ChristCare Testimony

Jodi Ramsey

When I was first asked to share my ChristCare experience with you, I thought I would just share very generally what a positive experience it was in my life. However, I know in my heart I have been called to be a witness for God and the miracles He still works today so please bear with my as I share my personal story.

A year ago this month I had a miscarriage of what would have been my husband Eric's and my first child. As you can imagine, it was a very tough loss. Being a Christian all my life, I said at the time "I know God has a plan, and I just need to trust it," but those words were easier to say than they were to believe and live. I dealt with the loss by keeping myself as busy as possible. I dove into my work, bought a house with my husband and took on a huge remodeling project before we moved in. I couldn't stay that busy forever and by the middle of May worked had slowed down, the remodeling was finished and we were settled in our house. I didn't deal well with the down time and found myself feeling a huge void in my life.

To attempt to fill that void, I did two things at the time: attend the ChristCare Beginnings class with Eric and pursued graduate school. Eric and I truly enjoyed the ChristCare experience, forming strong, Christian relationships with a very diverse group of individuals from Gloria Dei that we had never met before. I enjoyed it so much that the thought of training as a leader in the fall crossed my mind. However, by the time the 8-week Beginnings course was done, I had been accepted to graduate school with the program starting that fall at the same time. Attending graduate school also meant giving up the Wednesday night youth group class I am a part of, but I figured the youth would understand, and I would just catch up with them on Sundays.

The day after I received my acceptance letter to graduate school, I flew to Scottsdale, Arizona, to attend a volunteer youth workers' workshop weekend. That weekend was the beginning of a life change for me. As I spent the weekend listening to incredible Christian speakers, praying with fellow youth volunteers and spending individual time in prayer for the first time in a long time, I realized that the huge void I was feeling was not something that graduate school would fill or even a baby would fill. It was the void of not having Christ first in my life. The Lord works in mysterious ways because that life-changing weekend was also the weekend that would have been my due-date for the child we lost.

I returned home on a Sunday night, and God was quickly making known to me what His desire for me was. When I came home I had a message on my answering machine from Norma Rohn asking me to please consider again training as a ChristCare leader. It was then that I decided not to study in graduate school but rather to study God's word with 12 other ChristCare trainees.

The week before ChristCare leadership training began, I was handed another life challenge - I was diagnosed with a syndrome that basically makes it very, very difficult to become pregnant. I'll admit my faith was shaken, and I slid a little ways off that mountaintop high I had felt in Arizona. Although I still knew in my heart I wanted to be a part of ChristCare, I became somewhat skeptical, wondering if I really wanted to sacrifice all of that time and wondering if I would really connect with such a diverse group of leaders-in-training.

However, week after week of class I grew closer and closer with my ChristCare team and most importantly with God. I began to share my struggles with the group and listened as others shared their challenges. Every week we spent a lot of time in God's word, connecting it to our lives and then praying honestly and boldly to God. That experience carried over to my married life and enriched our relationship even more.

In the middle of October, I came to a realization that I should have come to a long time ago. I realized that God was bigger than anything on this earth and that He listens to our prayers. I believed that it didn't matter what diagnosis doctors' may give me because if it was God's will, Eric and I would have children. I prayed more boldly than ever individually, with my husband and with my ChristCare group. I prayed that God's will -not mine- be done in my life, whatever that may be, knowing that He was all powerful. Well, God does answer prayer and He still is a miracle worker today because I am in the beginning of my second trimester carrying twins!

I am not so naïve to think that my life will be happily ever after from here on out. I know that as long as I live on this sinful earth I will face many battles. However, I also know the power and love of my God. I know that He will always listen when I talk to Him. I know, as Pastor Burcham shared a couple of weeks ago in his sermon, that He has given us brothers and sisters in Christ to support each other in life's sorrows and joys. And most of all, I know that because of God's son, Jesus Christ, I will live happily ever after one day with Him in paradise.

I wanted to share my experience with you because I believe that being in God's word daily, praying daily and having a support system of Christians to be in the word with and pray with, such as a ChristCare group offers, is life changing. That ChristCare group is like a family to me, and even though we don't get to spend every Monday night together anymore, I know they care for me still and pray for me still as I do the same for them. Thank You.

Copyright Gloria Dei Lutheran Church 2003.