From a Life She Knew to One She Never Expected
Jackie Hill Perry spent years in a same-sex relationship. It was the life she knew, the identity she'd built. But in 2008, God interrupted everything. Not with condemnation — with love so fierce it dismantled every wall she'd constructed.
"I didn't want to be straight," Jackie has said. "I wanted to be His."
That distinction matters. God wasn't asking her to perform heterosexuality. He was asking her to surrender. And she did — not because it was easy, but because His voice was louder than everything else.
A Poet Meets a Preacher
In 2009, at a spoken word showcase in St. Louis, Jackie met Preston Perry — a Christian artist who shared her love for language and her hunger for God. Their friendship deepened over years of conversation, creative collaboration, and mutual pursuit of Jesus.
For Jackie, the growing attraction to Preston was unfamiliar terrain. "It was a new feeling for me," she recalled. But she didn't run from it. She let God lead her into it.
Dating as Discipleship
Their courtship was not a fairy tale. It was gritty, honest, and Spirit-led. They navigated Jackie's past, Preston's expectations, and the tension of building something new without a roadmap. Every step was covered in prayer.
In 2014, they married. Today they have four children and a ministry that reaches millions through poetry, preaching, and raw honesty about what it costs to follow Jesus.
What This Means for You
Jackie's story isn't about sexuality. It's about surrender. It's about what happens when you hand God the pen and let Him rewrite a story you thought was already finished.
If you're in a season of waiting — waiting for clarity, for the right person, for God to make sense of your desires — Jackie's life says this: He is trustworthy. He doesn't waste your pain. And the love story He writes will be better than anything you could have scripted yourself.