Erica's Story

After many prayers, confrontations and anxious moments Lovell and I finally saw our son Tim and Erica our daughter through their teenage years.  And as many parents can attest I thought if I made it through those years, would I ever like them again?   But as time passed I found I was allowing them back into my good graces. 

I’m sure they were no different than most teens stretching their wings trying to find their way in life.  I just found myself ill-equipped to connect with the designer generation, and all the pressure that came with trying to keep up on a limited income.  But, somehow with the Grace of God and the knowledge we gained from Pastor David Bernheimer’s messages on the gifts of tithing and giving we made it through.

  Lovell looks back and comments about how I was able to make all the payments we had coming in each month with the money that was available to me.  Well it was totally God. 

Malachi 3:9 is my personal favorite scripture because it is a test me and prove me scripture.  I did test it and God proved it.  But this is a whole new story that I may write about in the future.

Scripture states in:

 Malachi 3:9

 “In tithes and offerings, ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

And in:

Luke 6:38 scripture states:

³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

At that time all three of us Tim, Erica and I were in college. With help through student loans, scholarships, the credit card, and what cash we could muster, we all graduated.  Tim and Erica both worked part time in order to help pay for their education.  I am so very proud of them both.

Before Tim completely finished college he married and settled down with his wife Christi.   A couple of years later we were enjoying our first grandchild, a chubby little boy named Brandon.  Erica’s graduation from college would come later; she was working for a law firm in Beaumont in her degree field.  I began my career at Baptist Hospital- Orange and soon moved over to The Endoscopy Center of Southeast Texas. Life was good, she was preparing to move out when she graduated, and I was looking toward to life again with just Lovell and me.

Erica was and is a beautiful young woman.  While she was working at the law firm in Beaumont she began dating a co-worker I will call John (though not his real name).  Erica had been raised in the church since the age of four and knew God as a child, but as a teenager she was lured away by the excitement of parties, friends and boyfriends. 

John was not a Christian and played music in a local Beaumont band. Erica spent her weekends waiting for him at a nearby table in whatever club he was playing.  This went on for approximately two years.  It’s not that we did not like John we just wanted Erica to eventually come into God’s plan for her and marry a Christian man.

 Lovell and I prayed for John to accept the Lord and allow that relationship with God to change his life.  Erica invited him to church and he came on several occasions, but was never interested enough to say yes to the Lord. 

One morning Lovell and I were praying together as we did every morning before work and God gave me a scripture concerning their relationship.

 Scripture states in:

2 Corinthians 6:14

^“14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?”

 Well, we finally had some prayer direction and began to pray what God said.  Within two weeks they broke up.  

Lovell and I were stunned when she told us, but said nothing of our prayers.  About two weeks later they were seeing each other again.  We did not deter from what we heard God say.  We continued to pray and claim the scripture.  They broke up again a short time later and that was the end.  I’m sure it was hard for Erica, but I believe she came to realize there was a better life than waiting for her man in the clubs.

Not to much time passed and our good friend David Wagner invited us to come to his Ordination for pastor.  Erica came along because she knew the family, and because she and their son were in the youth group together at our church. Erica and Randy had not seen each other for a number of years related to college and work, so naturally a date was made a few days later to catch up on their activities.  They began to date in April and by September they announced their engagement to be married.

We were so happy about that announcement.  We knew Randy and his parents and how they raised him as we raised Erica.  God had answered our prayers. They were married in December on Erica’s birthday.

 Again let me say God is so faithful to hear us when we pray.  Sometime the outcome is not always what we envision, but His plan is always better.

They have been married 13 years and have 2 wonderful little girls.  Erica is a stay at home mom, and they are raising the girls with their same Christian values. 

Erica serves her Lord Jesus wholeheartedly putting Him first, then her husband, and then her children.  Just the way God teaches.  She studies the Word to show herself approved by God, and I am amazed at her wisdom and knowledge of that Word.  She is truly a woman of God.  This mom could not be more proud of a daughter and what God has done in her life.

The road was not always smooth raising Erica through those teenage years, but her dad and I never gave up trusting that God had a plan for her, a plan to give her hope and a future following Him. 

There is a scripture that says, and I will paraphrase, train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it.  There may be parents out there today that are standing in the gap for their children because they have veered away from God, please do not give up on them or God’s plan for them. 

He will only let them go so far and then begin to reel them back. He chases after them until they either say NO, or they run back to the arms that are always open.  Regardless God is always faithful to be there when they call.

A grateful MOM