Transforming Grace Part 2
by Guest Blogger
As the years passed, Laurie’s hope of having her own family grew. It seemed like circumstances were coming together to make this dream a reality. Laurie experienced the joy of romance, an engagement, a wedding, and a pregnancy! She was beyond ecstatic!
However, not long into the pregnancy, God called her baby home. And, as suddenly as it appeared, that dream of a family crumpled before her as she not only experienced the grief of two miscarriages, but also the betrayal of an unfaithful husband, and the unmerited consequences of his sin. Where joy once was, she felt emptiness and pain.
Laurie now tells people,
"God is there, even when you don’t feel it. What you feel isn’t the whole picture. This moment. This time. It is not the end."
But at the time, Laurie completely believed the lie that she was worthless and unloved. So, at the age of twenty-four, she dove back into anorexia that ended with an attempt to take her own life and being admitted to the hospital. During her time in the hospital, she cried out to God,
“Help me!”
She began again to meet with her therapist and dietician. But, this time, something was different - something about her was finally broken and willing to surrender to God when it had never been before. She clearly remembers the therapist saying, “Laurie, you have all the tools you need to change your life, but you have to choose to use them.” And she was so right - not only about the unhealthy behaviors, but also Laurie’s spiritual state. Laurie had all the knowledge of who God was, and while she fully believed He was there, she had never chosen to surrender her life to Him. In that moment of realization, Laurie cried out to God to help her be the kind of person HE wanted her to be. The kind of person He made her to be.
That was over sixteen years ago, and the Lord has been shaping Laurie ever since. While not all stories do, Laurie’s does contain the beautiful gift of a life-long dream fulfilled! She met and married a wonderful, godly man with whom she had two beautiful children. Her husband, a former pastor’s kid, and his family came alongside of Laurie to become that family she never had. They were, and continue to be a great example of how Christian families should interact! And, if you ask her today, Laurie will tell you that,
“As a result of Christ and His people walking alongside of me during a tough time, my story is one of transforming grace.”
-Written by Anna Macke, photos by Julie Lee
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