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From surviving to thriving
A woman receives support, hope, and healing from her new church family.
“When you have nothing left, all you have is God.”
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That’s how Valerie Frecks, member at Grace, Sahuarita, Ariz., summarized the most difficult years of her life. With support and encouragement from her church family, however, Valerie went from surviving to thriving.
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Valerie grew up in an Army family, which meant that she moved quite a bit. “It was just me, my brother, my parents, and the Army family,” she shares. “We did not really grow up with religion. We said grace at dinner, but we didn’t go to church and there was no Bible reading.”
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Valerie got married when she was 20, and she and her husband moved to Arizona. Soon they were expecting their first child. “I told my husband, ‘Maybe we should go to church. We really need to do something.’ ” Valerie says the churches she attended had some Bible readings in their services, but they were ultimately focused on making people feel good when they went to church.
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Valerie and her husband went on to have two more children. During this time, Valerie was working at a day care center. “I did that so I’d get to be with my kids,” she says. “My kids went to work with me, and I got to raise my kids.”
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About ten years later, Valerie says things began to fall apart. She and her husband were having marital problems, and she learned that her dad was dying. Valerie had already lost her mom at a young age, and her grandparents and aunts and uncles had passed away as well.
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“I loaded up the kids and drove to Texas to say my good-byes,” she remembers, but her husband didn’t come. “After the funeral, I came home, and my husband told me our marriage was over. I felt so alone.” Valerie says she tried reaching out to some people at church, “but everyone I was close with didn’t want the burden of the divorce. It seemed like my divorce didn’t fit into their lifestyle.
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“I felt like I had nobody left. I remember thinking, Maybe this is where I need to turn to God. God, you have to help me out. I don’t know what to do. I don’t have parents to help me anymore. I have nobody to help me. I’m all alone.”
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Slavery lands squarely in the category of things we wish the Bible unequivocally condemned. One human being owning another human being? Surely there must be an Eleventh Commandment: “You shall not own slaves.” But we search the Scriptures . . .
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Imagine seeing a wooden ship 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet tall. And in a field in Kentucky. Yes, it’s the Ark Encounter. Perhaps you have seen it. My wife and I visited it this past summer. While the builders of that attraction posted disclaimers stating that . . .
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My mom radar goes up quickly when my kids talk about interpersonal problems with their classmates. As I talk through situations with them, I always struggle because I know that I’m only hearing half the story. At times I’ve checked in with a teacher to hear another . . .
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