Judy

I, Julie, was born in 1980 to Bill and Susanne.  My mother accepted Christ shortly after I was born, but my father was not interested in any of it at the time.  My mom took me and my siblings to church once and awhile as she wanted to grow, but found it challenging as she had no discipleship – the Lord was working though.  My dad owned his own business as a carpet installer.  In 1988, business started slowing down where we lived so we moved north.  My dad was given a job at a church to install all the carpet in their new sanctuary.  He came home one day and told my mother we should attend it because he had met some really nice people.  On February 14, 1990, the Pastor of our church had the privilege of leading my father to the Lord.  Shortly after this, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and that December he went home to meet his wonderful Saviour.  Through this and the teaching of the Bible at Sunday School my mother had the privilege of leading me to the Lord.

After my father’s death at the age of 10, I took it upon myself to be the strong one in the family.  My walk with the Lord was not very strong at this point and I didn’t really look at Him as being much help as He allowed my father to die.  It was as though a part of me died too.  I felt the need to protect my sister and brother, I felt it was my duty; and this sense of duty meant “stuffing” my true feelings.  Bitterness started to set into my life.  My mom remarried a couple of years later which caused me to become even more bitter, cold, and angry.  I made life miserable for my step-father which caused great tension in our home.  Reconciliation has since been made and I can see how the Lord has blessed us with him.  I continued to attend church, Sunday School, youth events, etc. and I knew all the stories, but I didn’t really want to let the Lord have too much control of my life.  I thought I could handle it better on my own.  On the outside I may have appeared okay, but inside I was miserable.  Eventually, I became so bitter and closed up that it was hard for people to be around me.  It was easier to shut the world out then to admit I was hurting and I couldn’t do it on my own.

August 2, 1996, I received a phone call on our church prayer chain that told me of Steve’s accident.  I believe the Lord used this situation to get my attention because he knew my feelings for Steve.  Yes sir, he was my high school crush, although, it is hard to tell someone that if they are dating your best friend.  Anyway, I was devastated.  This was something I could not control and I knew I had to seek the Lord’s help.  He just couldn’t die!  Who would I marry?  I had opened the door a crack for the Lord and He began to work.  It was and still is a slow process, but brick by brick the walls started to come down.  Steve and I started dating after his recovery and we were married two years later in 1999.