While I didn’t have a so-called “plan” for my life, I had a few aspirations when I was younger: graduate from college (check), get a good job in a fabulous city (double check), travel to Europe (double check), and hopefully one day find the man of God’s choosing, get married, and start a family. Yes, I’ve been blessed. I didn’t need those life events to be happy and content, by any means. Deep down, it would be the last three things on the list that ultimately meant the most.
When I was in my early 20s, women were encouraged to start careers and to find satisfaction in working and providing for ourselves before we married. In my case, that’s exactly what happened, but not because I had this lofty career goal to reach before I married. But God had a plan, you see. It was good for me to be on my own for a period of time, and I loved living and working in Dallas, Texas. But while a number of girls in my high school graduating class were becoming grandmothers in their mid-30s, I was barely starting my family.
I gave my life to Jesus Christ at a Christian summer camp when I was 13. One of the things I learned is that the Lord will guide us through this journey of life to bring about His perfect will. We just need to push aside our wants, needs, and our stubborn will (that one can be difficult for me sometimes), and allow Him to take control. Sometimes that’s easier said than done, right? He loves us and always wants the best for us. The key is this: it’s in His time and His way. One of the aspects I love most about being a believer is the way in which God works! And how He does that is often so far and above what we could ever expect.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
So, yes, I did achieve those goals on the “short list” for my life. HOWEVER, the Lord certainly kept it interesting with many unexpected twists and turns along the way! Believe me, my journey wasn’t without my share of mistakes, heartaches, and bad choices.
One of the best personal examples of when life doesn’t go according to plan is my personal love story with my husband, Jim. This isn’t your typical boy meets girl story. But, through it all, I hope you’ll see the clear hand of God in our relationship. Please forgive the impersonal asterisks to outline our relationship, but this is the best way to tell the story as concisely as possible. Hold on tight because you might get a little dizzy!
*I finished college a term early and moved to Dallas, Texas where I did not know a soul; I was either crazy, independent, or both. After a couple of years of living and working there, I met a girl named Susan through a mutual friend from a Bible study and immediately recognized her voice as the friendly woman from a courier service (remember those?) my law firm often used. Even from our brief phone conversations, I liked Susan immensely.
**Susan and her fiancé, Marshall (a Dallas Theological Seminary student), set me up on a blind date. They prayed about the guy they wanted me to meet. Both came up with … Jim Durgin, another seminary student. He’d sworn off blind dates (this after a date with a runner-up in the Miss Texas beauty pageant!). And I was very resistant and skeptical. We went out with the group but later shared snacks and private conversation at TGI Friday’s for over three hours.
**First “real” date was a formal banquet. Jim wore a midnight blue tux—6’2” tall, dark haired, seriously handsome. When I heard his gorgeous tenor voice…infatuation! Then I discovered I was his third date in as many nights. Okay, then…
**We went out together periodically (dinner and the movies) as “just friends” for well over a year. Yes, he drove a bomb of an old station wagon similar to Sam’s old bomb of a station wagon in my debut novel, Awakening (loosely based on our own story). In fact, it actually wasn’t until several years later that I realized all the parallels between that book and our real life love story.
**Infamous Red Lobster date. Jim questioned my spiritual condition. I ran away. He was right. I was hurt. He attempted contact. I ignored. That was my “real life” version of a modified scenario in Awakening when Lexa ran away from Sam in downtown San Antonio and found herself in a bit of trouble (but then stuck it out in the missions camp with him).
**Jim traveled to Europe with a seminary singing group and wrote novels on postcards. He explained. I read, I cried, and then I tossed them in the fireplace (yes, I’ve always regretted it). This was the shortened version of what happened in Awakening when Sam goes off on a year-long foreign mission.
**I slid my Ford Mustang partially beneath a moving semi-truck one morning near downtown (a no fault accident). I walked away with glass hanging in my hair but praising God for His protection and giving me a calm head in emergencies (refer back to last month’s post for a completely different type of emergency).
**Joined a “Free to Be Thin” Christian diet group (back when I was at my thinnest ever in my life—go figure). I had the book but needed the workbook and remembered Jim worked at the seminary bookstore. Ordered the workbook and said, “Tell Jim I said hi.” Jim (“J.D.”—everyone went by initials in the days of the original Dallas TV show, you understand) waited for me when I picked it up a week later. With that irresistible smile, handsome as ever.
**We dated for a few glorious romantic weeks. Infatuation turned into love but where could it lead, really? He was leaving Dallas after graduation. Jim invited me to his graduation. Even his parents couldn’t attend. I waffled and felt horrible almost immediately after I told him I wasn’t sure if I would go. Although I was confused, I needed to go to the ceremony so he’d know someone was there for him. Huge church. I stopped and said a quick prayer…and the Lord led me straight to him (it helps that Jim is tall). Against the odds, we decided to try dating long distance.
**Unexpectedly lost my job at the law firm (the one thing anchoring and keeping me in Dallas) the very next morning. I never questioned it and had a peace about it. How things can change overnight!
**Jim accepted a ministry job in Visalia, California (a small, agricultural community in the San Joaquin Valley). I moved back home for a few months, worked temporary jobs, and regrouped. Hang in there with me because this is where it gets really interesting…
**My Mom and I had already scheduled a European vacation. Lots of terrorism in Europe that year. We cancelled the trip last minute; our travel agent “happened” to get us onboard a fully-booked cruise ship (because her other clients had cancelled the booking).
**Met a woman and her two children on the ship…from Visalia, California. Wow!
**I’d always detested it when a woman “moved for a man,” but one phone call changed my perspective completely. The lady from the cruise ship? Her wonderful, generous husband offered me a job in Visalia. That was a clear sign to me, so I started packing.
**Moved from Indiana to California.
**Engaged on Valentine’s Day 1987 in Carmel, California; “Anonymous” (and probably forever anonymous) paid for my diamond engagement ring.
**Married on Jim’s birthday in September 1987 (he’s never forgotten his anniversary).
And now, nearly 29 years later, here is a photo of Jim holding our granddaughter, Amelia (now a year old). The journey continues, and with the Master at the helm, what a journey it will continue to be!
Coming up next month, I’ll share my journey to publication. Like this story, that one has several twists and turns as well, and it clearly shows the hand of God at work in my life.
FREE BOOK: The prequel to my Lewis Legacy Series, Prelude, is FREE today only on Amazon Kindle! So jump on over there (after you read this post) and grab your copy if you haven’t read it. Set in 1962 small town Texas, Prelude is the sweet love story of my Lewis family patriarch and matriarch, Sam Lewis and Sarah Jordan. A story of following your dreams and allowing the Lord to guide you (so it fits the same idea as in this post, you see!). I had a lot of fun with the hair and clothing styles of the 1960s while writing Prelude, and I hope you’ll fall in love with Sam and Sarah as they fall in love with each other!
If you’ve stayed with me and are reading this paragraph, I’m giving away a $10 Amazon gift card. To be eligible, please share about a time in your life when God stepped in to accomplish something amazing in your life! I would love to hear about it. I will choose a winner by noon tomorrow (Saturday, March 5th), so leave your comment today!
Blessings,
JoAnn
Matthew 5:16
*This post is a modified version of a special guest blog for my author friend Beth Vogt’s “When Life Doesn’t Go According to Plan” Series in 2013.
USA Today bestselling author JoAnn Durgin is the author of over twenty novels since her debut, Awakening (Lewis Legacy Book 1), released in late 2010. Her books include the beloved Lewis Legacy Series, as well as its prequel, Prelude. She is also the author of Catching Serenity, Heart's Design, and Gentle Like the Rain, a sequel to Heart's Design. Other novels include Echoes of Edinburgh, The Wondrous Love Series, Perchance to Dream, and the popular Starlight Christmas Series. Her latest release is The Christmas Challenge and coming up next is Pursuit, the highly anticipated Book 8 in The Lewis Legacy Series. JoAnn lives with her family in her native southern Indiana and now enjoys writing full-time and spending time with her first granddaughter, Amelia Grace. Sharing the hope and joy to be found in a relationship with Christ is her passion, and JoAnn adores writing and reading Christian romance. She loves to hear from her readers via her website or her Author JoAnn Durgin page on FB!
God rerouted our life in 2007! We were invited to go on a mission trip to Romania… We didn’t have passports and the waiting time then was 3 months. The trip was in 6 weeks so we hurried and applied mailed paper work July 5, 2007 received passports on July 14, 2007. In 9 DAYS GOD MOVED THE RED TAPE TO COMPLETION. Our congress man said he could not even do that he was amazed. And the rest is history we retuned each year for teaching and training in Biblical counseling with our church. In September 2012 we moved here to Romania as full time missionaries to establish a school for certifying Biblical Counselors. We have a daily account of God’s mighty hand intervening in our lives. This was just the first one in this incredible journey He has taken us on!!! Thanks for the opportunity to share a piece of His grace expressed in our lives.
I retreat to a happy placevwith Jesus in reading your books. Thank you JoAnn for sharing your gift of storytelling with us. May God richly bless you and your family with His abundant joy.
What a great story, JoAnn! It amazing to look back on all of the twists and turns in life, but we always end up just where we’re supposed to be, thanks to God. Sweet picture of you and your husband!
What a wonderful story, I’m glad that God is patient and shows us His plan. I think it’s neat that you’ve used some of it in your books. Love that series.
JoAnn, I can relate to your blog. God’s plan is the best plan, even if the road is not always to our liking or understanding. When I met my husband to be, he was a pre-med college student and a new Christian. Growing up in a Christian home, I never wanted to be a pastor’s wife even though many people thought that was my calling. God’s plan is the best plan, He led us through our marriage, seminary life, three different churches, the birth of our three sons, a devastating house fire, the marriage of two sons, the birth of three grandchildren (the last being a girl), and into retirement.
JoAnn, I have also moved a lot — 20 times (twice we moved twice in a year). I have traveled coast to coast and to nine foreign countries. I have seen the Rockies. God’s plan was the best.
While I may not always see or agree with God’s plan at the moment, in the scope of life He knows what He is doing. May 1989 horrid month of my life. We were moving back to Michigan to a new church ministry. My father almost died of triple bi-pass heart surgery. At age 39 I found out I was pregnant with my third child. But God was in control. In 1993 I was hired by the same school system, that I did my student teaching at twenty years earlier. I worked their for 19 years, which gave me a good insurance and retirement package, which was helpful when I was forced to retire in 2012. After 35 years of teaching, I was given an ineffective rating on my teacher evaluation, which forced my early retirement in June. Little did I know that my oldest son would have major surgery in November and I was needed to watch my grandsons. Following his surgery, our granddaughter was born in 2013 and then my son’s wife had major surgery. Being retired gave me the opportunity to babysit my granddaughter, so my son could pay their medical bills and save on childcare. God’s plan is the best.
In July 1997, the church parsonage had a massive fire – total loss of the parsonage, all our personal possessions, the family van, plus a month later we had to release our 12 year old Sheltie to heaven, while fortunately our newly acquired kitten Smokey had run out of the burning home and survived three lonely days in the ravine behind our house when we found him. Replacing everything makes me hate shopping to this day. God’s plan is best because we saw the generosity of our neighbors and friends.
JoAnn, I enjoyed reading Awakening and downloaded Prelude. Thanks for the free romance. Happy weekend and happy writing.
Loved your story. I too met my husband on a blind date set up by mutual friends. We’ll be married 35 years this coming August. When he picked me up for our first date he was in a big black van. He helped me in and while he was walking around to get in I slowly turned around and looked in the back and I saw a bed, mini fridge, all the “comforts” of home. I slowly turned around and thought “what have I got myself into?” He explained that he lived 30 min from his job and sometimes he just slept in his van in the parking lot and showered at his job. Big sigh of relief!
Thanks for sharing your story! God did indeed provide a compass through the many twists and turns.
Lovely story JoAnn! I too met my husband on a blind date. :) We were set up by his then sister-in-law, who showed me a picture of his brother and said, “He looks kind of like this.” Even after all this time, I’m still not sure what I was supposed to say to that!
Your love story is very entertaining as well as being a glimpse into how God often works in our lives no matter what turns we take.
Great story of God’s timing–and sense of humor! Mine isn’t quite so convoluted, but when i was in grade 12, I sensed God telling me to attend a Bible school in Saskatchewan, Canada, far from my home in Oregon. That’s where I met my beloved, and we’ve been married now for more than 43 years. God IS love.
Diane, thank you for sharing your amazing story with us! God truly DID move those passports through the red tape for you. You’ve found your place in HIS world indeed. Thank you for your ministry! I have you on my prayer list to pray for daily, and I’m so thankful the Lord brought you to my books. Blessings and carry onward and forward!
Thank you, Jill! Sometimes readers think “That can’t happen!” about a book (not mine, necessarily, but speaking in general terms here), but it CAN. Some things really can’t be explained other than to say it’s a “God” thing. And it IS truly amazing, isn’t it? Blessings on your day and have a great weekend. :)
Thank you so much! You know, I didn’t intend to sit down and write a story based on my relationship with Jim. And, honestly, it wasn’t until a few years down the road that I fully realized ALL the parallels between Sam and Lexa in Awakening with our “real life” story. God had a plan in that, too. It’s on my website, but I’ll share more about that in next month’s Inspy Romance post. Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is the only other book of mine drawn more directly from our relationship (all you need to do is look at my author dedication where I give a clue). I’m thankful you’re enjoying my Lewis Legacy Series books, and I appreciate your faithfulness to Inspy Romance! Blessings to you.
After we’d been missionaries in Hong Kong for 19 years, we knew the church there was mature enough not to need missionaries anymore. We thought going to New Zealand to work with Chinese churches there sounded real nice, but God said, “How about Cambodia?” Neither my husband nor I was thrilled with that idea. We finally said “yes” in obedience to God, but not very excited about it. When we finally got to Cambodia, the young people became our kids and the pastors and their wives became family too. We didn’t like the climate, but God had all those wonderful people for us to get to know!
I loved reading your story. It’s amazing how the Lord works.
Thank you for your faithfulness in visiting and commenting here at Inspy Romance each day, Renate. You indeed have quite a story to share. Like you, I was a pastor’s wife for many years, had my last baby in my late 30s, and we also had a Sheltie. We lived in various parts of the country due to Jim’s pastoral ministry, but I honestly can’t imagine moving as much as you have in the past. And–as your personal story shows–sometimes God removes things from our lives (a job, for instance) so that He can place us where He needs us to be for His purposes. Glad you’ve been able to be there for your family in times of need. I can’t imagine the devastation of losing everything in a house fire. Even though they’re only “things,” you have the cherished blessing of family, the church body, friends–and most importantly, God’s grace–to keep you moving forward. I’m sure Smokey’s return was a wonderful “sign” to you of how God indeed will take care of you. Blessings.
Gail, thanks for sharing your story! I’ll confess that as I read it, I thought, “Hmm. What’s coming next?” Sounds like he’s a practical man and I’m glad it all worked out for the two of you! Sounds like a “God” thing to me! And you know what? There were probably a lot of guys that envied that van with all the “comforts” of home! :) How wonderful to be celebrating 35 years of marriage. Congratulations! I appreciate your faithfulness to Inspy Romance
Yes, He did, Valerie. Thankfully, things calmed down a bit after that. :) Stay warm “up there” in Canada this weekend, my friend, and happy writing! Blessings.
Funny, Christina! I don’t think Susan or Marshall told me what Jim looked like (although it certainly wouldn’t have hurt the cause) and I know for sure that I didn’t see a photo. In a way, I liked the mystery of not knowing. Things have certainly changed with social media though, haven’t they? Not that we’re old in any sense of the word (at least you’re not), but I doubt many “blind” dates are truly “blind” these days, you know? Blessings on your weekend and thanks for the comment!
Thank you, Merrillee! I try to make my stories entertaining, whether “real” life, fiction, or fiction loosely based on real life. LOL. :) I appreciate the comment and have a great weekend!
Ah, Kathleen, I love that! Thank you for sharing with us. Truly sounds like a “God” thing to me. I love when God whispers to us, or does a little more than whisper, in some cases. And I’m thankful you followed His call and met your beloved. :) You know how much I love “real life” love stories like that! Blessings on your weekend, my friend.
Margaret, that’s such a wonderful testament to God’s faithfulness in leading you where HE wanted you. And you were so blessed in return! Thank you for sharing. Have you ever heard the song “Please Don’t Send Me To Africa?” I believe it’s a Steven Curtis Chapman song, but I thought of that song as I read your post. I’m glad you followed God’s call! I appreciate your comment and faithfulness to the authors at Inspy Romance. Blessings!
Thanks, Kimberly. I know it’s a long one. You know me… LOL. Blessings, and have a great weekend!
My husband and I got engaged just after freshman year of college. We were planning to wait a couple of years to actually get married because that seemed like the way many were doing things then. But we had a wise talk with his mother and realized we probably needed to get married sooner, one reason being for the sake of our purity. The Lord also called us into ministry and my husband was preparing to start his first youth ministry position and we realized that we would be able to serve in that area more effectively if we were already married. So we married immediately following our sophomore year. We became pregnant almost immediately after we married and we were very excited. I attended school that fall, but took the spring semester off because our little girl was due right in the middle of the semester. She ended up being born 3 weeks early and we almost lost her due to placental abruptia, but God was with us and we were both came out of it fine. When it came time to start back to school in the fall, I agonized over whether I should go back or not. I worried so much about what people would think about me for not having a college degree if I chose not to go back, but I felt a deep desire and pull to stay home and take care of our daughter and be a support to my husband as he finished college and for those things to be my focused. So I didn’t go back to school and once I finally made the decision, I had such peace and I have never regretted it for a minute. We have 6 beautiful children now whom I stay home with and home school. Six years into our marriage, my husband was working as a high school science teacher, but he began to feel restless as though something needed to change, but he didn’t know what. We prayed and sought the Lord and wise counsel from our parents and the mentors in our lives. We came to the conclusion that God was up to something though he hadn’t revealed what yet and that until He did, we would continue doing what we had been doing. Then during a weekend that my husband spent camping and seeking the Lord, God revealed that He was calling him to pastor. JP (my husband) had some objections. He felt too young (25 years old) and like he just didn’t have enough experience. But God would not release him or us from the call. It came time for JP to renew his contract with the school, but we had prayed and prayed and felt so clearly that he was not to sign the contract. It made no sense to the outside world (and even to many Christians) why JP would not renew his contract when he had no other job lined up. Some even suggested signing the contract and then just getting out of it later if we needed to. But we had no peace to do it that way. Instead we were completely at peace about him not signing the contract at all. In the coming months, God drew us to the church He had for us, JP was ordained, and God opened up doors for JP to begin teaching at the high school near the small town the church was in. We were at that church for 5 or 6 years and then God called us to start a church plant which we are now in the process of doing. So many things we didn’t think we’d be doing in our lives. Didn’t think I wouldn’t finish college. We didn’t think God would call JP to pastor and to give up a job before we knew any other job was in the works. Didn’t think God would call us to plant a church. But He did, He called us to do all those things and it’s such an amazing blessing and privilege to be a part of the work He’s doing and to get to watch Him bring all the details into place in His perfect timing. It’s incredible seeing that He’s at work around us constantly working to put everything in place for His perfect plan. At one point during our journey when we knew God was doing something, but we didn’t know what and we were waiting for Him to reveal what was next, I told my husband, “I feel like God has me blindfolded and He’s just waiting for the perfect moment to take the blindfold off and reveal the big surprise He’s been working to put together that we get to be a part of.” Love watching the way God works and looking back and seeing His hand in everything. He’s a good and perfect God!
Love your books! I think Prelude was one of my favorites!
God steps into my life each and every day to accomplish something amazing. I know there are times when I don’t even know that He is working and accomplishing His will for my life. God has been with my husband and me through my breast cancer in 2005, caring for aging parents, a rebellious teen who is now a wonderful Christian man who shows God’s glory every day, and through financial hardships, job changes, health issues and so much more. I thank God that I am His child. He cares for me and He loves me. :-)
Wow, Julie! I loved reading your story and thank you so much for taking the time to write it out for us. LOVE the blindfold analogy! I also found it interesting how both our husbands were in youth ministry, then taught school (Jim always wanted to teach on the high school level–history–but they kept him at the elementary level), and then felt the call to return to ministry. Sounds like JP was bi-vocational for a while? As you know, ministry has its challenges, to be sure, but I loved being a pastor’s wife (and I know you do from what you’ve shared here). I greatly admire you for homeschooling your SIX (!!) children. I’ll admit God didn’t give me the call or the patience for that, but sounds like you’ve been faithful to the Lord and He, in turn, has blessed your lives immeasurably. Yes, He is indeed a good and perfect God! :) I don’t know if you’ve read Love So Divine, my latest release, but it’s about the challenges of a youth pastor (Chase) working with inner-city teens in Indianapolis. Thank you for your faithfulness in reading my books, and I’m glad you enjoyed Prelude! Blessings!
Thanks for your comment, Melissa, and your faithfulness to Inspy Romance. Yes, I love how the Lord works behind the scenes. I appreciate your sharing some of your story! I’m thankful you’ve come through the breast cancer and will pray for good health for you (love your profile photo, too). I love hearing how the “rebellious teen” is now a living testament of God’s love. You said it all…”I thank God that I am His child. He cares for me and He loves me.” I couldn’t have said it any better. Amen, and blessings to you!
Sometimes getting from point A to point B take a little longer than others.
I didn’t meet my husband until I was 41! I had just about decided romance wasn’t in the cards for me. We are just about to celebrate our first anniversary!
Very true, Patty. And how encouraging! I get a lot of messages from women about my books asking if there really are men in the “real” world like the guys in my books. There are, but sometimes it DOES take a bit longer. I’m sure your story is an encouragement to a number of single women. And I’m equally certain you’d have some stories to share about how God brought you together. Happy first anniversary! Thanks for sharing. Blessings. :-)
I love how God changes our direction. I like to say He adjusts my compass. He has many times in my life. I love the quote: man makes plans and God laughs. I enjoyed your love story.
Isn’t it fascinating to see just HOW he works in our lives? I liked your analogy to the compass (I believe that’s how Valerie Comer referred to it in her earlier comment, as well). And God definitely has a sense of humor, that’s for sure. Thanks for your reading the post and for your comment. Blessings!
Thanks for sharing your story, JoAnn. When my husband got his first teaching job, we were renting an apartment and had two small children. We were looking for a home that we could afford, but were having a hard time finding something suitable. My husband took a different way home from work one day and saw a sign advertising new homes for sale. He called, got an appointment to see one that night. We went to see it and knew that was the one we were supposed to buy. It was almost finished, so we could move in a couple of months later. The monthly payment ended up to be lower than our rental payment, and there were young couples moving in the subdivision that have become our lifelong friends. We had opportunities to serve in our church that really strengthened us and helped us grow. We stayed there 30 years, then moved to where we are now. We could definitely see God’s hand working in our lives.
Wonderful story, JoAnn.
Please let me apologize for the length of this post, but it would not be complete with all the details. I promise, it will be worth your time.
I truly could tell you so many stories of times when God has stepped in and led me in a way that could have only been Him, but God has laid a particular story on my heart for this occasion. This story is not about a romance of a man and woman in particular, but rather, many different types of romance. Let me tell my story and I will come back to this thought later…
When our son was born, we brought him home from the hospital expecting life to go on much like it did with our first three children. However, in those first couple of weeks at home, I noticed that sometimes, our son didn’t seem to take his next breath in a nice even pattern like you would expect. I called his doctor, and we took him in, and he immediately admitted him to the hospital for a sleep study. That study showed us exactly what we had so feared. Jason would stop breathing in his sleep. Further testing revealed that our baby boy had a hole in his heart about the size of a nickel. We were scared beyond words, but we knew God was in control. Our son came home from the hospital on a heart and respiratory monitor. He would stop breathing several times a day, sometimes as many as 20 times in one 24 hour period. His heart would drop to as low as 20 beats per minute, and could race as high as 300 beats per minute. Sometimes his body would respond automatically and go right back to normal, but sometimes you would have to nudge him or shake him a bit to get him to take his next breath. Other times, it was a call for an ambulance. this went on for about 2 years. His cardiologist said he really would like to wait until our son was 4 years old before doing the surgery. Just before our little guy turned 2, the cardiologist made a decision to pursue the surgery route, or our son may not survive one of these events he was having which were getting increasingly serious. On a Thursday, testing was done and the doctor acknowledged there was no change in the hole size. The cardiologist set us up with a cardiac surgeon for the following Tuesday. (This is where God stepped in!) The Sunday between those two appointments, we had decided to attend a church who had regularly been praying for our son. We knew only one person who attended this church, and when we got there that Sunday, that one person we knew was not there. We quietly entered the sanctuary and slid into a row that had a few open seats, wishing we had made arrangements with the one person we knew. The service began, and we were indeed out of the comfort of our own home church. As the minister (who was a very prophetic man) got up to give the sermon he glanced back our way and suddenly stopped mid-sentence. He looked at our family, timidly sitting in the back of the church, and said to us “God has spoken to me and told me that your baby has a heart condition.” **Enter Holy Ghost goose-bumps** Let me remind you, we had NEVER met any of these people. The minister then ask us if we would allow him and the elders of the church to pray over our son. We, of course, said yes. After that prayer time, the minister told us when we went back to the doctor, our son would be healed from his condition. He said “God will heal him and work to fine-tune his heart to normal. Within 6 months, God will continue a healing of his heart and you may have small episodes, but God is healing him.” WOW! We had prayed for this for two years…could this really be happening? Two days later, we entered the children’s hospital expecting to schedule surgery to repair our son’s heart. That would be the healing that minister spoke of. After all, God uses doctors as instruments to bring healing. When the doctor walked in carrying the films we brought with us, and the set of films he had just taken himself, he said he had good news and bad news. The bad news was there was nothing that he could do to fix our son’s heart. However, the good news was that there was no longer a hole in our son’s heart, so there was nothing to fix. He told us that if he did not see the name and date of our son on those films we brought with us, he would say there was no way that these films were from the Thursday preceding that day. He acknowledged that he could not explain it other than to say “sometimes the ‘Big Guy’ steps in”. Our son had been healed! And we know it took place in those few minutes of prayer in that unfamiliar church we decided to attend on Sunday morning. Let me finish by saying, that the doctor’s would not take our son off of the heart and respiratory monitor for fear that something could still go wrong. We continued to have alarms on those monitors, but they became less extreme and less often. Six months almost to the day, we never had another alarm. Why did God bring us through two years of this to heal our son? We will never know that this side of heaven, but we do know, God stepped in. God had a plan.
So back to the romance of this story…this is about a love between a husband and wife that brings about the birth of a child; this is about a love between a family and their sick baby; this is about the love between Christians and their love for their fellow Christians; but even greater, this is about the love of our Heavenly Father toward his sick and hurting children. His love is greater!
Thanks for sharing, Winnie! I love God’s detours, don’t you? Sounds your husband taking a different way home was certainly one of those that led to lifelong friendships and memories! I have to say, one of my characters in my Lewis Legacy Series is named Winnie, and just seeing your name makes me smile. I kind of get connected with them, you see. :) I appreciate your visiting Inspy Romance today and leaving a wonderful comment! Blessings.
Thank you, Ginger. :) Blessings on your weekend.
Beverly, I am in tears! What a powerful testimony of God’s providence and the power of His healing. Amen! I am so very thankful you shared your story with us. Throughout our online friendship, I don’t think I’ve ever heard that story. Amazing love indeed! Now I have goosebumps, too. Truly there is no explanation other than the Lord spoke to that minister that day (and what a story you must have told to the person who regularly attended there but wasn’t there that day!), and God HEARD the prayers of His faithful. I know there was a girl once, the daughter of one of my mother’s college roommates, who had been diagnosed with cancer and the prognosis was grim. At their annual summer reunion, everyone gathered in a circle, laid hands on Mary, and prayed for her. She was healed shortly thereafter, is now a grandmother, and she’s had no further recurrences of the cancer. God is so GOOD! I’ve heard other stories like that, but I was young and that particular story really impacted me. Thank you again, and I’m so thankful your son is the happy, intelligent, and caring Christian young man he is today! Blessings on your weekend. :)
With you knowing Jason through our online friendship the way you do, let me also share with you that the doctors told us he would most likely be mentally challenged, or slow at best due to Him being without oxygen so much of his early life. I will say, my God is bigger than any diagnosis or prognosis!
Enjoyed reading your story. Nearly 5 years ago, I was working at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Customer Service. I was the age to retire but wasn’t really ready to not work, but I was wanting something with less stress. I fell and broke my arm and messed up my shoulder. I was still.trying to hang on at BCBS because I didn’t really see how I could quit. One Friday I got a very strong impression that before I left that day I needed to turn in my resignation. I tried to ignore it, but finally before I left I went to my supervisor’s desk and turned in my 2 week notice. I kept second guessing myself all day Saturday. Sunday morning at church, the head of the personnel committee approached me and told me that the church was losing their Secretary and they really felt led to offer the job to me. Two weeks later, I went to work in my church office.. If I hadn’t been fighting the problem with my broken arm, I would have probably still be hanging on at BCBS. The broken arm turned into quite a blessing.
JoAnn, I surely enjoyed “Awakening” & seeing your real life romance (even loosely) portrayed in it. I can see all the ways God’s hand was in it :-)
I don’t have anything as spectacular as that! Just a side note, I was the woman who moved for the man when I went from Illinois to Oregon to start my own romance story! But I’ll save that for another time :-) I’ll tell of a more recent time when God moved unexpectedly in our lives. For the past year or so my husband and I had been praying for a new job for him. Things were not going well, not because of him, but because it seemed the company shifted gears in ways that was becoming increasingly more stressful. My husband was the General Manager of a motel here in town. He’d come home exhausted, stressed to the max, irritable (that’s just NOT my husband), & with constant migraines. It was beginning to strain our marriage & home life and it was becoming too much. Our home was no longer the peace-filled environment we had strived to make it. One day I just flat out told God something NEEDED to change for our own sanity! I wasn’t above begging either at this point. :-) Well, in the midst of this, he had applied at a job that seemed to be a perfect fit for him & the interview went very well. A couple of weeks later, he got the call that he wasn’t chosen, they went with one of the other candidates. That was almost devastating! But he kept on keeping on with his job, and my heart began to earnestly seek the Lord’s will. I asked Him to change my attitude and our home atmosphere. We began to pray over our house. You could feel God’s Spirit begin to rule and reign again. It’s a funny thing that happened next really! He had seen an ad in the paper for a job working for a company that one of our church members has worked for for a number of years. It was for a position that he didn’t even consider because it wouldn’t have paid the wages he needed to take care of our family. We dismissed it from our minds. That weekend when we went to church on Sunday, the lady who worked for them said that my husband should put in an application. When he expressed his concern over the financial issue, she asked what he needed to make per hour & when he named the amount, she said I think we can come close to that. We prayed about it, and figured it wouldn’t hurt to apply. Next thing we know, he had an interview that very week! And the hiring person offered him a salary that almost matched what he was making as a Manager with the promise that after a 90 days review with good results, would have an increase of about $1 more. Now you talk about being floored! Wow….he didn’t hesitate to take the position. That was back in October of last year, and I can’t tell you what an absolute blessing it has been!! He no longer has the stress or headaches. He does his 8 hours per day, comes home and doesn’t get disturbed in the evening with phone calls. And the coolest part? He has weekends off and that’s when we watch the grand-girl while our daughter works. Time with family is so important to him! I’m still amazed at how God worked out the surprise….we weren’t looking for it and it came from an unexpected place!
Isn’t God amazing?
My moment would be I thought I was suppose to move to Oklahoma to live with a aunt and go to nursing school but just 3 weeks before I was to leave was the Oklahoma bombing and my Aunt lost her job and moved back to our hometown and I decided not to go to nursing school there but stayed at home and cared for my parents until thier death
You know, I wondered about that as I read through your post, Beverly. Amen and amen that Jason is the brilliant young man that he is today! As Sam said to one of the TeamWork guys (Marc, I believe), “The doctors and medical science don’t know everything.” Or words to that effect. With our God, anything is possible! Thank you again for sharing.
Ann, I’m sorry you fell, but yes, it did lead to a blessing! I love those inner nudges, and I love how you followed that nudge. So thankful the Lord led you to such a wonderful job that sounds absolutely “perfect” for you. Thank you for your faithful readership and for sharing here on Inspy Romance! Blessings on your weekend. :)
Yes, He certainly is amazing, Trixi! Thank you for sharing! And one day I’d love to hear the story of moving all the way from Illinois to Oregon. Please don’t think I “fault” you in any way for doing that; it’s just something I never expected to be doing! But the Lord’s hand was definitely in it. You know, I was reading a story the other day about a young woman who manages a hotel, and I can perhaps better understand the stress involved. When the husband (or wife) is stressed at work, unfortunately, it almost always carries over into the family and personal life. I’m glad you were so faithful and kept praying, and that your husband now has a lower-stress position. And I love spending time with OUR grand-girl (love that term), so I can fully appreciate that as well. I hope you downloaded PRELUDE while it’s free today. It’s a sweet, old-fashioned love story of Sam’s parents. Thank you for your faithfulness to the authors here at Inspy Romance. Have a great weekend!
How well I remember that time, Shelia. We were on a trip with the kids to Nags Head, NC, and I’ll never forget how we hugged our girls and prayed for those families and everyone affected by that senseless tragedy. I’m sorry about your parents, but I’m thankful (and I’m sure they were, too) that you were able to spend precious time with them as you “nursed” them in their final years. Blessings to you, and thank you for your comment.
You or I both didn’t expect to move clear across the US to be with the man God had for us….but wow, what an amazing journey it was :-) I know you didn’t mean it to be a negative thing, so no worries JoAnn! As far as “Prelude”, I had downloaded it a while back so it’s sure enough on my Kindle. :-)
I hope you treasure your time with the grand-girl (isn’t it a cute name?) as I know you do! Ours just turned 2yrs old on the 2nd…can’t believe how the time has flown! She’s getting to be such a big girl, reminds me so much of her mom at that age really, lol! Even down to the stubborn streak, HA! :-D I think she may have inherited that from her grandma.
Blessings to you and yours JoAnn. I love being a part of the Inspy Romance family :-)
God has blessed us in many ways. He gave us our youngest after we had miscarried three times. She is now a senior in nursing school. Time flies!
Yes, how time flies indeed! So thankful the Lord blessed you with a daughter, and may He richly bless her future nursing career. I have all the admiration in the world for nurses. That’s the focus of Sarah Jordan in Prelude (the book that’s free today on Amazon Kindle). She wants to be a nurse but it would mean taking her away from Sam (this is back in 1962 Texas). Blessings, and thanks for your comment!
Yes, I have heard “Please don’t send me to Africa,” Great song!!
Looking back, there are so very many times I can see God’s hand in something throughout my life, it’s hard to tell about just one. When I was very very young, we went to church as a family, but as I got older (after about age 8), it was only me most of the time. It was the one place I felt safe, happy, content….but I didn’t realize this until much later in life…… I know now that God knew what he was doing when I asked Jesus into my heart at about age 7 or so. I never had really thought that much about that until a few years ago. He knew I would need His love and guidance to take care of me whether I knew He was doing it or not. When my brother went off to college, I didn’t have a way to get to church, so I stopped going. Thankfully, all I had learned at church was instilled in me somehow, and I never doubted, nor did I ever lose my faith…but again, I did not realize that. Skip ahead to age 25. I had just turned 25 (1992), 3 days before, and we had just celebrated our 7th anniversary 3 weeks before the fated day that 1200 lbs. of steel fell on my husband, broke his back and almost completely severed his spinal cord. They said he would never walk again. My husband’s family wasn’t nearby (5 hours away), and I was raised that you never ever ask for help from anyone, you take care of yourself and your family, and I never talked to anyone and still have never really talked to anyone about my relationship with Christ. Period. I was rather quiet back then, and was brought up not to speak unless spoken to, so I really didn’t talk to people about anything personal. We were very young and didn’t make a lot of money; neither of us went to college. My boss called me in a few weeks after the accident…..I lost my job. I lost my job because of two things. One, I took all my personal time, vacation and sick leave to be with my hubby, who ended up in the hospital for 3 months; and two, they decided to reorganize the company and decided they didn’t need me anymore and my time off was a good reason to let me go in their eyes. So, no more income…….we lost our little home, sold practically everything we owned and were thankful that some dear friends let us move in with them. I worked 5 part-time jobs to pay our bills. We never ever got behind. God made sure we were taken care of, even at the worst of times. Some of you make look at this next thing and think it is wrong, but I see it as God taking care of us when we needed it. We didn’t go out and spend money frivolously, but a friend decided I needed to get out every 2-3 weeks or so and would take me to play bingo. I won a minimum of $600 EVERY time I went. Now is that God helping me pay the bills or what? When minimum wage is around $5 an hour and you don’t have a college degree, it makes it hard to make a living. My honeybunny was in a wheel chair for several months, but worked very hard to get out of it. He loved riding his motorcycle and worked very hard to get to do that again….THAT kept him going. Two years later, as usual, God took care of things and helped us get back on our feet and get our own home again. In 1996, my honeybunny threw his crutches down and said, no more. He has never used them again. Here it is 23 1/2 years later and he still falls down, still can’t use his right foot, can’t run, can’t walk far distances, can’t do a lot of things, but he has figured out what he CAN do and has never let anything keep him down. We were blessed enough to get to travel to Ireland in 2004 for an early 20 year anniversary present to ourselves (we eloped and never had a honeymoon) and I learned that St Patrick taught the Irish people about Christianity via the shamrock. That story really struck a chord with me. I know a lot of people won’t like this either, but I have a tattoo on each wrist, one is a Celtic shamrock and the other is the Celtic symbol of the trinity. They both remind me to have faith each and every day, no matter what, and they also give me a chance to share/witness to others when they ask about them. Sooo, this is one of the many many times I’ve seen God at work in my life…….
What a great story! I met my hubby via a blind date, as well. My friends were bragging that everyone they’d ever matched got married, so of course I laughed and said I would be the exception. Joke was on me!
Ah, Lisa…what a testimony! Thank you so much for stopping by Inspy Romance today! I LOVE that you took the time to share some things from your amazing life story. I’m thankful that you attended church so faithfully in your early years and gave your life to Christ as a young girl. He’s honored that faithfulness. As I told you when we met, your story would make a great book! I love these instances where God took care of you, and I don’t think I’ve ever known someone with so much energy and determination. Wish we could have met Troy recently when we were in Houston. I love his spirit in throwing down those crutches and saying, “No more!” Soooo thankful he’s recovered as well as he could from an accident that probably should have killed him. God had a purpose, that’s for sure! Glad you were able to travel to Ireland and I’m thankful I got to see and hear the story behind the Celtic symbols. Many blessings to you, my friend, and thanks again for sharing!
Thanks, Deb! I think you’ve blogged about meeting him in one of your Inspy posts, right? It rings a bell. Good thing for our friends that the “match” with our future husbands worked out, huh? Hugs to you, and have a great weekend!
Loved reading your post! I’m waiting for God to lead me in the right direction! He has been there for many times already! Happy Easter to you and your family!!
Thanks so much, Linda! I’m thankful He’s led you in the right direction before and prayers that He will continue to do so. Blessings to you and yours at Easter, as well. :)
Really fun reading your story – thank you for sharing