On August 24,2010, my life was changed forever. My beloved husband and best friend of 23 years, died suddenly and unexpectedly. I was thrust into a new life, left to raise our 3 children alone. The pain I felt was so overwhelming that I thought I would die of a broken heart. I could not imagine living my life without Erik.He was my first and only love. We had no life insurance, no health insurance, and stayed home teaching our 3 kids. We had a small farm with 3 horses. I felt utterly alone and full of despair. I found myself in the lowest pit I had ever known.
But God had other plans for us....
About 6 weeks after Erik died, a man that worked with Erik for over 2 years called me on the phone. We had never met until the funeral, but I knew so much about him because Erik talked about him everyday and prayed for him also. His name is Norm and he went through a terrible divorce that left him with a broken heart and a single father of 2 sons. Erik saw him go through his difficult time and it truly touched Erik so much that he prayed daily for Norm. He prayed that God would bless Norm with a loving woman so that Norm could experience the kind of marriage that we shared. So, because Erik spoke so highly of Norm, I trusted him to come and help out with some unfinished things around our house. We started talking on the phone regularly and began a friendship. Norm was devastated over Erik's death and really wanted to help out his loved ones. Our friendship grew and we found ourselves falling in love. I began to emerge from my pit and found reason to keep living. My kids really embraced the idea because they really like Norm and knew their daddy did too. They saw how happy we both were. After many months together, we are now engaged. We are looking forward to our future together. We have been able to see something beautiful emerge from something so horrible.
I feel so honored to be the answer to Erik's prayer by being chosen by God to be the woman to love Norm the rest of his life. We know that God created us to be together and that keeps us growing stronger. I want my story to be able to encourage others who have experienced a loss and help them to see that God has a purpose and a plan. He is good. Even when things don't look good or feel good, we can know that He loves us and He will never leave us.
This beautiful story that He is writing could only have been penned by Him. I would never have believed that 16 months after suffering such a painful loss that I would be alive and wanting to continue on. I want to share my story on these pages to give you hope and the give Him glory. I hope that you enjoy reading...
