Their Story: Sean & Catherine Lowe
their |T͟Her| 1 belonging to or associated with the people or things previously mentioned or easily identified: Their love story is inspiring.
We had such a great evening last night at our first ever Valentine's Day-themed Equipped by Faith with Sean and Catherine Lowe! They are a beautiful couple who continue to inspire so many with their love story, journey of faith, and growing family.
In 2011, Sean and Catherine met on ABC’s The Bachelor and got engaged on the season’s finale episode. They were married on a televised special of The Bachelor in January 2014 and have since lived in Dallas, TX with their now three young children, Samuel (3), Isaiah (1), and Mia (1 month). They juggle parenthood and marriage with their own businesses; Sean runs a furniture company called Home by Sean and Catherine Lowe and Catherine owns LoweCo., a luxury greeting card company and a referral-based gifting brand called LoweCo.ncierge.
Throughout their relationship, they have used their platform to share their witness as a devoted Christian couple. Catherine is a returning EBF speaker and it was amazing to have her husband along with her this time to hear their love story and journey of faith!
Read more about Sean & Catherine’s story in our interview below!
Q&A with Sean & Catherine Lowe
1. Your love story is so unique and yet God has used it so much. What was it like meeting on the Bachelor?
Sean: "I feel like I had a hedge of protection over me the entire time. I’m so grateful that God used a show like the Bachelor to bring me my future wife and now, our incredible family.”
Catherine: “I didn’t watch the show. My best friend signed me up because she didn’t like the guy I was dating at the time. I watched the season he was on to see if there were any guys I was interested in if I was going to go on the show, and Sean caught my eye. Through the whole season you could see the light of God in him and coming off of him. He didn’t preach at all. That definitely drew me to him. I wasn’t a Christian then and I went on the show knowing it was him. We couldn’t be more opposite on paper. But I met him, had a crush on him, and he was exactly the person who was on the show prior—and exactly who I wanted. What you see Is what you get with Sean. And through the end of it, I saw Christ through little seeds throughout the show. In different girls—one gave me her Bible—and through Sean showing me what being a Christian really looked like. I came to know Christ through a reality show. Through this man.”
2. Obviously Catherine is gorgeous. But how in the world do you select one girl out of so many to be your wife?
Sean: “Well, you have to be a little crazy to do the show in the first place—to actually propose after 10 weeks of a so-called relationship in front of cameras. But I reached the end and I had a panic moment like, “What am I doing?? I’m not supposed to find my fiancé on a tv show…” But I was constantly praying and seeking God for wisdom. I felt like I was falling in love with Catherine. I felt like I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. But the whole thing just seemed bizarre. But I kept praying and God just gave me this peace. Like, yep, this is where I want you. That’s the best way I can explain it. In a crazy, chaotic scene—I just had this peace that she was going to be my wife."
3. Sean, were you ever scared that she wouldn’t come around to having her own faith in God like you do?
Sean: “No, I wasn’t fearful. I just had peace about the whole thing. Being a believer I know that I need to be equally yoked to the person I’m going to be married to, so it’s kind of tricky when I’m giving my testimony—I wouldn’t encourage other kids to take such a big, life-altering leap with someone. But the best way I can explain it is that God gave me peace and I knew He was working in her heart. And it wasn’t soon after the proposal that she gave her life to Christ.”
Catherine: “Most girls were Christian on the show. And I knew if he didn’t choose me solely on that fact, that I would never become a Christian because that didn’t seem fair to me. I give him all the credit to have prayed and making sure it was right with Christ to have pursued me in that way—I’m just so grateful because again, I could have turned completely away if he had said no only because I wasn’t a Christian. I love telling this part of the story because it really shows how strong his faith was and how committed he was to finding his wife and centering his life around Christ. The night before the proposal, I was settling in my mind that either I was going to get dumped and my life would change or I would be getting proposed to and my life would change. It was 11pm the night before the proposal and I had my white strips in, I was showering, and I got a knock at the door. A producer came in and told me that Sean was coming. They never give you time off camera but Sean begged for it—and they let him have it. He just looked down at the floor and told me all the things that were important to him—all the things he wouldn’t do. He talked about politics, finances, not having sex before marriage… I wasn’t a Christian at the time and didn’t really know the type of Christian he was. The last thing he said was that he wasn’t going to settle for anything less than centering his life, his marriage, and his family around Christ. He was challenging me at that moment. I could have said that I wasn’t up for that. But because he was so committed to his convictions—he took them so seriously—that he had to come in at the 11th hour and make sure I was on the same page.”
4. Catherine, what was the process of discovering who God is like for you?
Catherine: "Right after the show ended, my friend picked me up from the airport and we started going to church and Bible studies every week together. Sean knew that I was working on my faith and trying to understand, after 26 years of not knowing God. It took a lot of thinking and rationalizing—but one day I just looked at him and told him I gave my life to Christ. His dad baptized me before our wedding. And now my relationship with God is just continuing to grow—meeting with the right people, finding the right community of women who support you and challenge you."
5. It’s a lot easier to pursue God when you’re single and don’t have as many distractions. But then life gets really busy when you get married, have kids, etc. How are you growing in your faith now that you have so much to manage?
Sean: “I think from my perspective, I would take a different stance and say it’s easier to stray when you’re single because there are more opportunities to get into trouble and run around with people you shouldn’t be. And now I have this family—maybe it’s just me being the man of the house—but I just feel this overwhelming sense of gratitude. I want to be the best for my family. I want to give them everything they need. I’m constantly thanking God for all the amazing blessings He has given us. It’s certainly challenging chasing 3 kids around the house. But I still get up and do my quiet times in the mornings to be with God and read His Word.”
Catherine: “Similar to what he’s saying. Every moment is a moment of thankfulness. I look at my son breathing and I’m thankful. I’m glad I have legs to walk. I think it’s just continuing to be grateful for what you have. That’s a great challenge for everybody."
6. What obstacles have you faced getting to this point?
Catherine: "The whole first part of our relationship was really challenging. You get off the show and you watch a series where you have to relive your fiancé dating other women. Then he went on Dancing with the Stars and that was really challenging for me—especially because this was a time I was trying to understand my faith and probably the hardest time I’ve ever had in my life. But we banded together and it made us so much stronger. I give him so much credit because he and his family have the commitment that divorce is never an option—ever. Even when it was so hard that I questioned giving up, my mother-in-law told me, ‘He will make it up to you, I promise.’ And he has—he has made that season up to me 10 fold. I would never trade those hard days because I get now.”
7. What would you tell someone who is single and waiting for the person they’re going to spend the rest of their life with?
Sean: “I would say, try your hardest to find contentment. I think there’s a lot of great things about being single. You can connect and get into communities and spend a lot of time with close friends and create strong bonds. I can look back at my time being single and it was great. Find yourself in God. Trust that His time is the right time. Which I know is easier said than done.”
8. Sean, when did you find your own faith in God?
Sean: "I remember I said the prayer and got baptized at a young age. I didn’t fully comprehend it until I was in 6th grade. I knew I could talk to God, I knew He was in my heart and that He was guiding me—so I’ve always kind of had that understanding. My biggest prayer when I pray for my kids every night is that they would accept God at a young age and follow Him their entire lives and marry someone who wants to pursue God as well. There were definitely seasons where I followed the world’s way and not God’s way—and that’s a prayer for my kids as well, that they would avoid those pitfalls that I experienced. But I would say a big turning point was in my twenties I really determined that God’s Word was a love letter written to us, that it is a sword we use to fight, and that it helps us understand our faith—so I made a point to do a quiet time every day, getting into His Word. It’s amazing the clarity reading the Bible can give you."
9. What books are you reading right now?
Catherine: "D Magazine? Haha!”
Sean: Not Forsaken: Finding Freedom as Sons & Daughters of a Perfect Father by Louie Giglio
10. Favorite scripture of the moment (or ever)?
Sean: "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14
Catherine: “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
Thank you for inspiring us and so many others with your story, Sean & Catherine!
Be sure to mark your calendars for next month’s Equipped by Faith gathering with Tammy Franklin on Wednesday, March 4th!
XO-
Equipped by Faith