My mother disapproved of Kurt because he was protective of me, while my dad didn’t care for him because he was introverted. Their reactions didn’t surprise me; my mother didn’t want anyone supporting me, and my dad wouldn’t have found anyone good enough. Despite their concerns, Kurt made me feel safe, and he was a wonderful father. We bought our wedding rings and wanted to make our union legal, but my parents continued to create problems. I also wanted to have another baby, but it proved complicated. I believed that if Kurt could witness our child’s birth, he would understand God’s love. Eventually, Kurt and I married at the courthouse to avoid family drama. A couple of months later, I found out I was pregnant.
In the sixth month of the pregnancy, I began showing signs of a miscarriage, and I panicked. Kurt told me he had spoken to God and offered his life for our babies. His faith in this deal with a God he otherwise doubted surprised me. I realized Kurt saw God as powerful but cruel, and he fully expected God to take his life. I worked to clarify his misunderstanding of God’s nature. Hospitalized in my seventh month of pregnancy, I underwent sonograms twice daily for seven days. The doctors wanted to induce labor but expressed concerns about our baby’s chances of survival. We asked about a cesarean delivery, and they agreed, although they mentioned potential issues with the baby based on the sonogram results.
When our son, Christian, was born, a team from the neonatal intensive care unit was present in the delivery room, prepared for the worst. Christian was a perfectly developed baby boy who weighed four pounds, and the relief among the medical staff was palpable. Kurt honored his commitment by reading the Bible during his downtime at work, and at that point, I didn’t fully grasp how committed he was to God.
A year later, I was driving down the road with our children in the backseat when I heard someone calling my name. I had the radio on, so I told my daughter, “You can call me momma.” When I heard it again, I turned down the music and realized it was God. I responded, “Yes.” He told me He would use me, and I thought He must be mistaken. However, He assured me that He would choose whomever He selected. This ordeal left me shaken and convinced I was losing my sanity. I decided to test whether it was truly God speaking to me. While yard selling, I remembered the Scripture about knocking and seeking. At the next house, I found it nicely framed. At the following house, I received the next answer.
Later that night, I attended the evening service at Liberty Lighthouse, where a visiting pastor spoke. Throughout the service, he said nothing, which confirmed what I had heard. As he closed, he mentioned that God had called someone that day and quoted the Scripture: “Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:27 WEB) This was the call I had received. He then asked the person whom God had called to come forward for prayer. By then, I was trembling so badly that I wasn’t sure I could reach the front. When I finally arrived, the pastor had already moved on to prayer requests. I stepped forward and quietly said, “I am the one God spoke to.” He looked me up and down, asking if I was sure and repeating the question three times. After the last time, I replied, “Yes, but don’t ask me why.” After he prayed, his wife approached me and asked for my forgiveness on behalf of her husband. She said, “God told me you were the one He spoke with.”
