When I read my testimony three years ago to a group of ladies from my church I had been married for nine years and a Believer for about seven. As I thought about those years in preparation to speak that night, I re-realized that I had indeed been through many challenges. As a "good" Christian I should have clung to the Lord during them - but it had taken me a long time to realize that God was walking through those valleys with me.
I know now that He has -and continues to- take me through so many struggles to teach me things I wouldn't learn on the mountain top;
I'd be too busy congratulating myself on having such a successful life.
The night I gave my testimony, at 27 years old, I gave the resume of my struggles-spanning a spectrum from almost trivial to devastating. In nine years of marriage, I had:
-moved 6 times
-had one miscarriage
-had two babies who were born critically ill and one pregnancy that was extremely taxing both physically and emotionally
-supported my husband through 10 job changes
-had one serious financial crisis and many little ones
-been hospitalized 7 times
-had 3 surgeries
-and had to call 911 for my husband... who was then hospitalized for the first time in his life... which happened to be the week I gave birth to our son
Many of these things will be expanded upon in this story of my journey. Right now the road winds to the greatest financial crisis of our (currently) twelve years of marriage...
Bringing Victoria home from the hospital was a bright day in our lives. But storm clouds threatened on the horizon. I had given notice at my job a month earlier; my baby's birth would usher me into a career as a stay-at-home mom. Then, just two weeks later, my husband was laid off from his job. I was already training my replacement and, for me, there was no going back.
To give some perspective, our household income was six figures in a town where a nice starter home could be built for around $80,000. With both our jobs and a paintball business we ran on the weekends, we made a comfortable living - affording a new house and two new vehicles (one was a new-off-the-boat-from-Germany BMW 325i) with a bit of money to spare. Now, with a new baby, we had only the income from our paintball field - just around $10,000 a year.
When my husband found a job (not related to his last field of employment), the salary was about $30,000 a year - less than half of what his previous salary had been. We had the lifestyle and the bills of people that made a hundred grand a year and virtually nothing in our savings - we needed to change something fast!
[As an aside - you might be thinking about why we didn't put money into savings instead of buying a new BMW? Well, we were young and crazy back then. Keep following my story and you will see how God has brought those mistakes around for the help of others.]
Amazingly, we managed to pay the bills and save our credit from damage, with the small exception that we were late on one month's BMW payment while we were trying to sell it.
Now, here's where I could get self-focused and proud about how well we juggled our money and tightened the budget to get out of this financial mess. But God - in His wisdom - has made it a complete mystery to us even to this day. We can look back and say that we made it through without disaster but all the glory goes to God. For a small struggling family in the year 2000, He must have made 1+1=100 because there is no other explanation.
....up next: the start of a pregnancy that would take me into a pediatric hematology and oncology clinic...
Right now, it's my journey.
Physically - from well to broken.
Spiritually - from broken to well.
Grab a cup of cofee and read how amazing my God is! Make sure you start from the beginning because you won't want to miss any of this story - which is for His Glory.
