They didn’t realize a moment of obedience and placing God first would turn them into witnesses for Christ on the national stage.

Marine Cpl. Caleb Earwood was due to marry the love of his life Maggie in Asheville, North Carolina last Saturday.  He wanted to make sure that their marriage began in the way a marriage should begin: dedicating all to the Lord.

So he asked his friends and family to arrange a way for him to pray with his wife-to-be without violating the marriage tradition of the groom not seeing the bride before the wedding.

“They hid me in a room and he stepped up on the stairwell and he stuck his hand out and I grabbed his hand,” Maggie Earwood told ABC News.

The couple held hands around a corner and prayed.  A picture was taken and shared on social media.

And then it blew up all over the world.  The photo appeared in magazines like US Weekly and even had the couple make an appearance on NBC’s Today show.

“We were about to take our first steps in life together, and we didn’t want to take a step without it being in God’s will,” Caleb, 21, told TODAY.com. “I prayed to God for my beautiful and intelligent wife that he blessed me with and the amazing family I was marrying into.”

Maggie said it was a great relief for her on her wedding day to know the person she was about to vow to spend the rest of her life with felt the same way about God as her.

What many didn’t know about the wedding is that Caleb almost didn’t make it.  He had emergency surgery the week prior for kidney stones and had to work to keep up his strength for the big day.

Now, the couple is thankful their picture is blessing others and showing the importance of placing God first.

“We’re thankful that our picture is able to bless so many people and touch that many hearts,” said Caleb.