Adversity, Grief
Do you ever feel like you are just picking up the pieces and starting over?
I completely get that.
I understand what it’s like to have a dream dissolve before your very eyes and what it means to lean on Christ to see you through and give you direction and purpose.
I understand what it’s like to experience losses and then pick up the pieces and start over, as I said earlier.
My husband and I have faced the deaths of three of our own children. One through miscarriage, a son who died the night he and his twin brother were born, and a daughter who was stillborn. We have also both lost our mothers. Three years ago, we even lost our career unexpectedly and had to start over when my husband got very ill on the mission field. (more…)
Adversity, Family, Grief, Parenting
David
I realized what I had just heard, and for a brief moment, the world around me stood still. At least, that’s what it felt like.
My oldest son, Isaac, is a college student majoring in both English and Theater. We went to his campus last week, about 4 hours away, to see his play. He had the lead role and we were really excited to see it. As I sat down in my seat to watch, I glanced at the cast list to see which students would be playing the various roles. Honestly, I mainly looked at the side with their real names and then did a quick glance at the character names. When I saw Isaac, I just scanned across the line and saw “Dr. Mortimore”. I didn’t pay attention to his character’s first name. (more…)
Adversity, Life Purpose, Transformation
I told our story about making the hard decision to leave the mission field in the previous 3 posts (part 1, part 2, and part 3).
So…………… let’s take this focus off of me and look at how God can use these types of experiences.
I don’t ever want it to come across as telling my story just so people “hear my story”. I always want the focus to be on God and how He uses each experience and how we can grow through them.
I truly am the person I am because of the things He has allowed me to experience. I can honestly say that I am thankful for them because of whom they have helped me to become. I learned so much about God and grew in ways that I never dreamed I would. My prayer is that God would use my experiences to share hope with others and help lead them to trust Him. (more…)
Adversity, Life Purpose, Transformation
Leaving the mission field was harder than going to the field, as I described in the previous 2 posts (part 1 and part 2).
I won’t go into all the details of the next few months, but we really had no idea how much of an impact moving back to my hometown would have on our family.
After moving back and buying a house, John was still pretty sick. He basically had 2 options: to live on the high dosage of meds he was on or switch to an infusion-based treatment. Neither sounded great. During one visit, which was a Tuesday, the doctor told John that he may be a surgical candidate. We had no idea there was a surgical option. We saw the surgeon 3 days later on Friday. The surgeon then told John that he would have surgery the following Tuesday, just 4 days later. Wow! Talk about a shocker. They removed John’s entire large intestine and did a J-pouch surgery. He had an ileostomy for 2 months while that healed. All this within a week of learning that a surgical option even existed. Two months later, after the J-pouch healed, he had a second surgery to reverse the ileostomy. (more…)
Adversity, Life Purpose, Transformation
As I said in my previous post ( part 1) , the hardest thing we ever did wasn’t going to the mission field, but leaving the mission field. We honestly had no intentions of ever leaving.
We went to seminary specifically to work towards serving as career missionaries. That was the plan. There was no back-up plan, nor any interest in another plan. We knew we were doing exactly what God had for us to do. Our seminary years were pretty amazing and our calling was confirmed over and over.
Fast forward to 7 years on the field and all of a sudden we were faced with the decision of staying on the field very sick, taking a leave of absence, or taking a medical resignation. (more…)
Adversity, Life Purpose, Transformation
What is the hardest thing God has ever had you do?
Do you know what it is? Did something come to mind easily? (or does everything seem hard….)
We left a job with the post office to move to seminary with 3 boys and a baby on the way. The transfer to the post office in Memphis didn’t work out, so John ended up delivering pizza through seminary. (We joked that it was probably the most highly educated delivery team in the country. Several of the guys were working on their master’s degree and there were even some doctoral students!) We lived on $650/month. On paper it didn’t make sense, especially since our rent and van payment were already over that amount, but God was amazing and we learned to rely completely on Him and trust Him like we never even dreamed we could.
(more…)
Adversity, Marriage, Relationships
My husband, John, and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary this weekend. Where did that time go? Last time I checked, I was in my 20’s and…. well, now I guess I’m not. I spent a lot of time this week thinking about some of the things we have experienced together over the years. I thought I’d share a few things here.
John and I met during college at breakfast one day with the BSU (Baptist Student Union). I was late (he should have known then….just saying…) and he couldn’t quit staring. We only went on one official date, but we were good friends and spent a lot of time together. (I’m not exactly sure what we were thinking when we got married 2 years later, but somehow our parents agreed and it turned out great.)
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Adversity, Family, Grief, Parenting
I want to share a little of my own story and how loss has affected my life.
I don’t say it proudly, but very humbly—God has repeatedly allowed me to go through some difficult losses
I’ve mentioned a few of them in other blog entries before and on the pages with info about me. I really do think that part of my calling in life has been to learn to rely on God through suffering and then use that to minister to others, bringing them hope and encouragement in the midst of their pain and confusion. (more…)
Adversity, Grief, Transformation
Do you ever feel like you are just picking up the pieces and starting over?
I completely get that.
I understand what it’s like to have a dream dissolve before your very eyes and what it means to lean on Christ to see you through and give you direction and purpose.
I understand what it’s like to experience losses and then pick up the pieces and start over, as I said earlier.
My husband and I have faced the deaths of three of our own children. One through miscarriage, a son who died the night he and his twin brother were born, and a daughter who was stillborn. We have also both lost our mothers. Three years ago, we even lost our career unexpectedly and had to start over when my husband got very ill on the mission field. (more…)
Adversity, Being a Godly Woman, Life Purpose, Living intentionally
I would love the opportunity to get to know you and hear your story. What is your life like? What has made you who you are? Nothing is too insignificant or too grand to talk or dream about!
- What are the things that drive you?
- Your passions?
- What is on your heart?
- Maybe there’s something you’ve always wanted to do but have never even told anyone because you figured you would never do it anyway.
It seems that life has a way of happening and one day we may wake up and realize that it is very different from how it started, what we thought it would be, or even how we want it to be. Of course, it could be for the better. (more…)
Do you ever feel like you are just picking up the pieces and starting over?
