April 20, 2010 - Kim Alexander

April 20, 2010

While being a happily married woman and a mother of three young boys, I thought I really had everything I needed in life. I was raised Catholic and somehow seemed to miss all of the important stories that happened in the Bible and was a bit intimidated by the entire process of quoting scripture and praying in front of people. I knew I was a Christian and I knew what I wanted my boys to be like when they grew up. I wanted to be able to give my testimony of overcoming and triumphing after divorce, surviving a horrendous childhood and move on with my life, but something kept holding me back. I did not feel the freedom to talk about God at home. I only felt the pain of living with a man that I was not certain knew exactly who God was. Something was hurting my husband deeply and I did not know if I would ever have the picture perfect family: all of us at church together, because Bradley did not want to go. One of his co-workers at the time kept telling me that our marriage would never survive because we were not “equally yoked.” I can remember going to my husband and getting on my knees and begging him to go to church with us because Satan was working against us and I felt like I was having to take the blows too and I was trying to live my life right by being involved in a loving church.
The instability continued and Bradley was drawn to a job that had an awesome salary, benefits and all of the perks a person could want. Little did we know that many of the company’s practices and job requirements were very unethical. Bradley was unable to walk away because we thought we could not do without the salary. I just kept encouraging him to turn it all over to God because he was in control, and He brought us to this job and he would see us through this time of uncertainty. I was angry and hurt and was very uncertain of our future as husband and wife. Bradley decided to reach out to Billy McConnell and Andy Hurst in hopes of finding guidance. Both were so supportive and showed him the true, unconditional love of a church family. This was something he obviously had never experienced.
The next Sunday, Bradley came to church with me. We were in the Trinity Center and we were at tables in groups. Scott Wright looked at me, and said, “What is going on with you guys?” I, of course, started crying because I did not even know where to start. I felt as though my world was crumbling around me and there was nothing I could do, but take the pain. We explained that we were looking for guidance and did not know what to do about Bradley’s job situation. Scott told us that a leap of faith is stepping out, knowing that God is going to provide and see you through your trials. He encouraged us to turn our worries over to God and not to wait until He put something in our path to call a “Leap of Faith.” That day, right after the service, Bradley walked out to his truck, picked up the phone and quit his job. What should have been a crisis moment was one of the most peaceful moments I have ever experienced. We both, at that moment, felt a security in our marriage and faith that we had never experienced as a couple. It was awesome waiting on God because we knew He had such awesome plans for us and our family. We knew that we were finally under God’s care and I could feel the comfort of His loving arms hold us, as a couple, so tight. He was without a job for about 5 weeks, and we never did without. Refund checks arrived in the mail, extra money was earned, the kids had their daddy at home for the first time in 2 years.
Bradley called me a couple of days later and told me that he was sorry for putting us through what he did, and he had made a decision to give his entire life to God that day and wanted to be the husband and father that he was supposed to be. He ended up with a better job and God in his heart. What more could a girl want? Now I am truly living the life.

Kim Alexander