God of Every Story - Interview with Laura Story

I adore Laura Story. I love her music but even more, I love her heart, her authenticity, and her wisdom. I met her two years ago and loved sitting down and interviewing her (that interview is here), and I was thrilled to catch up with her again in June at ICRS. Laura has a new CD releasing TODAY that will be great. I love the title God of Every Story. Laura and I talked about how her story has changed over the last two years and how that has impacted her music. Here's a bit about the CD, followed by the interview.

God of Every Story
Laura Story
ASIN: B00EDNDE2G
September 30, 2013Available at:
iTunes
Amazon
Christianbook.com
and other retailers

I'm so thrilled to get to talk to you again!

We hung out last time and had a great time!

I'm excited about your new album coming out and I got to listen to one of the songs on it, Love of God. What a great song! I wish I had had the lyricss because I'm a visual person and really like to read the lyrics while I listen.

That's such a visual song. It talks about creation and God loving us so well through creation and reminding us that He's everywhere. We can't go anywhere - what does the Psalm say? "Where can I flee from Your presence?" Nowhere! He's everywherre.

And Romans 1 says that He's made Himself evident through the creation so that people know Him. I don't see how people can say there is not a God when they see creation.

And it's so sad that they see creation and begin to worship creation. God did all this for us, and they say let's worship it.

Your life has been quite a journey since you've been married but just since we talked last time, you've been on an award-winning streak, getting a Grammy and multiple Dove awards.

Yes, the past two years the synopsis would be: released the song Blessings, God used it in ways we could never have asked for or imagined, won some awards, which in our minds is really not about the awards but that God used them to get the message about His faithfulness out to people that wouldn't have heard it any other way. So that happened. I was going to release an album last fall and ended up having a baby—releasing a baby—instead. So she's nine months old now [at the time of the interview; she has now had her first birthday] and she's so much fun. Little Josie.

She is adorable! I stalk you on Twitter!

Oh, please do! Stalk me all day long! I'm addicted to posting pictures of my baby! We have a community of people who have been cheering us on. And I'll be releasing a CD this fall. So that's the last two and a half years in a nutshell. Husband's doing well, loving being a dad.

The last time he was starting to look at doing a little computer retraining. Has he been able to do that?

Yes, he did a little bit of that. It was very much a God thing this last December. He met someone at church who was coaching baseball for fourteen-year-olds. It's some sort of rec league. He got involved with that, and it has been a greater blessing than we could have ever imagined. It started off just being, "Well, come and we'll see how it goes" and he went to a couple of practices. He has a short-term memory deficit. He played baseball in college. He's a great baseball player. Because all that's long-term memory, he jumps into this and it all starts coming back to him. So he's been coaching baseball for about six months now, just part-time, but it's the first part-time job he's had in about seven years. It's been amazing.

It's a paid job?

Yes! It became a paying job just a few months ago. I know it means a lot to him to contribute to our family income and I feel like the Lord's going to provide and we don't need to worry about it. I know it meant so much to him, getting into the whole thing—not for payment, but it was just this added blessing. It wasn't a ton of money but it was so affirming for these men to want him. It's been a neat thing that God even did that. The way God is using Martin in these boys' lives is just amazing. One of them gave Martin a Father's Day card and said, "We know you're not our dad but you've been so much like a spiritual father to us." We were just blown away by it.

That's wonderful. So he's loving being a daddy?

Oh, he is a mess! They just love each other. She has his eyes. They are so cute together. They just laugh at each other! Even though he is unable to drive and probably will never be able to drive because of his vision deficit, on Tuesdays he'll pick her up. There's a day care that's in walking distance of our house and he'll pick her up on foot and take her out to lunch, and it's their Daddy/Daughter Date Day. It's been neat to see. I think he was a little bit worried about, what does it look like being a dad with a disability? I knew that he still would be fabulous. Obviously, there are some complications to it that we've had to figure out and work through. But for the most part [it's worked out great]. I think that little girls need fathers that just adore them and listen to them and spend time with them. I think that's what the heart of a little girl needs. They don't need a dad that can drive. They don't need a dad that has a full-time job. Those aren't things that little girls care about or even notice! So he's just been the best dad. It's been good.

I know you alluded to things you had to work through. Are the memory issues not a concern with him caring for her?

I work two miles from our house at the church and he watches her between ten and fifteen hours a week, usually three or four hours at a time, maybe not even that much. But he can do most anything in a routine. On the road, it's not as easy and I have someone who travels with me to help with Josie because there are so many new surroundings. But at home he does really well. If he has questions about anything, he calls or texts. A lot of times we'll all just pack up and go to the church for the day so I'll see them between meetings. My office has the Pack 'n Play, the toys, and all that kind of stuff. And I'm finding more and more moms, for financial reasons, are having to return to work, and at least my employer has been so gracious with the whole thing. I can't have my baby screaming her head off in a meeting but for the most part, my boss just loves having her around and knows that's a big part of who I am. I know everyone doesn't have that luxury but it's been a great thing for us.

You're still the worship leader at the same church you were the last time we talked?

I am! Perimeter Church. I've been there almost eight years and they've been such a sweet community for us. It was such a God thing they that we were able to even have Josie. Then when we got pregnant, it was like, "Oh gracious, how are we going to be able to do this?" And the church has come alongside us, not just in giving us hand-me-downs. Someone gave us their old crib. You look at how much stuff you have to get for a baby and think "This is going to break the bank before they're even born!" But our church has not only helped us with all of that but in the wisdom of so many moms who have gone before me. People I have on speed-dial to say "she just did this, is that normal?" It's been great.

Talk to me about your new album. Did you write most of the songs on it?

I have written or co-written most of the songs. Sometimes I write songs by myself, moments just between the Lord and me, and sometimes I'll get together with friends, fellow writers, and we'll look at the scriptures together and say, what might God have us sing about Him today? What could we write about that would really be a blessing to the church or to someone? But most of them were inspired by how the scriptures interact with me and with others on a daily basis, where God's word and God's promises and God's truth intersect with our daily lives.

There is a lot on the album about God's love. Now that I'm a mom, I'm beginning to understand God's love in a new way. In a richer, in a deeper way. I knew that God as a father delighted in me but there is something about becoming a parent that no one could have told me. I knew I was going to like my baby. Most days! I never knew how much I would love her and that my heart can't even contain the love I have for her. And I think if that's how I as an imperfect, selfish human being is—because I'm pretty selfish at the core—I can't even imagine how much a perfect, holy, selfless God loves me! It awes me to think about it. So I've written a lot of songs about that, this newfound understanding of it. And even that, with my newfound understanding, I'm probably not even scratching the surface.

So God's love is probably the theme of this album?

Probably so, and how that love manifests itself. You look at our lives, and it's a story that we not only did not write for ourselves but would not have written. It's not as comfortable of a story as I would have written for us! But it's a story of God's faithfulness. It's a story of God's love and giving us the things that we need rather than the things that we want. And as a parent, even just this morning, Josie was trying to crawl into the toilet because she likes water, and there's a big ol' bowl of water that she thinks she can swim in. Trust me, honey! You do not want to swim in that big bowl of water! I continue to pull her away from it and she fights me tooth and nail, just bawling. And I'm thinking, "God, how do I handle this child that does not understand that what I'm doing is all for her good?" And He goes, "Yeah, I know! Been there, done that!"

I don't want you to think the album is all about what I'm learning about being a mom but it all intersects. Everything about our lives, whatever season we're in—whether it's a season of singleness, or a season of being a parent, or having a disabled husband, whatever it is—it's all an opportunity to learn. God has something He longs to show us about Himself and teach us about ourselves in whatever season of life we're in. If we're just so impatient to get out of this season to the next one, I think we miss the blessing of character lessons about ourselves. And also the blessing of experiencing God. I'd say, as a mom, some days I'm not as patient as I know I need to be. I was just reading about the fact that God gives us the Holy Spirit as our helper. He calls Him the Spirit of Truth. I was thinking about this and some days I have to call upon the God of patience to be patience in my stead. I need that. I need Him to be patience through me, and that's a way that I'm experiencing God that I've never experienced Him before. I feel like regardless of what it is we're going through, when we come to the end of ourselves, that's when we're the most aware of how much we need Him. And the good news is, I talk about us needing Him but we already have Him, Christ in us. If we're trying to do life in our own strength, then we're really missing out on allowing that Christ that rose from the grave, we're missing out on that power working through us.

Sorry, I'm just going on and on!

You're great! I love this. And I experienced the same thing you did when I became a parent but another aspect as well. Maybe it's because I had a boy first, but I also had a totally new view of God sacrificing His Son for us. Because there was no friend that I would sacrifice my child for, much less an enemy who hated me! I was not expecting that aspect to hit me that hard.

Oh, I can't even go there yet. Even considering that, I get a lump in my throat. On so many levels, understanding God's love in a much deeper and richer way. And as a worship leader, that's such a great thing. I love having these new and fresh encounters with the love of God because it just spurs me on to worship. That's the only response to it, is just worship. Just gratitude, throwing my hands up in the air saying, "I don't get it! How can You love me so much?" I don't have to understand it. I love getting to be part of something that's too big for me to understand! And all I can do is respond in worship.

As a worship leader—and I don't know what the makeup of your church is—how do you deal with choosing music? There are the hymns, which I grew up on and just love. And I love a lot of the new songs, too but sometimes songs can focus more on us and our feelings than on God.

We live in such a consumeristic age right now that it is all about us. We can pretty much get everything that we want, when we want it, how we want it. Every slogan is Have It Your Way, Do It Your Way. I think, as worship leaders, we have to push back on that.

When I listen to your songs, I feel like you "get" that. How do you deal with it as a worship leader and be relevant without giving people just what they want to hear?

Yeah, I totally agree. I'd say two things. First of all, I shy away from songs that talk about how I feel toward God or that maybe even talk about my faithful response toward God. Because I know that on any given Sunday when I show up to lead worship, that might not be the state of my heart. BUT, I show up to lead worship because God is always worthy. And if we sing His praises about who He is, then we can never go wrong, no matter what kind of day we're having. That's really what we need to focus on.

The other thing is, I serve in a church that is so grounded in Biblical truth. So grounded in who God is and what He's done, and it's such a Christ-centric service. We use a lot of old hymns. We use a lot of new hymns. We still use praise songs but we really want it to be doctrine—and when I use the word doctrine, it's who God is—and be sure our congregation isn't just having an emotional experience, but that the truth of scripture is seeping into their heart, whether it's through the sermon or through the music. It should be all one big message of who God is and how we should respond according to scripture. So we'll use a ton of old hymns but we've figured out, whether it's new tunes or new styles, ways to engage that younger generation. But engaging the younger generation doesn't mean just giving them fluff. It means giving them the same truths the church has been built on since the day that Jesus left and said, "Here you go, Peter! I'm about to build my church!" Hopefully the message never changes even though the sound of it might change, which I think is a good thing. I don't think, necessarily, that they should always do church music the way that I do. That's one of the hard things. We have these young kids at our church who love God and I find myself wanting to say, "no, no, no, you should do it this way" and I remind myself that it's not supposed to sound like me. I'm supposed to instill in them the truth of scripture and the values of worship-leading, and then I'm supposed to help them explore what their new sound is supposed to be. And that's a tough thing. Because I want to tell them what I think! I realize I've become that person that I fought so hard against when I came to our church!

What would you say is your favorite song on this new CD, if you have one?

Probably my favorite new song is one called I Can Just Be Me. It's about learning to let God be God and me be me. Not that God needs my permission to be God! But I realize how much of my life I spend just kinda spinning my wheels. There is so much that I'm responsible for, with my jobs and my roles and my husband and my child. For some crazy reason, I also try to take on these added responsibilities of controlling every situation and manipulating things and people. I'm learning that it's not only blasphemous, I think it's just futile. I'm learning that the more I just acknowledge Him as God, and Him as being in control, and His plans being good, the more I can be the best me I can be. I get so caught up in my own story and forget sometimes that my story only finds its greater purpose and context in His story.

This was great. Thank you so much, Laura!

Learn more about Laura on her website, www.laurastorymusic.com or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

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St. Louis Day 1

Hello from St. Louis and ICRS! While the show officially opens at 8:30 this morning, the fun was already beginning yesterday! I had my first interview, which was with Laura Story. I met her two years ago in Atlanta and it was fun catching up and seeing how God has been working in her life...and hearing about her 9-month-old baby girl!

Yesterday afternoon I attended the AWSA Golden Scroll Awards Banquet. Here are the winners:

PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR: Crossway

EDITOR OF THE YEAR: Sandra VanderZicht of Zondervan

FICTION EDITOR OF THE YEAR: Vicki Crumpton of Baker Publishing Group

BOOK OF THE YEAR: Karen Whiting and Jocelyn Green - Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front

NOVEL OF THE YEAR: Jeanette Windle - Congo Dawn

Following the awards presentation Lysa TerKeurst of Proverbs 31 Ministries gave the Keynote Address. As always, she was phenomenal. She is so authentic and always shares a practical message that resonates deep in the heart. I've been blessed to know Lysa for several years and it was fun to talk with her a few minutes before the banquet. She is such a sweetheart.

Today, I've got interviews with several authors, ACFW will announce the Carol Award Finalists, and tonight, it's the Christy Awards!

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TSMSS - What a Savior!

I always turn up the radio when KLOVE plays this great song Laura Story!



Be sure to visit Amy's blog for more great songs for your weekend!

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TSMSS - Faithful God

I've mentioned once or forty times that I love Laura Story. Her song Blessings has touched my heart and ministered to me in so many ways, and the opportunity I had to sit down and talk with her last summer in Atlanta was truly a highlight of that trip for me. She is as real as they come - and she would be the first to tell you that she is just an ordinary woman whose greatest desire is for God to be glorified in the midst of her life.

While that song is the title of her most recent CD, it is by no means the only treasure on that recording. The final song, Faithful God is another absolutely stellar song that I can pretty much guarantee that you will love! If you have read my interview with Laura or heard/read her testimony in other places, you are familiar with the journey she and her husband, Martin, have been on these past few years as he has been recovering from a brain tumor diagnosed just 18 months after their wedding. Like Blessings, Faithful God was birthed from this experience. Here Laura shares the background of this song, followed by the song itself:

Faithful God, every promise kept
Every need You've met, Faithful God
All I am and all I'll ever be
Is all because You love faithfully
Faithful God

Visit Amy's for more songs.

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TSMSS - Faithful God

Here is another beautiful song by Laura Story from her CD Blessings. If you haven't had a chance to read my interview with her from my time in Atlanta and enter to win her CD, be sure to click here before 8:00 pm CDT Sunday!

Faithful God, every promise kept
Every need You've met, Faithful God
All I am and all I'll ever be
Is all because You love faithfully
Faithful God

Visit Amy's for more songs!

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Atlanta Interview & Giveaway #4 - Laura Story

UPDATE 8/28/2011 at 9:55 pm - WINNER!

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Timestamp: 2011-08-29 02:50:12 UTC

Congrats to Sara! Email me your address and the CD will be on its way to you!

* * * * *
In addition to my love for words written in books, words set to music often speak to my heart and minister to me at an even deeper level. Such was the case when I heard the song Blessings by Laura Story. When I found out she was going to be available for interviews at ICRS in Atlanta, I immediately requested a time to meet with her.

It was one of the highlights of the week.

This young woman is the real deal, folks. Laura is not one who has a theoretical faith which has not been challenged by life's storms. She and her husband are walking a difficult road, and God is using it not only to refine them like pure gold but also to speak hope, encouragement, and truth to others whose lives have also been upended by heartache.

As I listened to the interview to transcribe it for this post, I was blessed once again by the beautiful Spirit that radiates from the hearts of this young couple.

For all of the seriousness, Laura is not a solemn or dour person. She is quick to laugh and we detoured a time or two to talk about Chuy's Mexican food and a couple of other central Texas icons and landmarks! I definitely call dibs on picking her up at the airport if she ever comes this way to speak or sing!

Laura's husband, Martin, sat across the table with his laptop while Laura and I talked and she told me their story. I truly felt as if I were sitting with a dear friend as she opened her heart. This may be the most stark and authentic conversation I've had in a while. I'm not even sure I like calling it an interview, for it felt much more than that.

So grab a tissue and enjoy this chat with recording artist Laura Story.

My girl sings and plays the piano and viola; she's taking AP Music Theory this year, and she wants to major in music in college. She wants me to ask, how did you get started in your music career?

She's doing the same thing I did in high school. My mom had me in piano lessons when I was seven. I started playing string bass when I was ten—I think that was more out of a dare than anything else!—and played in orchestra up through college. But I wasn’t much of a singer; I’d never been in a choir. When I was in college, I joined a band and played bass with them for about five years, and then I played bass for a guy named Andrew Peterson. Andrew was the one who got me to sing and encouraged me to write some more, and slowly but surely, I started inching my way up to the front of the stage rather than the back of the stage, which some days I’m still very apprehensive about! God’s just given me some songs and pressed upon my heart the desire to go out and share what I consider story-telling through song.

Now I know the proper Christian perspective is “It’s not about me; it’s about Him.” But you know, nobody has had any idea who Laura Story is for a long time. But everyone knows who Chris Tomlin is. (Laura bursts out laughing.) And everyone knows the song Indescribable. And Laura Story wrote that song.

I did. And I’ll tell you: it was my first year of marriage. And at first I thought, “Well, that’s kinda neat that he gets to travel all around the world and play this song.” We did our first promotional thing with him, and I met him and all the guys in his band. They were so tired, they looked like they were about to fall over, and they said, “Yeah, we’ve done about 300 dates this year.” It was the same year that I had just gotten married, and I had been at home doing college ministry with my husband. And I genuinely thought, “I am so glad that Chris Tomlin is willing to travel around and sing this song all over the world so I don’t have to!” Who knew that eventually the Lord was going to be pushing me out there to do more of the “up front” stuff? So yeah, at that time in my life, I was so thankful.

So the anonymity didn’t bother you.

Nooooo, not at all. I feel like I got to learn a little more about the music industry and a little more about what I would want to be like if I ever were the recording artist. I’d just gotten to see a lot of friends go through the process of getting record deals and booking concerts – people like Chris who I really admired how they did that, and I got to see some other people who made some poor decisions. We’re trying to steward the opportunities well. Some days we do; some days we don’t.

I have read and know a bit of the background of the story of the song Blessings, but can you share that?

It was birthed out of an evaluation of the last five years of our life. I’ve been married to my husband, Martin, for seven years, and he was diagnosed with a brain tumor about two years into our marriage. In some areas we’ve seen recovery and healing from all that, and in other areas we haven’t. It wasn’t cancerous, but it grew so much that it did a good bit of damage in his brain to his vision and his memory. Learning to live with a disability is always a huge learning curve, so that’s on the practical side. On the spiritual side, [it’s been] learning that sometimes God allows His kids to walk through really hard stuff. I totally believe that God is all-powerful. In His word He says that He’s a healer. What does that mean when I pray every day for five years for God to heal my husband, and He doesn’t do it?

The song Blessings is a song full of questions. I would say, “God blesses His children by giving them the things they pray for.” But what if God’s definition of blessings is different than ours? And what if there are things He wants to accomplish in our lives—or not even in our lives, but maybe just in His world? Everything’s always about me in my synopsis of things! I always talk about how it affects me and how comfortable I feel and wanting this pain-free existence! But what if there are things God wants to accomplish in and through me that necessitate Him not answering my prayers the way that I want Him to? And what if I look back on this life, and there are things that, much later in life I can count as blessings, but right now I have to maybe just label them blessings by faith? I don’t know. Sometimes people say, “That’s such a cool song with so much wisdom,” and I tell them it’s just a bunch of questions because that’s where we are. But what we’re finding is, that’s where most people are in their Christian faith. No one understands why God’s plan includes suffering and abuse and divorce and death and so many things that people walk through on a daily basis. But if I believe that it’s possible that He could have a plan that’s greater than what my finite mind can understand, if I believe that’s possible, then I probably just need to continue to trust Him through it.

Did I mention I’m a worship leader? I’d been at this church for almost six years and had been on staff with them for about 5 months when all of this happened. So I have this job as a worship leader, but this thing has happened to us, and the last thing I wanted to do is get up on stage and sing How Great is Our God! Just to be real honest, I didn’t know if I even believed that anymore! I didn’t know what to do with any of this. It was either me quitting my job and going to work at Wendy’s or something, or me looking to the Scriptures to say, “Okay God. Please tell me that You have something to say about how to worship you when life is hard.” And that was the beginning of a process of searching the Scriptures that completely changed my life. It completely changed my life and how I see Scripture.

And this may be controversial, but Scripture does not teach the “health, wealth, and prosperity” gospel. It doesn’t at all. You see King David, who says, “I will bless the Lord at all times.” Not, “I feel like blessing the Lord at all times.” You see Job. You see the Apostle Paul who has this thorn in his flesh and he’s praying that God will take it away. And God doesn’t say, “No, Paul, I’m leaving it because you’ve been such a bad person.” Sometimes we feel that way—that God has given us this hard thing to punish us. The ultimate purpose we see Paul saying that God told him is, because we are weak, that God can be seen as the strong God that He is. So as much as I want to—and do!—complain about the story God has written for us, at the end of the day, both my husband and I would say that the chief aim of our lives is for people to see God through us, for people to see God as He is. And if that means us limping along, rather than experiencing the snap-of-a-finger healing—if that’s how God’s seen as the big God that He is, I want to be part of that! I feel like there’s a blessing that’s bigger than what this world offers, there’s a blessing that I can experience just being part of that story.

Tell me about some of the other songs on this CD.

I’m a worship leader, so some of these songs are corporate worship songs and some are sit-in-your-car and worship songs. My songs are about God’s promises intersecting real life. It’s one thing to sing about how good God is. I feel like the secular music industry is a lot more honest about life being hard. I think sometimes Christians don’t feel like they can admit any disappointment or struggle. So especially on this CD, the songs talk about how God’s promises give us a framework for walking a road that’s hard, for walking through trials. Scriptures tell us that it’s not “if”, it’s “when.” It’s “When you walk through the fire. . .”

Are you on a tour schedule?

We had a heavy touring schedule in the spring and we’re taking some time off this summer to just breathe a little bit, and then we’ll hit it hard again in the fall.

How do you balance that with being a worship leader?

Oh, I don’t balance it very well! I’ve had a commitment with [the church] for almost six years now to be there every other weekend. This is the first time we’ve taken a chunk of time off; we’ll be gone this summer and a bit into the fall. I just noticed that everything I was doing, I was leading. That’s not good for anyone. We’ve had some time this summer to be led in worship and Bible Studies and that’s been nice.

Are things stabilizing with your husband or is still a rocky road medically?

It’s something where we see little improvements every year. We’re learning to find the balance in being thankful for the healing God’s given us – because we really are! We’re so thankful for how He’s worked in Martin’s life and his body and the things He’s taught us. But also, being honest, we don’t want to just do the spiritual band-aid thing of “It’s okay. God works all things together for good.” I feel that the Lord gave us emotions, and when we don’t mourn the things that are hard in our lives, we end up emotionally constipated Christians! What I find is that if I can’t call something bad or hard, there’s only so much I can make the gospel relevant to non-believers. If they look at me and what I’m walking through and I say, “Oh, no, no it’s okay! God’s in control, they say ”that just doesn’t even make sense!" I’m learning to say “It’s really, really hard and we spend a lot of days dealing with a lot of disappointment.” I think that the difference is what we do with that disappointment – do we run from God or do we run to God. We’re learning to run to God and to trust that in our hands it’s a mess, but in His hands it’s really going to be something beautiful where He’s glorified through it, even if we don’t see how He’s doing that.

Is he able to hold a job?

He’s not working and he can’t drive either because of his vision. We’re slowly getting back into talking about some vocational things with him. He was doing some graphic design before his brain tumor, and he’s slowly getting back into that, so that’s neat. But it’s a slow process. When we first went into the hospital they gave us a pamphlet about what to expect from your recovery, and it was a five-day plan – surgery on one day, two days in ICU, two days in a regular room and then home on day 5. [I thought], “Oh! It’s that easy!” Three months later, we’re still in the hospital! And that’s kinda been the story of the recovery process. Everything takes a lot longer, both in physical recovery and in recovery and healing of our own hearts. I’ll talk to people who have lost loved ones – and even though this is not the same at all, it’s still the death of some dreams – and anyone who’s mourning the loss of anything always says, “Wow, it’s just taking so much longer than I thought.”

One thing we’re learning is that, that pain and that ache of life not being exactly what we thought it would be-—I know for me, at least—motivates me and gives me this longing for the next life. It motivates me in evangelism. It motivates me in talking to people about the whole reason for any of this—whether it’s a Christian blog or a Christian CD or anything—is shouting from the rooftops that there’s more to this life than just this life. So if it’s the pain and the ache in my heart that reminds me of that, and if it’s the hard life that we live on this earth that reminds me of that—because that’s the question: everyone looks at us and asks, “What is there to hope in, in the midst of your situation?” Well, because we believe that this life isn’t all that there is. And if one person hears Martin’s story and comes to faith, yeah, that’s worth it.

So you were married a year and a half when this happened. What has this taught you about marriage?

(Laughs!) I’m a terrible wife! Is that what I’ve learned, Martin?!

You stood at the altar and took your wedding vows in your mid-twenties, fully expecting that any of the “for worse” situations surely wouldn’t happen for 50 years or so.

It was definitely hard that the “sickness and in health” stuff came early on.

The world would tell you this is not what you signed up for, so Laura, you just need to get on your way.

Yeah. I think that they are not just vows that we make before God and witnesses. I truly believe that people who think that they can get married in a church but then live the rest of their life out on their own – that’s just the biggest bunch of bull! God is not only the One that we pledge to and the One who created marriage, but He’s the Sustainer of marriage. And the reason that you get up there with a pastor and a bunch of people is because they’re the hands and feet of Jesus who are helping us through marriage when it’s hard. I think a lot of people who have struggles in their marriages don’t think they can talk to people about it. And that’s one thing that we’ve learned: we can’t do marriage on our own.

Martin’s disability is a rub in our marriage. It would be easy for us to get frustrated and point at each other and say, “Why or you this way?” or “Why are you impatient with me?” Sometimes it’s good for us to stop and say “It’s the disability we’re mad about right now. It’s the fact that all those years ago, Adam and Eve ate the apple and sin entered this world and creation has been forever marred because of it. And it allowed death and disease, and that’s what we’re mad about! It’s the stupid devil; it’s our own sin that we’re mad about, rather than pointing a finger at each other all the time. (She laughs.) Not that we do that perfectly or anything. We still quarrel about stuff. But I can honestly say that I’ve never thought, “If I’d known it was going to be like this, I wouldn’t have married Martin.” Because everyone has their thing that they walk through. If for some crazy reason we hadn’t gotten married and I found out he was walking through this on his own, I would have found him and been right by his side. Or I’d have been so jealous of whatever woman got to walk through it with him! So there are blessings even found in how God has used this illness to bind us together. (She looks over at Martin) Wouldn’t you say that?

Martin smiles, nods, and gives her two thumbs up.) Absolutely! Yeah, I would!

That's sweet; that encourages me. Anything else you want to say to my blog readers?

There’s one more thing I want to say. So many people look at life or look at ministry as something they’re going to do after they get their life together, after they get past whatever thing seems to be paralyzing them or complicating their life, whether it’s walking through a divorce or dealing with a wayward child that isn’t living out the way their parents raised him to believe. And I would challenge people: God is the God of every story. He’s the God of every season of our lives. And He wants to glorify Himself, not just in the springs of our lives but also in the falls and the winters of our lives when things seem really hard. He’s a God that’s about bringing Himself glory. A lot of times people see their certain situations in life as being a detour when, really, it’s just the road. It’s the road that God’s calling them to walk down. And not only will He never leave us or forsake us on that road, but He’ll use all of it. He truly does use every ingredient of our life to bring Himself glory. So I just want to encourage people that God has a plan for whatever hard story they’re walking through. The central point would be making sure that we’re running to Him rather than from Him in the midst of our hard thing.

Laura, you endeared yourself to me and blessed me more than you know. Thank you for the opportunity to visit with you and for allowing God to use "the greatest disappointments and the aching of this life" to minister to the world for His glory. And I hope we get to eat at Chuy's together some day soon!

You can learn more about Laura at her website or on her Facebook page. Here she is singing Blessings live in the KLOVE studio.



I have a brand-new copy of this CD to give to one of you! To enter, leave a comment on this post. Earn a second entry by posting about/linking to this interview and giveaway on your blog or FB and leaving a second comment letting me know you did so. Entries must be received by 8:00 pm CDT next Sunday, 8/28/11, and I will randomly draw a winner. US Residents only.

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