So as most of you know, Jeff and I have undergone an "extreme home makeover" by the Lord! It all started about two and a half years ago when I started praying my husband would become the head of our home, and my husband started praying that God would heal his anger issues. I have often said, "It's a good thing, when we pray, that we don't know what it will cost to answer our prayer, or else we would never have the courage to ask for it!" This has never been more true than it was these past few years.
For those of you who have just recently caught back up with us and don't know all that happened in Idaho, I will try to give you the "readers digest" version to catch you up...
Jeff and I were married in 2002. He was not a christian, I was a wayward one and it was a disaster. While we cared for one another, neither of us knew what it meant to truly LOVE one another. We were entangled in our past hurts and experiances and didnt know how to move forward. In 2003 Jeff's company asked him to relocate to Boise Idaho. Needless to say I did NOT want to go! But we really had no choice and so we went. That first year was very lonely. I had no desire to go to church and thus met no one. Jeff worked all the time. We fought constantly. Then, as I was starting to realize that I desperately needed to find a church the most amazing thing happend. We moved and I met my very dear friend Ruthi who invited me to hers. I went with her and soon felt the Lord calling me back to him. After serious repenting and surrender I began to pray. My husband at this time was still not a christian and my going to church and changing so much was not making our marriage any easier. But the Lord was SO faithful!!! He began to change my heart as I prayed for the salvation of my husband and our marriage. I began to see how MY sin was keeping him from God, How MY sin was keeping him from me! As God began to transform my heart and reveal the Sin in MY life, I began to see my husband softening towards us both.
My wonderful church family gathered around me and loved me. Let me state that again. THEY LOVED ME... not because I was loveable, in fact I was everything BUT! It was through them that I began to see what REAL love for others was. Christ working through them showed me a beauty I have never know. How many times have you heard people talk about the hypocrisy of christians? How many times have YOU said it yourself? These people were by no means perfect. They were flawed and broken just like me... But there was something there I had never experianced before, they were so commited to following the Lord and submitting themselves to his will and loving others. They showed me what Grace means. As God began to change me, they gathered around me to pray for me. Pray for my marriage. Pray for Jeff.
Jeff accepted the Lord in November 2005 and was baptized in July of 2006. I have no doubt that it was the prayers of these dear people that created the Miracle that took place!
Over the next few years the culture of my marriage changed. For the first time Jeff and I really began to love one another. As we practiced grace with one another our marriage became better and better... and that leads me back to 2 and half years ago... and the prayers for leadership and removal of anger...
Jeff had been really... REALLY unhappy at his job for some time. He and I had discussed him finding a new position with another company. He promised to update his resume and find another job before quitting this one... Then one day he came home. He had lost his temper and quit his job. WITHOUT a new one... a few days later the economy crashed, HP, micron and other companies in Idaho let go of THOUSANDS of employees. Suddenly there were no jobs to be found. Even waiter/ess positions were getting 500+ aps from college educated adults! We lived off our saving for about a year, cut corners... Jeff got temp work but we couldnt keep food on the table. Eventually we were hitting foodbanks and calling around to see if we could get utility assistance. But we didnt qualify for help so we started selling off our possessions. I know it sounds horrible, and in some ways it was... but oh so much GOOD was there too! God was present through all of this and began to show Jeff how his Sin of not letting his anger go could affect our lives. My husband changed more in that first year than ever before and finally became the head of our household as I had always prayed!!! He also showed me how to let GO of control that wasnt MINE to possess. How to submit to my husband and hold him up.
As money ran out we realized we had to make a major change. Through a lot of prayer and tears we decided to move back to MN. We stayed with my parents for 3 and a half months. Jeff got offered a job with Homeland security only 4 weeks after moving back- he then went to San Diego for training for 2 months. Upon his return we moved to Newfolden MN. A little town about an hour south of the candian border and 60 minutes east of ND. This is smack dab in the middle of his territory so it is a good place.
Living in such a small community is new and scary and lonely and hard! 362 people is LESS people than in my graduating class in high school. WEIRD!!! The town motto as you drive in is " Newfolden, Minnesotas best kept secret!" lol! We are slowly getting used to it. Looking for a church, paying off bills and debt from our move. It is slow going, but I have every faith that God is with us. And I guess in the end that is all that matters!
