One of Sandy Minnick’s favorite Bible verses is Romans 8:28,
which reads, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those
who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
“Wow, has that ever been true,” she said.
But she didn’t always know this in her heart as she does
now. She said there was a time in her life when things were so bad she even
reached the point of writing a suicide note to her oldest daughter, although
she couldn’t bring herself to go through with it.
“I had never felt emotionally lower than I did at that point
in my life,” she said. “I cried all the time, could barely function at work,
and thought about suicide many, many times.“
Her husband of over 20 years, with whom she had three
children, had informed her he no longer loved her and wanted a divorce.
Minnick was raised Roman Catholic and brought her children
up in the same faith. Her oldest daughter, however, had been attending Grace
Bible Church in Catawissa, where she enjoyed listening to the sermons. The same
weekend that Minnick received the divorce papers, her daughter invited her along
to church.
She said she woke up that Sunday depressed, but her daughter
encouraged her to get ready to go, so she went, reluctantly finding a seat in
the back row in case she felt she couldn’t stay.
The sermon that Sunday was on “Love and Marriage,” and
Minnick said the pastor spoke on divorce and what it means to be in a Christian
marriage.
“I could barely breathe and my daughter kept squeezing my
hand telling me it was okay,” she said. “I knew that day, that I was meant to
be in that church for a special reason.”
God didn’t immediately fix her life.
Her husband still went through the divorce.
She still describes it as the worst time of her life.
She said, however, that Jesus came into her heart during the worst
time of her life, becoming the best part of her life.
“Christ knows exactly everything we are going to go through
in this life,” she said. “I firmly believe that He gives us these trials to
draw us closer to Him…People will always fail and disappoint us, but He will
never leave us.”
She said she now longs to help others who are going through
similar trials and don’t know Jesus, and she would tell them to “love God and
ask Him for His guidance, and to come to know him personally.”
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| Another of Sandy Minnick’s favorite Bible verses is Phil. 4:13. |
Minnick now serves in various ministries in her church and
town, and was even able to travel on a mission trip to Kenya, Africa in
January. She’s proud of her children, who are now all grown. Her oldest
daughter, who she said “is a believer and married to a wonderful Christian
man,” recently blessed her with her first grandson.
“I never dreamed that my life would be so fulfilled,” she
said. “I love my church and my church family and I love the Lord with all my
heart.”
