Neither Storms, Moves Nor Illness

When we were first married, my husband, Philip, and I couldn’t have imagined all the challenges that life would present to our family. Over the years, our family of six has been shaken by dozens of cross-country moves, several natural disasters, a costly medical crisis and an unexpected career change. At times it seemed as though the universe had conspired against us, trying its best to pull us apart. We made a choice, however, to welcome each challenge. With God’s help, we’ve managed to pull our family together instead of allowing ourselves to be pulled apart.

Frequent moves and monster waves

Our family has lived all over the United States, establishing residence in places as far apart as Alaska, Florida, California and Hawaii. After more than 30 cross-country moves, I’ve stopped counting!

Multiple relocations have caused us to leave behind family, close friends, favorite houses, supportive churches, even furniture. With each move, we have purposely turned our family’s focus on what we’re gaining, not on what we’re losing, and we’ve resolved to look ahead with expectation to all God has planned for us. We’ve chosen to have fun discovering new areas and meeting new friends.

Just as moving became second nature to us, surviving through natural disasters became all too familiar as well. In 1993, we endured “The Storm of the Century,” with 14-foot waves crashing through doors and windows of our Florida home, washing furniture, toys and other possessions out to the Gulf of Mexico. Losing so much in such a traumatic way caused us to look at what is really important in life.

When faced with possible death, we realized that none of our possessions mattered to us, only the safety of each other. Going through the storm gave us an opportunity to weigh temporary possessions against eternal values. Instead of prolonged mourning over our losses, we focused on the joy of being together, which drew us closer.

Several years later, a move back to Florida in 2001 placed us in the path of four major hurricanes over an 18-month period. Our experience in 1993 helped us forge ahead as a family. We reminded ourselves that God was with us in each storm, no matter the losses, and He would work it all together for good in our lives.

Early arrival and financial troubles

Our family faced yet another grave situation when our fourth daughter, Kaitlyn, was born two months premature. Both Kaitlyn’s life and mine were at risk. It was a time filled with uncertainty and financial difficulty.

Family, friends, church members and even compassionate strangers rallied around us, lending a hand with meals, finances and child care. We discovered that God often meets our needs by leading others to come alongside and help us through difficult times.

Shortly after the traumatic premature birth, the church where Philip served as senior pastor decided to change his position from full time to part time. It was a big blow, especially with the medical bills for our daughter’s birth totaling more than $50,000.

We turned to Scripture to see what response God wanted our family to live out. We found that God encourages us to rejoice when faced with various trials — 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 exhorts us, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” To demonstrate this attitude to our children, we baked a cake, rejoiced in God’s faithfulness and acknowledged our trust in Him.

The stress of our medical crisis and the uncertainty of this new financial setback could have easily driven our family apart. But as we rejoiced and trusted the Lord, our family stayed close.

The next week, God provided my husband with a full-time position at a local hospice — a position that opened new ministry opportunities. God also provided grants through various organizations that covered the majority of our medical bills.

God keeps us together

We’re thankful that early in our lives as a family, God helped us see that we can’t handle every unexpected change and difficulty on our own. We need His guidance to keep our family together and to help us through relocations, storms, unexpected health crises, job uncertainty and whatever challenge life throws our way.