My boyfriend is a United States soldier who is currently on a nine-month deployment in Afganistan.

The amount of love and support I've received from friends and family gives me hope and provides me sanity. Unfortunately, there are still individuals who don't think him and I will make it through these nine months.They believe I won't be faithful to him, that I'll leave him for someone else, or that I won't be able to handle the distance. We've had people doubt our relationship from day one, but that's okay. We know that our love is strong. We know that our love is real.

I am not going to pretend that this is easy on either of us, especially him. He's making sacrifices every single day. For him, it's hard to see life go on in the States without him. For me, it's hard and scary knowing he's over there. But, we both know he's doing what he was born to do. We both have trust in God's plan.

It hurts how much we miss each other, but we also know it's going to feel twice as good being in each other's arms again. It's going to feel even better knowing how much our love has grown.

This experience is one of the greatest challenges we've had to face as a couple and as a team, but neither of us are quitters.

He's been through Hell and back, and he needs me more than ever. He needs someone to run into his arms when he gets home. He needs someone to tell him that everything will be okay. He needs my love and I need his.

I am past the point in my life where I just date for fun. He is not short term; he is forever. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I would never be willing to ruin that, under any circumstance. It's true when they say you don't have anything if you don't have trust.

So, to all of you out there who think our relationship won't last, you'll be the first on our list for Christmas cards and will have front row seats at our wedding. We may go months and months without seeing each other, but our hearts are always together. This is just a test sent from God, and I would wait forever if that's what it took.

We have faith in each other and in God. We know we'll be together before we know it.