Hi! Thank you for visiting Brokenness Restored. My name is Spring and if you don’t know me. I thought I would share a little more about me. But I would really rather this not be a one sided conversation, so please send me an email and let me know about you too 🙂
I was born in Spring, TX, the daughter of a Baptist minister. I was always in church which led to many questions and conversations about Jesus and all that I learned about Him. But most of all, my parents lived out their faith in front of me each and every day and I wanted to have the same relationship. When an evangelist, Ondie Brum, came to our church, he shared how he had tried all the world had to offer and nothing satisfied him until he found Jesus. That night I felt an overwhelming desire to say “yes” to Jesus, that I too, wanted to follow Him. Several years later I felt called into missions and ministry and I pursued short term missions around the world through high school and college going to places like Bolivia, Peru, South Africa, and Thailand. I knew from an early age that I wanted to be a nurse and care for those that were sick. I left home to go to college, graduated (only by God’s grace) with my degree in nursing and immediately headed to Fort Worth to go to seminary. In seminary, I studied women’s ministry because I knew no matter where God was leading me to serve Him, it would be to serve women. I left seminary and had an amazing opportunity to serve as a women’s ministry leader at Denman Ave Baptist Church in Lufkin, TX. I also taught nursing in the RN program at Angelina College and served on the women’s ministry team of the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention. I was still single and believed at that point that I would probably never get married. But I was on eHarmony to just let everyone know I had tried it all and done it all and it just wasn’t going to happen. But instead I met an incredibly amazing, Godly man name Charles Reed in January of 2011 and we married later that year in October.
Charles lived in West Tennessee though, so I packed everything I owned and moved to a small town of 2,000 (outside the city limit) and we started our lives together. Charles was the most Godly, wise man. He ran his family’s trucking company and served as a Bible teacher at his church. He had an incredible outlook on life and never wanted to waste his time. He had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy so life was anything but normal. But it was our normal. It was full of challenges and hardship but God became so near to me in a way I never knew possible. I struggled with fear and uncertainty of the future. I learned that even though all of those fears would one day come to pass, being afraid during those early days of marriage didn’t change the future, it was only robbing me of the present.
Our life was full of caregivers and daily routines that took hours out of our day only leaving about 4 hours of productive time to use, but during our marriage we started a businness and a speaking ministry, had exchange students and worked at the current company. We also faced infertility and ultimately adopted twins after the birth mom asked us to take them and after much prayer we knew it was God’s plan.
Even though Charles was chronically ill, he passed away unexpectedly the day before the twin’s first birthday of something totally unexpected. But through the complete and utter darkness of those moments, God was always near, He was always good and He carried me through something that I really did not believe, truly did not believe, I would physically or emotionally survive.
After Charles’ death, I walked through closing businesses down, personal bankruptcy, losing nearly everything, moving multiple times including states, and getting back into nursing. But God was faithful every step of the way. And just shortly after the three years I felt led to pursue of healing, God brought Byron (and his two kids) into my life. He was the list I never could have written. I didn’t know what I needed but God did. I didn’t know how to even have dreams or expectations but God guided me. And here we are, 6 months after we have been married. Living another totally crazy, busy but full amazing life. Full of its own different challenges but depending on God in the very same way for our every need. Join me in the journey and share your journey as well.
Many Blessings ~ Spring
Brokenness Restored 