Big Steps, Big Faith

After Seth and I were married, we started visiting churches is the Starkville area, but we were not actively pursuing a place to call our church home. I grew up Southern Baptist while Seth was raised Catholic.  We decided before we were married that when it was time for us to join a church as a married couple, we would visit churches of all denominations.  We visited Pinelake Starkville the second Sunday the doors were open and immediately knew this was the place for our family. We felt so at home.

Outlive Your Life had just launched and it began shifting our focus to what God wanted for our lives. When we married, Seth was part owner of a bar here in Starkville. (This was always interesting because I am a Baptist preacher’s daughter and I married a Catholic, bar owner.) Prior to our marriage, we discussed Seth selling the bar at some point, but didn’t know when that would happen for financial reasons. One day he came home from work and told me that God had been working in his heart and he felt like it was time for him to sell his part of the business. He felt he needed to do this for our marriage and for his relationship with Christ. This was not the life he wanted to live. Within a week Seth was looking for a job, and he continued looking for six months. During this time, our faith was tested in so many ways, but we knew that God would provide because we were obedient.

Shortly after Seth found a job, God started really moving in our lives in ways we weren’t prepared for. We began truly relying on God in the decisions we made. We both felt prompted to sell our home, and recognizing this as another test of faith we started praying. Facing this leap of faith, I remember Seth looking at me and saying, “Look what God has done in the past, everything will be fine.” We were shocked when within three days our home was sold and we needed to move out in two weeks! We packed, moved and then one week later, found out we were expecting our first child. The whirlwind left us without a house and soon-to-be parents. I remember telling Seth, “I think God has a very funny sense of humor.” Little did we know that God had a brand new home waiting just for us, and our baby.

God is truly doing a work in our lives and we believe that Pinelake Starkville is part of that work. Since we committed to Outlive Your Life, Seth has been baptized, we have joined a small group and are now leading a group, and we are blessed with the opportunity to be able to work with the Children’s Ministry. We want to testify to God’s faithfulness. It is so awesome to be able to physically see just how faithful God is!

by Anna O’Nan, Pinelake Starkville