month's Diocese of Lansing Catholic Speed Dating event on Saint Valentine's Day, Bradley now tells his and Sarah’s story by way of encouragement to others:
My now wife and I met at two different speed dating events. We met at one in April 2023 at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Lansing, before we met again in Grand Rapids almost a year later. At the second event, Sarah and I had an instant connection and decided to go on a first date. From there we never looked back.
As we continued to date, we realized how God's timing had played a major role in our relationship. Our being together had a deeper foundation than we initially realized. We discovered that we had matched at both speed dating events, but circumstances led to us missing each other at the first one. The year between our meetings allowed both of us to grow and created an even better opportunity to connect the second time.
Over the next six months of dating both Sarah and I discerned and realized what God wanted for us. We got engaged in September of 2024, and married September 27th, 2025. We have since been doing well in joyfully living out our vocations as husband and wife.
This process does work, it just takes time and patience. Keep asking God for his grace and mercy and pray for patience, if He wants you to be with someone, He will let you know. He did with us.
• Do you want to follow in the footsteps of Sarah and Bradley? Well, the next Diocese of Lansing Catholic Speed Dating event is on Saturday, February 14, 2026, at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Saint John, Michigan. Doors open 5.30pm. $15 per person. Register here: https://www.dioceseoflansing.org/ValentineSD
