Happily, Ever After

Hi, this is Bernie Dake. Welcome to The Salvation Army's Words of Life. Welcome back to The Salvation Army's Words of Life. I'm glad that you're joining us again, and I want to welcome Cheryl Gillum to the show.

Thanks, Bernie. It's good to be here with you. Cheryl, this is going to be our last episode for this series. Yeah, and you know, I'm really sad about that because we've been on this journey since July 5 with Barefoot Cinderella's, and it's been a series that's followed along with Susie Erickson's book of the same name. If you've missed any episodes or if you'd like to share it with a friend, please visit SalvationArmySoundcast.org slash Words of Life. There you'll be able to purchase Susie's book, read accompanying blogs, and more.

I'm really excited about this week's episode. Val Wehrmuth joins Susie in this episode to talk about her experience with a divorce and a lot of different things along her journey that have caused her and shaped her to be who she is today. I want to tell you about Val. We worked with her in the youth department recently, and she is such a faith-filled woman. I'm so inspired by the way she prays.

It's so specific and faith-filled that we experienced miracles as we watched God work in her life. Just a few months ago, she was trying to change her passport over to her married name. She was recently married, so that she can join her husband over in England. With everything shut down because of COVID, it was almost impossible for her to get her passport, but she had specific dates that she asked us to pray for. She asked for June 9th that we pray that her passport would come through, knowing that the government was shut down at that point, or they were just starting to open and there was a backlog of all these passports that they had to issue. I think it was the 6th or 7th of June, she comes back to us and she says, okay, there's been a breakthrough.

I think it might happen. She was able to speak to the senator's office and get access to her passport or receiving her passport and getting the process put through. On June 8th, she gets an email from the senator's office saying that they've sent the paperwork to the appropriate people in the government and that in the next couple of days, she should receive her passport. And so I'm just at awe with her faith-filled journey, that she did not allow her circumstances to beat her down, but she was able to rise through her faith in Jesus Christ and her walk with the Lord. I'm so happy today to be in the studio this morning with one of my good friends, Val Warmoth. I begin Chapter 10 of Barefoot Cinderella's Happily Ever After talking about being a product of the 80s. One of the highlights of my teenage years in the 1980s was watching soap operas with my mom.

I think that I really bonded with my mother over watching soap operas. But as I grew in my journey with the Lord, the Lord convicted me of watching soap operas, but he showed me the real life drama of people in his word. And one of those people is Joseph. You know, Joseph, as a young boy had dreams of what he hoped his future would be, but his weren't just like childhood dreams of what he hoped to become, but God gave him a dream, really a vision of what he would one day become. He had no idea what those dreams meant at the time, but he knew that they were from God. Was there a point in your childhood life that you had a dream of what you wanted to become one day? So when I was 15, I was at this youth event and someone came and gave me a word that said, you're going to be a full-time minister for the Lord.

And that person just continued walking. I still to this day don't know who that is, but I knew that that was a dream and a word that was spoken over me. Joseph's story takes a bit of a turn and his life starts to look a lot like the soap operas that I used to watch with my mom.

And has there been a time in your life when perhaps it looked like a soap opera too? My goodness, I remember that day well. My life before this particular day was, I wouldn't say picture perfect, but it was smooth sailing. I was a minister and working in youth ministry, which I've always been passionate about. I thought I had a good marriage. I had a good home life, a good work life.

My family was good and healthy. Everything was, like I said, smooth sailing until this one day. And I just felt like the rug was pulled from under me.

My life as I knew it was destroyed. I felt like I was living a lie. I felt that I was somehow blinded. I felt stupid. I was like, how did I miss this? How did I miss the red flags?

My husband of 10 years just left. This day, I didn't know where he was. I didn't know anything. And I felt very, very, very dumb.

I really had no idea. It was just from one it was just from one day being smooth sailing to the next day, my life is in shambles. I think that Joseph could so relate to your story where his life just all of a sudden fell apart when his brother sold him into slavery. And here are people that you think love you and they have your back and they've vowed to be your person. And then they are the ones that turn around and betray you.

And what do you do with that? How do you even begin to process that? I look back to that week and I feel like I was living a out of body experience. The Lord just gave me the strength I needed to make it through the first week and beyond, of course. But that first week, I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I didn't even want to drink anything. I didn't know what to do.

I didn't know who do I need to call. I was completely completely numb. I don't know how I could have made it through where I am today without the Holy Spirit guiding me and protecting me. Those of us who have faith in God know that we can face the trials of this life because God is with us. And that makes all the difference in what we encounter and how we get through to the other side. And you've gotten to the other side, haven't you?

I have, yes. The Lord has been so faithful from the beginning. One of my favorite scriptures is also found on chapter 10 of your book is Romans 828.

All thanks work for the good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. And that has been the testimony of my life. This experience was not good.

It was terrible. But the Lord, through this experience, through this being in this pit, has used me, has, I've learned what I'm capable of. I've learned the strength that I had within me, that the Lord placed within me. He has provided me with amazing friendships that I was able to just pour out my heart to in times of just pure loneliness. And those people, those girls were able to speak truth, God's truth over me. And just that and being able to just vent to them has been so helpful to get me to the point where I am today. And God is redeeming your story as well, isn't he?

Absolutely. I had a really strong desire to have kids and be married again. And I am in my 30s, and I feel, my dad always says, you have your whole life ahead of you because when you go through something like this, you do in a way feel like your life is over or that part of your life is over.

The dream of having children and being remarried, that's history. I'm thinking maybe in the beginning of 2019, I had that moment, I surrendered my dreams to the Lord. I just felt a peace. And the Lord was like, just trust me. I was just so filled. And yes, I still wanted to meet somebody.

I still want to have children in the future. But at that moment, the Lord just gave me a picture of His goodness and His grace. I was just so happy. Well, that same night I got a random Facebook message from now my husband.

Nothing is ever random. And he's also a Salvation Army minister in another country. And then we began a friendship. Wow. Now you are now remarried, right? I am now remarried. The Lord has been just so, so faithful. I cannot stop saying that. I think that your story, this whole journey of how God has carried you through these difficult circumstances, these moments of crisis into where you are right now is a testimony of God's faithfulness to His people.

I couldn't agree more. The Lord placed not only His Spirit, but just community to surround me, to love me. I have family who as well did the same thing.

I know that the Lord placed those people there, sort of like Joseph and him being surrounded with the right people for the right time. I definitely agree that part of my success is having those people around me who would kind of be linked arms and they wouldn't let me fall. And when you have been hurt by people that are supposed to be the ones that have vowed to care for you, how did you move beyond that place of hurt to opening your heart to someone else and being able to trust again? I enrolled in divorce care, similar to grief care. I never got closure from the other parties who've hurt me. I never knew why it happened or what I did to make it happen, if anything. So I remember praying to the Lord, Lord, can you remove the sense of the desire of needing closure? Can you give me closure? And really that was a miracle because I have no desire to get that closure from the parties who've hurt me.

And because of that, because there's not any, and I'm not waiting around for that, for that healing from those people, because the Lord healed me, I'm able to move forward without bringing those hurts with me to my future. Well, your story is a lot like Joseph's story. And really all of our stories are a Joseph story and a Cinderella story. Cinderella and Joseph had so much in common.

They lived with integrity and they faced each hurdle in their paths, just as you have done. Cinderella, she had a fairy godmother watching over her, coordinating the events of her life. And her life was a fairy tale, but your life has not been a fairy tale. And mine has not been a fairy tale.

And Joseph's life was not a fairy tale. Our stories are God tells. And we have walked through the journey with his help and through his strength. And for those that are listening that are in the midst of their own messy story, God can be their strength too.

100% he can. And he is willing and able to handle whatever crisis situation you're going through. The Salvation Army's mission, Doing the Most Good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to The Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support.

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