My Story…

Welcome to my very first blog post of FBC Frisco MOPS!

As I contemplated on what to write about, I decided give a short testimony of my faith since I am new to the group and many of you do not know my story. (I will shorten it so that you are not reading for hours!) I look forward to getting to know everyone this year ~ I am so blessed to have found this group!

One of my favorite songs that I grew up with in the church was “On Eagles Wings” by Michael Joncas. The words are loosely based on Psalm 91 and Isaiah 40:31.

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord
who abide in His shadow for life,
say to the Lord: ‘My refuge,
my God in whom I trust!’
And He will raise you up on eagles’ wings,
bear you on the breath of dawn,
make you to shine like the sun,
and hold you in the palm of His hand.

These words and song have carried me through some extremely difficult and trying times in my life.

I can’t say, like many people, when I found God. I grew up in the Catholic Church and always felt that I had a strong connection and relationship with God. Unfortunately, I never knew, growing up, that I could have a relationship like I have now with Christ. I always said my prayers at night, said my rosary on occasion and attended church every Sunday until I moved off to college and was very active in my church youth group. That, in my mind, was enough. That was what a relationship with God meant to me.

I married young, only just 23 years old and fresh out of college. I followed my heart and it led me astray – blinded to God and the direction that he was trying to lead me. We moved quite a bit, moving first to central Louisiana and then to New Orleans within a 2 ½ year period. I felt as if life was great – I was content – I had been blessed with a job as a high school teacher and then a corporate event planner. I thought I was happy – yet, something was missing, but I did not know what. I wanted to find a church, but my (x)husband had no desire…so, I dropped it.
Although the relationship lasted for nearly 10 years from the time we met, God was not at the center of our marriage. Ecclesiastes 4:12 states, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” The spiritual foundation in that marriage was non-existent. I was embarrassed to even listen to Christian music while he was in the car with me.

Needless to say, when the marriage ended quite suddenly, I was ill-prepared and only 28 years old. “I just don’t love you anymore” were the words that stung to the quick. I had an extremely hard time even comprehending these words after enduring the death of his father that same year, along with a tragic miscarriage and the impending Hurricane Katrina that was quickly headed our way. I will never truly know why ~ I could only have faith that God knew what He was doing. I had no one to fall back on, no Christian friends, no support group, no church ~ I was lost. Truly and desperately lost.

We evacuated to Dallas while Katrina swept away the city. In the aftermath, we had little that was spared, including my job. Just one more thing that was ripped from a fabric that I thought was tightly woven. We left simply with our one small sedan, each packing 5 pairs of clothes (thinking that we would be returning), our 86 pound boxer, our Corgie and 3 cats. Twenty-three hours in the car with the man I swore to honor and cherish for the rest of my life, but who had suddenly changed his mind, was an unwelcome and awkward trip.

By December 2005, I had secured a great job here in Dallas while he moved to Oklahoma with his job and by March we were divorced.

I may not be able to tell you when I first found Christ, but I can tell you when I truly entered a solid and wholehearted relationship with Him. When I found Jesus….again. It was then. It was when I was at my lowest – at my breaking point.

I laugh now, because I say that God literally washed my life clean with Hurricane Katrina.

I began attending a church in Plano that I called my home for many years. It was there that I sat in the back of the church crying…..pleading with God to enter my broken heart and to make me new again. It was there that the Holy Spirit did.

Over the course of the next year, I began to heal. Nearly one year to the day of the anniversary of my divorce, I decided that I was ready for a serious relationship again. Unfortunately, though, I still worked in corporate event planning, which caters to a faculty of women and gay men….hardly a great place to meet a man! I wanted to steer clear of the bars, as I wanted a wholesome, Christian man.

I continued to pray and knew that if it was in God’s plan, that he would send me the right person. Who would have guessed that it would have been online! Yes, ladies, Match.com does work surprisingly enough!

Two months after “talking” to Jonathan online and trying to find an open date in my calendar to meet him, the stars aligned and we had our first date in May of 2007. Jonathan, too, was divorced with no children and had also strayed away from the church. I was able to bring him back and the bond that we had only grew stronger as we delved into church and the Word together on a regular basis. We were married 2 days shy of our first dating anniversary 

I still keep the lyrics of “On Eagle’s Wings” close to my heart as I encounter struggles in my day-to-day life, including unending drama from our families and my struggles with post-partum depression and anxiety. I know that God is the only one who can make me stronger – and I am learning to thank him daily for the strength that He has already given me each day to carry on.

It is now 2012 and I am so elated to have the love of a man who loves God above all things, to have two amazing and beautiful children (no matter how difficult they can be), for the material possessions that he has laid in my care, for the air that I breathe and the heart that beats inside of me…..I fall to my knees in the presence of God and give overwhelming thanks and praise to a Him, for only He knew what joy my pain and agony would eventually lead me to.

We each are dealt different circumstances in our lives, but even the most difficult ones make us stronger in God if we have faith and trust in Him!

“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 18:2

Melanie
FBC MOPS Member