I love the Mitchells

Jack and Jennifer Mitchell were in town for the weekend. I'm sure you remember them-he is the dentist and they travel to different countries to partner with missionaries and provide dental care in third world countries. They are special friends of ours too, and whenever they are in town, we make sure to get together with them on our own. That usually involves a meal at Bob Evans.

Anyway, they haven't been around for two years, so they knew about your accident, but we haven't physically seen them since. They have sent cards and notes though since then and have been praying for us.

Jennifer was a great encouragement to me at the ladies' meeting on Saturday. Her story and her husband's is one of my favorite testimonies. I love listening to it over and over. She simply told her testimony as the message which started when she was young. She ended up getting saved right before she married Jack and she checked with him to make sure he was saved too, and he agreed that he believed in Jesus, etc. but it turns out he wasn't really saved. They were unequally yoked. They had a very hard time the first 14 years of their marriage because of this. Jennifer kept to her beliefs though, and when the pressures of life came down hard on Jack, he asked her how to be saved and he came to know the Lord.

As a result of this life-changing decision, he lost his dental practice he was just merging with another dentist, and they were having money issues. This is how I came to know Jennifer on a more personal level, because they almost lost their house. The first time I met her, she was telling us this in a ladies' meeting and afterwards I asked her if she still kept her house because we were having issues with the mortgage because of Dad's up-and-down commission jobs. Ever since then we had that connection. I remember her telling stories of going to the grocery store with barely any money for groceries and God providing in miraculous ways, from winning a contest for buying a certain type of ice cream to strangers giving her money, etc. She said that taught them to fully depend on God which was something they needed to learn for their ministry.

Something else I learned from her on Saturday was how her behavior over the years won Jack over to the Lord eventually. They had their share of marital problems, but she stuck to her guns while still trying to be honoring to her husband. That made me think that I need to behave as a Christian no matter what Bill does, because I am still accountable to God no matter what Bill does.

Anyway, on Sunday after church we went with them to Bob Evans for lunch. Among other things we discussed, I asked them how they thought we should handle our situation with losing Hayden from a Christian perspective. Of course, they had wonderful answers. First of all, they said they think we've been handling it well from what they have heard-still going to church, keeping the conversations about him open at home with the kids, etc. They warned against sheltering ourselves from the world to avoid more pain, since people can say thoughtless things. Jennifer had this experience after they had three miscarriages. She also felt a grief-type loss when her daughter's twin foster daughters, whom they were planning to adopt, were suddenly taken from the home. For the longest time, Jennifer couldn't understand why this happened when they were in a good Christian home and they were taken to a bad situation again. She had to learn to trust God had His reasons. She reassured me that God never wants to hurt us and cause us pain, but He must have had a much bigger reason for Hayden's death to allow so much pain into our lives. Ultimately, it's what God wants that matters-it's not about us and what we would like life to be. She said God can use us to help others with similar losses (which I told her has already happened) and we have a unique perspective that others don't. She was very helpful and Jack was equally supportive. What a blessing they are! They loved you too!