I am SO excited for you guys to meet one of the most PRECIOUS people on this planet.  You are going to immediately fall in love with my sweet friend, Lynnette.  Her story is full of dignity as well as grace, forgiveness, faith and hope!  I am where I am today largely in part because of Lynnette.  She walked the road before me, and the Lord weaved our journeys together to supernaturally place her in my path when I needed her most.  She tirelessly pours into me, speaking life and truth, even today and even through unbearable circumstances in her own life.  I encourage you to join along during the next 4 days, when Lynnette takes over SimplySara.com to share her glorious story of redemption and healing, unfolding to this very day. Allow her story to minister and bless your life as it has mine. 

I remember it distinctly.  I was at work in my edit suite and my coworker wandered in to chat.  I looked at her and said, “Jose is going to be a dad!”  She didn’t wait for me to finish the rest of the sentence.  Instead, she jumped up in excitement and threw her arms around me, congratulating me.  What she didn’t hear me say was, “…and I’M not pregnant.”

At age 30, I married a broken man.  I believe he loved me.  He tried to be the man he thought I wanted and it went against the core of who he was.  When he realized he couldn’t keep up the charade, my world crumbled.  I can’t put into words the absolute devastation I felt when he finally confessed to the affair and added insult to injury with the revelation the mistress was pregnant.  This hurt more deeply than anything—I was supposed to be pregnant!  Me! ME!  Good Christian girls don’t get divorced, so I pushed through with reconciliation.  I also had a Messiah Complex.  I alone could fix this.  I could make it all okay.  I could help Jose begin to make good and right choices. If I couldn’t help him, who could?  As the weeks and months wore on, I felt God tell me loud and clear:  “Let him go.  I will see him through.”

Part of me wants to tell you all the torrid details because it truly does make a good story… a Lifetime movie kind of story.  It’s juicy with lots of twists and turns.  But what you need to know is, I went to Puerto Rico with friends to clear my mind and decide if I was going to file for divorce (I did). Then I went to Spain with a girlfriend 4 months later, not to celebrate our divorces, but to celebrate a new, independent, wonderful life.

I met Michael a year later.  He was handsome and generous with his time and affection.  He too worked in television so we had an instant bond.  During our courtship, my mother’s health declined steadily and rather rapidly.  I was driving one and a half hours a day to sit with her in the evenings so my dad could go home and rest.  He spent every day at the nursing home with her.  If Michael had a week day off, he’d drive an hour each way and sit with my mom so my dad could run errands, hit the grocery or take a nap.  I remember thinking, “If Michael would do this for my MOM, imagine what he’d do for me!”  My mother died June 16, 2011.  It was a Thursday morning.  She drew her last breath as I held her hand and the hymn It Is Well with My Soul played in the background.

Michael and I had a quaint, vintage wedding January of 2012.  It was truly the best dinner party I’ve been to!  Since we were both in our late 30’s by this point, we knew time was ticking.  So we tried to have a baby.  We had some fertility issues and needed help.  We found out we were pregnant and 4 days later, I lost my job…

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Part Two of Lynnette’s story.  She lost her first marriage and her mother within a very short time frame.  After remarrying and becoming pregnant, she lost her job.  How much can one person take?  Apparently the Lord knows she is a strong one because another devastation was lurking just around the corner.

Has there been a time in your life where one thing after another threatened your faith?  I can definitely answer yes, as can Lynnette.  If you feel led, please share how you persevered in the comments below.