The Rest of the Story

Our vision is to grow the Body of Christ using Biblical principles and resources for women. It all starts with the heart of the home – YOU!

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Today, I’m picking back up where our story left off yesterday. To refresh your memory…

Nancy’s husband, Ray, had lost his job as a corporate president upon the company having been sold. And after being unemployed for months, he accepted a job in Omaha, Nebraska (far from Raleigh, NC, and also far from her children, her father, her ministry, and her friends). Her life had been in Raleigh, and now she was moving to what felt like the other side of the world.

The story picks up here! Grab your tissue…

“I chose – please note the choice of words, “I CHOSE” – to leave Raleigh cheerfully. My husband had been miserable for months. He was mad all the time. He seemed to only focus on himself. Yet I was resolved to help my husband regain the joy in his life (Don’t forget, the Bible says that the woman’s role is be a helper – Genesis 2:18). So we left everything and moved to Omaha.

Once in Omaha, I told Ray he could choose the church we would attend. He chose the one closest to us. (What a blessing as it was the church I wanted to attend!) But the amazing thing is, it was at that point in our relationship that we both started to fly. Ray LOVED his job. He later told me that this was his favorite job ever!

And around the same time, the Lord opened a door for me to go on staff at our church as Women’s Ministry Director. I served for 12 years and had 33 leaders serving under my leadership. By the grace of God, the ministry soared!

God allowed me to write 4 books on marriage and appear on local and national television. I did 100’s of radio interviews around the country and even had my own segment on the radio ministering to women about marriage. God honored the sacrifice I had made to joyfully leave everything I loved – even when I didn’t want to go. This became a very special time in our marriage and to us professionally.

A few years later, Ray was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Months before he died, he said, “I’m dedicating to you Alan Jackson’s song, ‘Stroll Along in Heaven with You’.” Then he asked me, “how will I find you in heaven when you die?”

I asked him if he thought he was going to heaven. He said he wasn’t sure. I then asked if I could share the Gospel with him, which he had heard many times, yet I don’t know if he had ever truly accepted Christ. So, I shared the Gospel and he accepted Christ!

At his funeral, we played that song. Truly, in the end, submission won!”

Throughout Nancy’s story, I hope you picked up on how God honored her obedience to Him by her resolve to submit to and to help her husband.

She made this comment to me recently, and I’ll just pass it along, “there will be times you will not want to or feel like submitting to his leadership, but you do it out of obedience to the Lord, TRUSTING AND KNOWING that God WILL honor your actions. Make a choice to do it; your emotions will eventually catch up.”

Have a great day. Hope to see you at Chick-fil-A!