Hanging by a Thread (part 2 of Our Arctic Adventure)

So the door to North Carolina slammed shut. Literally. One day we were in salary and relocation talks with the new company, the next day Dave was no longer a candidate for the position. To say the least, we were bummed. We truly thought this was our adventure. There was no good reason why this should not have worked.

Well except for this one good reason: Our marriage was hanging by a thread. Literally. And within two weeks of learning that we would not be moving to North Carolina, everything came crashing down. Not over one particular thing that either of us had done, but over lots of selfish behaviors and years of poor communication and stress on both of our parts. There was pain, there was anger, and there was hurt. Lots of it. And there was threats of leaving. Again from both of us. It was tough and very stressful. But you know what else there was, that I am certain would not have been in North Carolina?

Friends. Amazing friends that were committed to walking alongside us through this very dark time. Friends that had been with us since the beginning of us and friends that we had only known for a short time. Before calling it quits, we agreed that we would get counseling. Neither of us wanted it to be over. We both understood that we had said vows that meant that we were to be married to each other 'til death parted us', but we were hurt and we needed help to get past the pain. We started meeting with our pastor and his wife, who happened to also be the ones who encouraged Dave and I to start dating over 16 years ago.

During that time that we were meeting with our pastor I also had a small group of amazing girlfriends that were holding me accountable to the changes that I needed to make in my heart. Within that group of friends was a gal that I had been acquainted with, but had not completely connected with. That did not stop this friend from seeing a need and jumping in to meet it. One evening she called me and asked of she and her husband could take Dave and I out on a double date. They wanted to take us to see the movie Fireproof.

That evening out was such a blessing to us. It came at a very critical time with a very critical message. Our marriage was worth fighting for. It was at that time that I realized that my God cared so deeply for me that he shut the door that we were going to step through and by doing so he was protecting my marriage. Because I am certain that had we gone to North Carolina all the hurt and pain would have still come to the surface but we would not have had the support we needed to get through it. We were still in Washington state because God knew that was exactly where we needed to be for the stormy season that we were in.

So there we were, still in Washington, committed to working to repair our marriage, and praying for a new job still.

Five months would pass before there was any movement on the job front and then all the sudden there was something.


TO BE CONTINUED...................