Eight
years ago my family and I were living the dream. I was a Youth Pastor of a growing church, my family was
healthy, my finances were secure, all was well in life and ministry.
Then one day God called us to move away from our family and friends to become the Youth Pastor’s of a church five hours away from everything we knew as home.
God had confirmed to my wife and I so strongly that we were suppose to leave that we both knew that if we did not go we would be out of God’s perfect will for our lives. So we resigned from the church, packed our things, put our house on the market and moved.
Once we arrived at our new Church, the ministry exploded.
In less
than two years the youth ministry grew from 30 teenagers to over 300 students
each week. We were the largest and fastest growing student ministry in the
entire state. In fact, the
ministry side of life could not have been better. Everything we did, worked. Everything we did was blessed.
Everything we did was hitting on all cylinders.
Our ministry was incredible, our personal life, however was a totally different story.
Even though we had made some incredible friendships at our new church, and we were being paid a very respectable salary...our home did not sell for over a year. Because of this we were paying both rent and house payment every single month, and with three kids to take care of, things were getting extremely tight. So tight in fact it was becoming harder and harder to even buy groceries for my family.
In the middle of all the financial turmoil, my wife became pregnant for our fourth child. We were so happy. This was a real bright spot in a very dark situation. The entire family was excited.
About 13 weeks into the pregnancy my wife started to feel a little ill. So we went to the doctor to have her checked out. While we were at the doctor’s office, to our surprise, they could not find the babies heart beat. They tried and tried for several hours, but it was of no use. We had lost the baby.
I still remember going to the waiting room and telling my three children that Mommy was fine but the baby was in heaven. The pain of losing our baby, while holding my three children as they sobbed in my arms, combined with the fear of the financial ruin was almost to much to take.
However, within a few months of losing the baby things started to look up. Our house finally sold. We found a home that we loved, we were getting close to catching up on bills, and my wife became pregnant once again. Things looked like they were going to turn.
Then, 13 weeks into pregnancy my wife became ill. When we went to the doctor, the heart beat we had heard just a few short weeks before, was now gone. We had lost another child.
You would have thought, after two years of near financial ruin and losing two children to miscarriages, that my wife and I would have given up on God, resigned the church and went home to be with our family.
But instead, my wife and I stood on the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 “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.”
We knew that what we were experiencing was only temporary and that our God had a brighter future for us. So in spite of the fear, the pain and the hard times, we kept our faith, stayed faithful and trusted God. Knowing that in the end He would prevail.
A few months after losing our second child I received a phone call from a very large church that I had followed from afar for years. In fact, I had patterned my life and ministry after the Pastor of this church in hopes of one day having a youth ministry like the one he had started years before.
This church had a position open and they called me to see if I would like to come down and be a part of their youth ministry. My wife and I could not believe it. I talked to my Pastor about the possibility of moving and he gave me his blessing to go thru the door that God was opening.
So we resigned from our church, packed our things, and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Today. I am happy to say that my family and I are once again living the dream. I am the Youth Pastor of Oneighty. Our finances are secure, my family is healthy and two years ago Veronica gave birth to Lilly Grace, our beautiful baby girl.
Over the past few years I’ve learned that life isn’t always easy, but my God is always good.
In spite of the trials and tribulations that come our way, in Christ and Christ alone, we will triumph.
