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    Our Faith Journey: Destination: Not What We Expected
    Our Faith Journey: Destination: Not What We Expected
    Our Faith Journey: Destination: Not What We Expected
    Ebook107 pages1 hour

    Our Faith Journey: Destination: Not What We Expected

    By Lynde Dawn Hickox

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    About this ebook

    In Our Faith Journey, Lynde Dawn Hickox shares how God healed her of deep hurts experienced as a teen and young adult ,resulting in her desire to reach out to troubled young girls and women.

    By being obedient to Gods call, Lynde was led to volunteer at a local maternity center, where she met Holly, a struggling young lady battling with the desire to give her baby up for adoption. Experience the joy that Lynde and her husband, Chris, felt when Holly chose them to be her babys forever family.

    As time grew closer to the babys due date, Chris was unexpectedly forced by his employer to work away from home, and Holly became filled with anxiety and left the center unannounced.

    Experience the growth of both Lynde and Chris as God manifested Himself by strengthening them during the unexpected, stormy turn of events in their lives. Experience how their faith increased and stretched as they completely put their trust in God, even amid the uncertainty of Hollys whereabouts and the hope that God would bring Holly back to the center.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateJul 27, 2011
    ISBN9781449721381
    Our Faith Journey: Destination: Not What We Expected
    Author

    Lynde Dawn Hickox

    Lynde Dawn Hickox lives in southern Illinois with her husband Chris and two sons, Benton and Isaiah. She is a homemaker and volunteers at a Christian maternity center. In her spare time, Lynde loves to read and scrapbook.

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      Book preview

      Our Faith Journey - Lynde Dawn Hickox

      Contents

      Acknowledgements

      The Beginning

      My History

      Teaching from the Heart

      The Bad and the Ugly –

      How God Used Trials to Teach Me

      The Darkest Days

      The Power of Healing Through God

      Allowing God to Use Me

      Emma’s Story

      Holly’s Story

      God Answers Even the Smallest of Prayers

      Coming Clean From my Past

      God Works Through Others

      How God Takes Care of Us

      Satan Refuses to Back Down

      God Needs Our Obedience for the Greater Picture

      I Surrender All

      God Humbly Breaks Us

      God Speaks Through Me

      Laying it All Down

      Promises

      END NOTES

      For my Heavenly Father, who loves me and pours His love, mercy and grace upon me. Without You, Lord, I would be nothing. Thank you, Lord, for giving me the ability to share this journey of faith with others of which I give all the glory and honor to You.

      Acknowledgements

      I want to thank those who traveled with me on this journey…..

      My loving, husband, Chris, for encouraging me to share our story. May God continue to strengthen our love and our marriage. I pray that you continue to draw close to God to discover His plan and purpose for you.

      My precious boys, Benton and Isaiah, for you both play a huge part in my faith journey. Every time I look into your beautiful faces, I’m reminded how God entrusted you in our care. You are evidence that God answers our prayers.

      My parents, Ed and Debbie, for always believing in me and encouraging me to write. I love you for teaching me and giving me a strong foundation in Christ. You helped shape who I am today.

      My childhood friend, Jamie, who contacted me about a writing contest and encouraged me to submit our story. Thank you for believing in me.

      My two wonderful friends, Kynda and Rebecca, who helped edit my story for submission. I will forever be grateful for your insight.

      My sister-in-Christ, Holly, wherever you are. Thank you for helping us both grow to a new level of faith. I pray that God will continue to work in your life and pray for many blessings upon you.

      Our life is like an unfinished story.

      Everyday,…starts a new page.

      You never know what to expect until you finish each page.

      And then,…

      You start all over with another.

      Not knowing what to expect.

      Some pages will make you smile.

      Some pages will fill your eyes with tears.

      Some pages bring warmth to ones soul.

      Some pages will fill your heart with fear.

      Some pages bring grief, pain and suffering.

      Some pages are filled with contentment.

      Some pages will give you strength and courage.

      Some pages are filled with rushing excitement.

      Some pages are filled with adventure and wonder.

      Some pages are filled with hate and fury.

      Some pages are filled with kindness.

      Some pages are filled with love and sincerity.

      The pages of life teach you to appreciate life.

      With each page,… you grow a little stronger.

      And just like an unfinished story,…

      You never know how the story will end.

      There are so many possible endings and conclusions.

      That is what makes the mystery of life so grand.

      ~Lynde Dawn Hickox~

      August 12, 1997

      The Beginning

      For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

      We all are on a journey and with each journey we each have different seasons through which we must travel. I often refer to my life like a book with many different chapters. Some chapters are so sweet and others, not so much.

      I’ve been thinking and pondering about all the great things that God has taught me this past year, as I have grown stronger in my walk with Him. He certainly has stretched me in my faith walk. Four and a half years ago, I read a book that changed my prayer life, The Prayer of Jabez.1 This book challenged me to pray this prayer every day for 30 days and to keep a prayer journal to record how God answered those prayers. When I started seeing in black and white the answers to my prayers, not only was I excited to see how He answered them, but it increased my faith and I was drawn closer to God. It showed me that God was with me and He was listening even when I didn’t think He was.

      After I read this book and completed the 30 day challenge, I was so hooked on keeping a prayer journal. I loved this time that I now purposefully spent with God. It was such a focused time and I grew to crave it each day. From there, I read another book by Stormie OMartian, Power of a Praying Woman.2 I wanted to learn more about how I should pray. After I finished that 30 day study, I read another book that was life changing by the same author, The Power of a Praying Wife.3

      I had no idea how reading that book would not only change me, but my husband. The first chapter was hard to swallow. I have to admit that I bought the book because, yes, I wanted to learn how to pray for him; mostly, however, I wanted him to change and I thought this book would teach me how to change him. I truly had no idea how it would change me. I found myself on my knees reaching out to God saying, Change me, O Lord. Change me.

      Since February 2006, I have been praying daily for this man who I married ten years ago as an act of love. Even on the days that I didn’t like him so well, I prayed for him. On those days, I would have to ask God to help me pray for him, but I prayed for him the same. I never fought with him when I disagreed with anything he said or did. I honestly would just cover him in prayer, praying for God to correct him and to cover me in His gift of grace. Praying for my husband truly was an act of love because I found myself loving him more and more with each prayer I prayed.

      That same year, I felt so thirsty for God. I truly felt like my soul was starving to death. I just felt like I wasn’t being fed spiritually. God placed it upon my heart to ask a few friends of mine who felt the same way if they would be interested in doing a bible study together via email. We did not live near one another so I knew it wouldn’t be easy for us to always meet together. God gave me the idea of using email to study His Word. We each bought the book Purpose Driven Life4 by Rick Warren and read one chapter a day for 40 days. After we would read our daily lesson, we would then email each other what God taught us in that lesson.

      I grew so much during this time and developed a closer walk with God. After we finished that study, we moved onto another and yet another. In October of 2008, God really started impressing upon me to start a small group bible study in my home for women. I was a little apprehensive of this but knew in my heart that I should listen. I was starting to discover that I really enjoyed teaching. I asked four or five women that I knew that were home through the day with their small children to come join this Bible study group.

      With each passing year, I felt myself growing stronger in Christ. My confidence started to soar and I could definitely see changes in my own home. In the fall of 2009, God started to speak to me again to expand my bible study to more women. He wanted me to start one in our church in the evening so that more women could attend. When God started to speak to me about this, I kept putting him off. Frankly, the idea scared me. I was afraid that no one would want to come and that I definitely wasn’t equipped to teach that many people. I wasn’t as versed in the scriptures like I thought I should be. I was truly learning myself and had so much more to learn.

      Every time God would nudge me, I’d feel myself become a little excited over the possibility of doing this only to allow myself to talk myself out of it. I was listening to the lies that Satan had created in me from years ago.

      My History

      Growing up was not the easiest for me. I praise God that I had two loving parents who loved the Lord. They raised us children on the foundation of His Word. I know they contributed so much to who I am today. But even though I was loved by my parents, I wasn’t loved by others.

      All through grade school, junior high and high school, I was made fun of, laughed at, and even had things thrown at me. I didn’t really have any friends. I developed an extremely low-self esteem because of this. I was so timid and withdrawn from others. When you are told almost every day of your life that you aren’t anybody, that you’re stupid or dumb, and that no one likes you for so long, you

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