He's Forever Faithful!

When I was in high school I ran with the wilder crowd. At sixteen I was a borderline alcoholic, drinking every Friday and Saturday nights. I graduated from high school at age 17 and found out I was pregnant two weeks after graduation. My boyfriend abandoned me and my family, which was a mess in it's own right, was not supportive.

At age nineteen I was in an abusive marriage with a toddler and another child on the way. A friend's mother, Mrs. Evans began calling me occasionally, just to see how I was doing. She invited me over for lunch a few times and then invited me to church. I grew up in church, but never understood Christ.

Mrs. Evans explained Christ to me, she answered my questions in an unpressured way and reached out to me when no one else ever really had. She took a few moments out of her life, introduced me to a personal relationship with Christ and made a difference in my life and my soul for eternity.

There is more, though - that was just the beginning. Mrs. Evans showed me who Christ was, but He showed me how much He loved me. He taught me about His faithfulness.

I prayed and prayed that the Lord would grab my husband, but he had a problem with alcohol and cocaine. We were evicted from our apartment and had to move. I lost contact with Mrs. Evans and the church I was attending. I began to become very angry with God. Then my son was born with a few birth defects and I became even angrier. I finally reached a point where I couldn't take the abuse any longer and asked my husband to leave and filed for divorce.

I struck out on my own with two children under the age of four to support and moved in with a couple of roommates to try to make expenses. These were some of the nicest people I'd ever met, warm, generous, kind hearted; but practicing pagans. They wanted me to join their group, their "coven", take classes in witchcraft and participate in their ceremonies. They didn't pressure me, but would always ask.

I was never able to bring myself to join them. Even though I was extremely angry at God and believed I could hide amongst his enemies, I could not bring myself to reject Christ. Jesus was still the owner of my heart. Even through my anger and I could not abandon him.

I saved up, moved my children into an apartment of our own and began looking for a better job. I had a lot of doors slammed in my face and I finally turned to God right before an interview and asked Him for the job. He gave me that job and began calling me back to Him.

It took me a while, because I was angry and stubborn, but he kept providing for my family, in spite of my sin and pride. He moved me along in my career, gifting me with proficiencies I'd never before had. Opening my mind so I could learn things quickly and do them well. He provided me with better jobs, double digit salary increases, a house of my own, and then gave me the great privilege of being a wife again, and a mom to a bunch of really wonderful kids. He restored it all when I came back to him. He poured blessings on my head, and continues to do so even now.

In Christ,

Julie Ford