It's All Because of Jesus
My kids love to make jokes about me getting old, and it's okay with me because I'm embracing it. One of the many blessings of approaching mid-life is that I can see more clearly all that God has done to bring me to this point in time. On this Easter Sunday, I couldn't help but think of where my life might have gone if it hadn't been for Jesus.
I was raised in a Christian home with a Christian dad and a Christian mom. Sometimes we joke that I was in church for nine months before I was born, because my parents were (and still are) the worship ministers at our little Methodist Church. I was the kid with the "perfect attendance" pin that had 18 bars that hung from the bottom---because, yes, I was in church every Sunday for the first 18 years of my life. I could say the Lord's Prayer, the Doxology, the Apostle's Creed, and several verses of "Holy Holy Holy". My foundation was strong. I heard all the words and thought I lived the life. I was blessed to be raised by a village of Christ-loving people. All of this was because of Jesus.
I met a guy. We fell in love. We went off to college together. I didn't do anything too terrible during those years. Honestly, I never had the desire to go party or drink alcohol. I just wanted to be with him. Our "wild" Friday nights were spent roaming Walmart and buying junk food. I stayed faithful to my guy and we were married before we finished college. Somewhere along the way, perhaps without even realizing it, I took my eyes of Jesus. I wasn't willfully rebelling against God, but I wasn't actively pursuing Him either. Frankly, I was kind of ignoring Him. Thankfully, because of Jesus, He hadn't forgotten about me.
We graduated from Purdue and entered the work force. Jeremy's new job with Procter and Gamble moved us to Cincinnati, which was perfect--not too far from home, but just far away that we could feel independent. We were sort of happy...we were learning how to manage all this money we now had...I was trying to figure out how to cook more than hamburger helper... and even after six years of being together, we were just discovering that we are TOTALLY different from each other. We got a dog and learned that we didn't want kids for a long time. We fought a lot. He was angry a lot. I was lonely a lot. Okay, if I was really honest, maybe we weren't so happy. Maybe we felt kind of empty. Kind of unsatisfied. Little did we know that this was all part of God's grand plan for us! Just when I needed a friend the most, a woman called me out of the blue just a couple weeks after we moved to Cincinnati. Her name was Ann, and she had worked with my best friend from nursing school. Her husband Eric had also just graduated from Purdue, they had just moved to Cincinnati for a job at P&G, and she needed a friend too! We met for lunch at Bennigan's and she invited us to go "church shopping" with them. I simply can't explain this divine intervention any other way than it was because of Jesus!
Jeremy was less than interested, but complied because he knew it was important to me. So we went to a couple churches with Ann and Eric. Early in September of 1998, the first day that we went to Springdale Church of the Nazarene, the Holy Spirit began stirring in my spirit. As I laid in bed that night, I was recalling the events of the day (namely being invited by Robb and Kalyn Vogelmann to their house for lunch of chicken and rice even though they had just met us that day!). Conviction came over me like a heavy weight upon my chest. I became so aware of God's presence in my room and realized all that He had been doing to pursue me. My next emotion was overwhelming grief because I realized that all this time while I had been ignoring Him, never once had He left me. I was intensely aware of my sin, my shortcomings, and my need for Jesus. Faith became my own, not borrowed from my parents or earned because I had gone to church for 936 consecutive Sundays. My life changed that night, because of Jesus.
My hubby was still accompanying me to church, even though his focus was mostly on being successful in his new job and living the American Dream. He was working hard to be the provider for our family, and was likely completely unaware of the change that was happening within me. However, a bigger change was coming. More like a tidal wave. Our world was fixin' to get rocked. In mid-October of 1998, just a few weeks after my late night encounter with the God of the Universe, there was a revival at church. J.K. Warrick was preaching. He told a story about two men and their sons on a fishing trip. Something about that illustration resonated within my husband that night, and before I knew it, Jeremy was on his knees at the altar sobbing. I remember it like it was yesterday: Jeremy saying "I can't, I can't", and Dan Dunlop saying, "Yes you can." And Jeremy did. He surrendered his life to Jesus that night. He walked back to the pew a radically changed man. October 12, 1998. The best day of my life. It's because of Jesus.
We now had even more stuff to figure out. We had a lot of confessing and repenting to do. Thankfully, God gave us a group of young married couples to help us on this journey. We studied the Bible and grew together. We ate at Chili's after Sunday evening church together--a lot. Jeremy and I took our first mission trip to Belize. Our friends started having babies. That gave me the itch. Jeremy was more than happy to practice baby-making. We dealt with a little bit of infertility. God used this to teach us how to trust and depend on Him. We found out in March 2000 that we were expecting our first child. Because of Jesus.
Just when life was gettin' good, God moved us. I was 6 months pregnant, and Jeremy's job took us to New Orleans. In the 100 degree summer heat. Where there are big bugs. Where we knew nobody. We thought we'd ride out this mandatory but temporary 18-24 months of his job, and we'd blissfully move back to Cincinnati. Our son Jared was born and we had no friends. Sometime before Jared's first birthday, I realized a few things: 1. We might be here longer than 18 months. 2. I'm lonely. 3. My kid needs friends to come to his birthday party. Again, at just the right time, God sent a person to invite me to church. My boss at Tulane Hospital, Sherrie Bumstead, told me about Celebration Church. We went and again God provided a small group of people to help us on our journey. Our spiritual life exploded and our faith was strengthened...because of Jesus.
During these years in New Orleans, God began changing the legacy of our family. One by one, Jeremy and I were privileged to see Jesus transform the lives of so many people that we love. First to accept Christ was Jeremy's mom, Deborah. Then, after many hours of late night MSN instant messaging with Jeremy's sister, Melissa, she said yes to Jesus. Beehnie Baby #2 had just been born when Jeremy's dad, Randy, came to faith in Jesus and was baptized. Most recently our niece Katina accepted Jesus as her Savior. All of our children's grandparents know and love the Lord--what a gift! The history of the Beehn family was forever changed--because of Jesus!!
God was so good to us during that decade. It is kind of a blur of pregnancies and breastfeeding, but somewhere in there we moved back to Cincinnati, had four more babies, bought a 12 passenger van, and praise Jesus, we lived to tell about it. In the midst of our crazy loud life, God began whispering to me about a future in missions. I thought I must have heard Him wrong, because didn't He know that we have all these kids? How in the world could we ever get away from them long enough to go on another mission trip? Well, God's funny and in 2011, He moved us to Arkansas. I should have learned by now that when God moves us, it's for an eternal reason--not just for Jeremy's job. He was beginning a new chapter in our lives, one in which we would discover His purpose for our our family. In the three years that we've lived in the Natural State, we have made some wonderful friends who have sharpened our faith. Four of our children have made the decision for themselves to follow Jesus and have been baptized. Whereas God's call to missions was once a little whisper, it has now become a full roar. We're trusting Him with whatever comes next, and we are so blessed because of Jesus.
Recently I found a picture of me and Jeremy at our prom in 1993. Way back when Jeremy had hair and I had a waist line. We were young and dumb, in love with each other and completely unaware of where life would lead us. I realize now what I was clueless of then: had it not been because of Jesus, we could have easily gone down a much different path, one that would have probably ended up in a miserable marriage or divorce. We could have gone down the path of financial disaster, worldly addictions, and purposeless living. We could have missed out on the blessing of seeing God transform our family and our heritage forever. I shudder to think of what might have been, had it not been because of Jesus.
But I'm not going to pretend that life is perfect and that we have it all together. We still fight like stupid teenagers. Our kids actually ARE stupid teenagers. (well, just one of them, and that's enough for now.) We still make ridiculously dumb decisions. Our house is ridiculously dirty. We act selfishly. We say things we don't mean. We should be doing some purposeful activity with our little darlings right now instead of hiding in our bedroom. We screw up--on a daily basis. We've proven this time and time and time again. But time and time and time again, God has proven that He still loves us. He's still working on our behalf. He's still growing us and teaching us. He still forgives us. He still has a plan for us. And because of Jesus, I can have hope for our future.
Today, on this Easter Sunday 2014, I'm thankful for the road not taken. Because of Jesus.
I was raised in a Christian home with a Christian dad and a Christian mom. Sometimes we joke that I was in church for nine months before I was born, because my parents were (and still are) the worship ministers at our little Methodist Church. I was the kid with the "perfect attendance" pin that had 18 bars that hung from the bottom---because, yes, I was in church every Sunday for the first 18 years of my life. I could say the Lord's Prayer, the Doxology, the Apostle's Creed, and several verses of "Holy Holy Holy". My foundation was strong. I heard all the words and thought I lived the life. I was blessed to be raised by a village of Christ-loving people. All of this was because of Jesus.
I met a guy. We fell in love. We went off to college together. I didn't do anything too terrible during those years. Honestly, I never had the desire to go party or drink alcohol. I just wanted to be with him. Our "wild" Friday nights were spent roaming Walmart and buying junk food. I stayed faithful to my guy and we were married before we finished college. Somewhere along the way, perhaps without even realizing it, I took my eyes of Jesus. I wasn't willfully rebelling against God, but I wasn't actively pursuing Him either. Frankly, I was kind of ignoring Him. Thankfully, because of Jesus, He hadn't forgotten about me.
We graduated from Purdue and entered the work force. Jeremy's new job with Procter and Gamble moved us to Cincinnati, which was perfect--not too far from home, but just far away that we could feel independent. We were sort of happy...we were learning how to manage all this money we now had...I was trying to figure out how to cook more than hamburger helper... and even after six years of being together, we were just discovering that we are TOTALLY different from each other. We got a dog and learned that we didn't want kids for a long time. We fought a lot. He was angry a lot. I was lonely a lot. Okay, if I was really honest, maybe we weren't so happy. Maybe we felt kind of empty. Kind of unsatisfied. Little did we know that this was all part of God's grand plan for us! Just when I needed a friend the most, a woman called me out of the blue just a couple weeks after we moved to Cincinnati. Her name was Ann, and she had worked with my best friend from nursing school. Her husband Eric had also just graduated from Purdue, they had just moved to Cincinnati for a job at P&G, and she needed a friend too! We met for lunch at Bennigan's and she invited us to go "church shopping" with them. I simply can't explain this divine intervention any other way than it was because of Jesus!
Jeremy was less than interested, but complied because he knew it was important to me. So we went to a couple churches with Ann and Eric. Early in September of 1998, the first day that we went to Springdale Church of the Nazarene, the Holy Spirit began stirring in my spirit. As I laid in bed that night, I was recalling the events of the day (namely being invited by Robb and Kalyn Vogelmann to their house for lunch of chicken and rice even though they had just met us that day!). Conviction came over me like a heavy weight upon my chest. I became so aware of God's presence in my room and realized all that He had been doing to pursue me. My next emotion was overwhelming grief because I realized that all this time while I had been ignoring Him, never once had He left me. I was intensely aware of my sin, my shortcomings, and my need for Jesus. Faith became my own, not borrowed from my parents or earned because I had gone to church for 936 consecutive Sundays. My life changed that night, because of Jesus.
My hubby was still accompanying me to church, even though his focus was mostly on being successful in his new job and living the American Dream. He was working hard to be the provider for our family, and was likely completely unaware of the change that was happening within me. However, a bigger change was coming. More like a tidal wave. Our world was fixin' to get rocked. In mid-October of 1998, just a few weeks after my late night encounter with the God of the Universe, there was a revival at church. J.K. Warrick was preaching. He told a story about two men and their sons on a fishing trip. Something about that illustration resonated within my husband that night, and before I knew it, Jeremy was on his knees at the altar sobbing. I remember it like it was yesterday: Jeremy saying "I can't, I can't", and Dan Dunlop saying, "Yes you can." And Jeremy did. He surrendered his life to Jesus that night. He walked back to the pew a radically changed man. October 12, 1998. The best day of my life. It's because of Jesus.
We now had even more stuff to figure out. We had a lot of confessing and repenting to do. Thankfully, God gave us a group of young married couples to help us on this journey. We studied the Bible and grew together. We ate at Chili's after Sunday evening church together--a lot. Jeremy and I took our first mission trip to Belize. Our friends started having babies. That gave me the itch. Jeremy was more than happy to practice baby-making. We dealt with a little bit of infertility. God used this to teach us how to trust and depend on Him. We found out in March 2000 that we were expecting our first child. Because of Jesus.
Just when life was gettin' good, God moved us. I was 6 months pregnant, and Jeremy's job took us to New Orleans. In the 100 degree summer heat. Where there are big bugs. Where we knew nobody. We thought we'd ride out this mandatory but temporary 18-24 months of his job, and we'd blissfully move back to Cincinnati. Our son Jared was born and we had no friends. Sometime before Jared's first birthday, I realized a few things: 1. We might be here longer than 18 months. 2. I'm lonely. 3. My kid needs friends to come to his birthday party. Again, at just the right time, God sent a person to invite me to church. My boss at Tulane Hospital, Sherrie Bumstead, told me about Celebration Church. We went and again God provided a small group of people to help us on our journey. Our spiritual life exploded and our faith was strengthened...because of Jesus.
During these years in New Orleans, God began changing the legacy of our family. One by one, Jeremy and I were privileged to see Jesus transform the lives of so many people that we love. First to accept Christ was Jeremy's mom, Deborah. Then, after many hours of late night MSN instant messaging with Jeremy's sister, Melissa, she said yes to Jesus. Beehnie Baby #2 had just been born when Jeremy's dad, Randy, came to faith in Jesus and was baptized. Most recently our niece Katina accepted Jesus as her Savior. All of our children's grandparents know and love the Lord--what a gift! The history of the Beehn family was forever changed--because of Jesus!!
God was so good to us during that decade. It is kind of a blur of pregnancies and breastfeeding, but somewhere in there we moved back to Cincinnati, had four more babies, bought a 12 passenger van, and praise Jesus, we lived to tell about it. In the midst of our crazy loud life, God began whispering to me about a future in missions. I thought I must have heard Him wrong, because didn't He know that we have all these kids? How in the world could we ever get away from them long enough to go on another mission trip? Well, God's funny and in 2011, He moved us to Arkansas. I should have learned by now that when God moves us, it's for an eternal reason--not just for Jeremy's job. He was beginning a new chapter in our lives, one in which we would discover His purpose for our our family. In the three years that we've lived in the Natural State, we have made some wonderful friends who have sharpened our faith. Four of our children have made the decision for themselves to follow Jesus and have been baptized. Whereas God's call to missions was once a little whisper, it has now become a full roar. We're trusting Him with whatever comes next, and we are so blessed because of Jesus.
Recently I found a picture of me and Jeremy at our prom in 1993. Way back when Jeremy had hair and I had a waist line. We were young and dumb, in love with each other and completely unaware of where life would lead us. I realize now what I was clueless of then: had it not been because of Jesus, we could have easily gone down a much different path, one that would have probably ended up in a miserable marriage or divorce. We could have gone down the path of financial disaster, worldly addictions, and purposeless living. We could have missed out on the blessing of seeing God transform our family and our heritage forever. I shudder to think of what might have been, had it not been because of Jesus.
But I'm not going to pretend that life is perfect and that we have it all together. We still fight like stupid teenagers. Our kids actually ARE stupid teenagers. (well, just one of them, and that's enough for now.) We still make ridiculously dumb decisions. Our house is ridiculously dirty. We act selfishly. We say things we don't mean. We should be doing some purposeful activity with our little darlings right now instead of hiding in our bedroom. We screw up--on a daily basis. We've proven this time and time and time again. But time and time and time again, God has proven that He still loves us. He's still working on our behalf. He's still growing us and teaching us. He still forgives us. He still has a plan for us. And because of Jesus, I can have hope for our future.
Today, on this Easter Sunday 2014, I'm thankful for the road not taken. Because of Jesus.
What a wonderful testimony.
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