Faith in Christ has always been central to DeLynn and Dino Rizzo‘s relationship. The pair met while Dino was a senior at Bible College, where DeLynn worked in the afternoons while she was a senior in high school in Louisiana.
As the couple began to date and get to know each other, Dino Rizzo says that one of the things that stood out to him about DeLynn was how secure she was in Christ. She was never trying to impress anyone, he said. She just reads her Bible, prays, and loves God.
Even though they were both faith-based people, DeLynn had never planned to go into ministry. She got her education degree and was planning on teaching.
But, after they married, Dino Rizzo and DeLynn ran a youth ministry and eventually started a church.
Doing What God Calls You to Do
Right from the beginning, DeLynn and Dino Rizzo’s relationship was strong. DeLynn recalls Dino calling her one day and asking her whether she could live in the slums of New York and do bus ministry and help the poor.
Dino Rizzo is, after all, a self-described “outreach guy.” Serving is a major part of what he does every day.
Perhaps surprisingly, DeLynn put her faith in not just her husband, but in God. “If that’s what God calls us to do, we’ll do it,” she remembers saying.
So, while the ministry wasn’t in her original plans, their “calling” came together after they got married and they both felt it.
“She said something interesting, too, I’ll never forget,” Dino Rizzo recalls. “She said, ‘I’m not called to love those things. I love you. So, if you’re going to do garbage, sell shoes, do whatever, I will love you and stand by you no matter what you do.’ And I felt the same way.”
Never an Ideal Situation
Dino Rizzo has some advice for couples who are contemplating marriage or even for single people looking down the line. It’s next to impossible to get married in “an ideal situation.”
With God, though, your situation can always get better.
They weren’t getting married, Dino Rizzo explained, because he was a speaker and DeLynn was a singer. They simply fell in love with each other, did different things, and always loved, trusted, and served God.
Improving Your Relationship with Others
Many people struggle with relationships with their parents. For one reason or another, they may not feel supported by their parents, or they might feel as though they don’t have their parents’ blessing on something.
That was the case with Dino Rizzo, as he said his parents weren’t supportive at first of him going into ministry. At one point, Dino’s father even told him that he needed to be comfortable on his own because he wasn’t going to support him anymore.
Despite the lack of support that he felt from his parents, Dino Rizzo stayed respectful, honored his father, and thanked him for all he had done for him. In time, his father came around and said he was wrong.
Dino Rizzo says the key for him was to continue to practice self-control just as he always had, doing so “until the Lord would reveal that to him because I couldn’t make him believe what I was believing.”
DeLynn Rizzo has one simple piece of advice for anyone who’s experiencing relationship problems, no matter who it’s with:
“Press into God and pray for what you want to see.”
About Dino Rizzo
Dino Rizzo, a 35-year ministry veteran, co-founded Healing Place Church with his wife, DeLynn, where he served as senior pastor for two decades. Through his passion for inspiring believers to serve their communities, Dino Rizzo founded Servolution and authored “Serve Your City.” As Executive Director of ARC (Association of Related Churches), Rizzo oversees the planting of over 1,000 churches worldwide and is on the Senior Leadership Team at Church of the Highlands.
Interesting Related Article: “How to Get Connected with God? 6 Working Tips!“