by Kristin Dill
The old saying, “God works in mysterious ways,” I can attest to be true. In 2010, my husband of then 21 years heard a call to serve the church as an ordained pastor. I was completely shocked.
You see, when we met, he was atheist. Now, 26 years and two kids later, I am about to take on the role of “The Pastor’s Wife.” Even as someone who believes in God, who was raised in the church, I never saw this coming.
In December 2011, my husband quit a high-paying IT job. My dream house went up for a short sale. We relocated our lives to Dubuque, Iowa, dragging along our son, in his first year of community college, and our daughter, a sophomore in high school.
We were all leaving behind everything we’d known. I had never lived outside Illinois or away from family and friends. I do understand Dubuque is not a foreign country, but it wasn’t home either.
[bctt tweet=”Here I’d helped to bring my husband to church, and my reward was losing everything I knew and loved. “]
I struggled. Here I’d helped to bring my husband to church, and my reward was losing everything I knew and loved. I was so angry and hurt that I didn’t actually move to campus until four months later.
A few years later I heard a sermon based on Genesis 32 about Jacob’s struggle with God’s will for him. How well I knew that story. Jacob walks away with a painful reminder—a limp, after injuring his hip. While I don’t walk with a limp, I have many reminders from this journey.
I have seen God first-hand through the growth of my children and the strengthening of my marriage. I have watched a community of people comfort each other through horrific grief, standing together in the power of prayer. I have seen someone near death miraculously recover and thrive today.
During those seminary years, whenever I thought I lacked, God provided. When I was hungry, there were potluck meals, church meals and the food pantry. During a financial crunch, surprising gifts arrived in the form of gift cards and “thinking of you” checks from unexpected places.
In May 2015, my husband graduated with a master of divinity from Wartburg Theological Seminary. We never walked alone. God was with us continually, even if I chose not to see it at first.
[bctt tweet=”God is always at work in our lives, often behind the scenes. “]
God is always at work in our lives, often behind the scenes. I believe we sometimes choose to make it more difficult by relying on ourselves to get through. Sometimes we forget God is with us every step of the way. God really does work in mysterious ways.
Kristin Dill is married to Douglas Dill, a second career pastor serving at Calvary Lutheran Church, Minong, Wis. This article first appeared as a Give Us This Day column in the April issue of Gather magazine.
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Photo of Jacob wrestling the angel by Gloumouth1 (CC BY-SA 3.0)