Have I ever told you all...

I moved in with HD when I was only 17....  He was 21, and he had a good job, he took good care of me although neither of us lead Godly lives at the time.  HD and I both have a very colored past, we were involved with drugs and we drank alot, to say the least.  I am trying to paint a picture here, but its not looking very pretty.

HD had to travel almost every week with his job, that left me at 17 all alone, most of the time.  I would have some of my girl friends come and spend the night with me from time to time.  After my 18th birthday and 6 months of living together, there was this evening it was Oct 25, 1996, I spoke with HD on the phone he was headed out to a local bar in the town he was in and he would call me after he had a few drinks and dinner.  HD and I talked every evening, not one night ever past without our saying goodnight to one another, despite the bad things in our life we were always a good thing, always in love and loved each other.  Hours past, 10pm, 11pm, 2am and still no call, by this point, I was sure he was in grave danger.  I was simply sick to death with fear.

I grew up going to church, I had accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was 9 years old but for may years I had not prayed, I had not attended church, God was totally on the back burner of my mind and until that night I never gave God a second thought except to take his name in vain.

I was scared to death, and I got down on my knee's and I prayed for my boyfriend.  I cried, I begged God, I made lots of promises, no more drugs, no sex, I even promised God we would go to church if only HD would be ok, I plead from the bottom of my heart.

Around 4 am I called my mother, I told her out right HD has either been in a horrible accident or is with another woman!  I asked her to pray.  I then called the police department in the town that he was working it was over 4 hours away, I told them that I was worried he had been in an accident they reported that he had not.  I then started calling the hospitals, still nothing.

At 5 am, I got a call from the police department that HD had just been stopped on the on ramp of a major highway going the wrong way, 5 times over the legal limit....

Minutes later I received a call from the hospital HD is very sick, alcohol poisoning.  He had given them our number,even saying that I was his wife.  I will never forget the fear I felt that night, or the realization that God had saved his life.  It was  a very shaky situation.  I drove the 4 hours to go and get him.  HD didn't even realize that he had been arrested or that he had been drinking that much, I will also never forget the look on his face when he saw me, he was scared,  he was so greatful I had come to help him.

A lot of things happened at this point,  HD got a really good lawyer and he paid a lot of money and he kept his driving privileges for work.  But the most important thing that happened is when we got back home, I can even remember the ugly table we were sitting at, I told HD that I had promised God that if he came home safe we would go to church, I explained that I had prayed for him all night and that I believed God answered my prayers and saved his life that Thursday night because he was heading on to the highway the wrong way and someone would have been killed.  To my surprise he suggested we pray together so  HD and I prayed together for the first time that God would protect his job, we joined hands sitting in the kitchen of our rental home and we asked God to fix this mess. We got up early on Sunday morning and we went to church together.  It was a small Baptist Church in Miamisburg Ohio, it was so close to our house that we walked.  I remember feeling scared, feeling ashamed sitting their with my boyfriend who I lived with feeling like something big was going to happen, something was going to change, something had to change.

We didn't even make it all the way up the steps to our front door before HD asked me to marry him!  I told him don't you kid me like that, and he assured me that he loved me and that God made it very clear at church that day that we were to me married, he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife, forever.  I said yes and we were married 2 days later on October 29th, 1996, we drove to Tenn. and eloped, it was one of the best decisions we have ever made.  HD is my best friend he has been for the last 14 years and he always will be!

Our whole life changed at that point, we started going to church, we stopped doing drugs and drinking we started praying together daily.  We still do pray together everyday which is why I am sure we have such a strong marriage, we try really hard to keep God in the center of it.

Let me tell you God has changed us so much we are truly a redeemed couple.  I am thankful that Gods plans are better than ours!  I am thankful I know deep down who to call on in my time of need.  I am thankful that HD and I have taken our journey with Christ together.

I have wanted to share this story with you all for a while now but was a bit fearful of how you all would feel after you found out that I didn't always live a Godly life, or that you would stop reading my blog if I used the word drugs...  After a few days of mulling it over I realized this  really isn't my story anymore but the story of what God can do, and how he can change us.

HD and I both lead small groups in our church now, we both have a heart to help married couples.