Tammy’s Story

At age 12 – I began dreaming of what my future home would look like – I wanted my future family to be just like the one of my minister and his family. And by age 16 – I truly felt God calling me to be a Pastor’s wife. THAT WAS MY DREAM…. MY IDEAL LIFE…. AND I BEGAN TO WRITE MY STORY - I began to live out and follow my dreams.

Every story has an author — the one who is writing the narrative. As a Jesus follower — I can say that He is the author and perfecter of my faith. I know that man can plan his ways, but it is God who directs his steps. I can say this…. it’s easy to say – but, each day we get to choose – do I let God have the pen today, or am I going to take it today and do the writing?

For years, God wrote the story just as I had dreamed. I got to marry the love of my life at age 20. We planted a church, as my sweetie just graduated from Bible College. We had our 3 children, home schooled them, moved to Oregon to pastor an established church there, our 3 kids all got married, we became grandparents. I loved the story God was writing. Life was not perfect, by any means, but it was what I had dreamed it would be.

Then a chapter began that I was not expecting. In 2015, my husband, Dave was diagnosed with Leukemia. And after 1 ½ year of praying big and bold prayers for healing, he died. July 23, 2016, he graduated to heaven at 57 years old – way too early in my mind. I was a widow at age 52. My life was shattered. Why in the world would God write this into my story? It made no sense to me. I wouldn’t have written it that way.

Beyond the “normal” grief of losing my soulmate of 33 years, I had also lost my sense of identity and purpose for life. I had my ideal life figured out at age 16. The story was going along just as I had planned that it would. We made a great team. I loved my calling. I loved being a Pastor’s Wife. I was living MY IDEAL DREAM LIFE!! I was faced with “Now what”? Who am I and what am I here for? Life threw me the fastest and hardest curve ball and I was not prepared for it. How would I navigate the rest of my story?

It took about 3 long years after Dave’s death to do the grief work necessary for me to once again hear from God the story He was still writing for my life. It seemed impossible to me that I could continue on in ministry without my partner, but the author of my story is the God of the impossible.

My story is one of faith, passion, and a deep calling to serve others. From the early whispers of God’s presence in my life to the years spent nurturing communities in prayer and ministry, my heart has been drawn to creating spaces where lives can be transformed.

This is where my story and yours meet—a place of connection, encouragement, and purpose.