I seem to have gotten ahead of my story. We lived with my parents for over a year. Dad gave my husband a little cash every Monday so he could drive to his mother’s house on Long Island to look for work.  I would put my two little ones on the back of the pony Cocoa, and take long walks in the woods. I cried out to God to fix my husband, to get him a job, to get us a house of our own.  It was a negotiation of sorts, in which I was tentatively offering my belief, in exchange for an overhaul of my circumstances. The problem was, I didn’t know what I was supposed to believe in.  I was desperately trying to get to God without Jesus.

Pastor Barb came up to the house weekly, to counsel me about marriage and parenting and to pray with me.   She patiently worked to refocus my thoughts on others instead of myself.  There were a number of isolated young mothers in the community.  Pastor suggested I start a play group down at the church one morning a week and invite the others.  She asked my husband and I to help out another young couple in the village, and to participate in a prison ministry.

There was another young mom who needed Jesus as desperately as I did.  We began to meet together weekly with Pastor Barb to prepare for baptism.  She gave us both a little pamphlet called the Roman Road to read over the following week when she was going to be away on a short vacation.  After my husband left for Long Island, I sat down alone in our room and read:

 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23, the need);

 “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ.” (Romans 6:23, the penalty and the gift);

 “God demonstrates His love in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8, the provision).     

By the time I got to the response, (Romans 10:9-10), “Confess with your mouth that Jesus is LORD and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.”   I was weeping.   And when I read the promise, (Romans 10:13) “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.”  I was shaking like a leaf.  The shaking went on for about twenty minutes. At some point I asked Jesus, “What should I do now?”  His response was, “Read my word and believe it is true.” 

Not long after that, my husband got a job as the Assistant Administrator of a nearby hospital.  We got a beautiful little house, and our third child was born there.  I started reading His word and I never stopped. And as Paul Harvey would say, “And now you know the rest of the story.”