Precious Memories

It has now been 2 years since Greg has been gone. I didn't write a blog post on here on December 5th as I wasn't really sure what to write. I still miss Greg and I still think about him. I often wonder what he would do in a situation or how he would deal with an unhappy patient. He was always really good with difficult people. (He was married to me!) Anyway, the thing is, he is in heaven and isn't thinking about me, or you. That is probably not something many of us want to ponder. I am quite sure Greg is doing amazing things, but thinking about what I am doing or you are doing is not one of them. One thing I know is that Greg wanted our family to live each day for the glory of the Lord. He truly wanted us to serve the Lord with our whole hearts. So, that is truly what I have been trying to do.

I heard a message on Sunday by a really amazing pastor named, Mark Evans. It was titled, "Surprised by Joy." The message basically said that when Mary found out she was pregnant with Jesus she was shocked, surprised, and scared. Many of the people didn't believe that this was a child of God. I mean, it is hard to believe. Can you imagine how she felt? A young girl, pregnant, but a virgin, and having people talk about her and probably treated her like she was dirty. Poor Joseph wanted to believe her but it was hard. After Joseph was spoken to by an angel he began to believe too. Even though Joseph and Mary knew that this miracle was from God, it was still hard to accept. And the people had an even harder time accepting it.

Mark and I found ourselves in a similar situation when we were surprised by God. I wasn't looking for him nor was he looking for me. We both felt that God had brought us together. We knew from the very first meeting that God had big plans for us. And even though we knew it and we felt it, there have been many others who have had a hard time accepting it. And... we understand. We know it can't be easy for people to see us together, but we also know that God put us together and we are so very happy. He has taken our sadness and turned it into joy. He has truly brought beauty out of ashes.
I will never replace Leslie nor will Mark ever replace Greg, we are going to hold onto the verse that Greg circled in his Bible. Isaiah 43:19-20 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Today is a special day, a hard day, today marks the one year anniversary of Leslie's entrance into Heaven. Sometimes thinking about the anniversary of a loved one's passing is extremely painful. It seems as if on the anniversary of a person's death you just continue to relive all of the sad events that took place on that day. Well, I would like to take a moment to remember Leslie in a better light. Many of you who are reading this don't know much about her. Just like many of my new friends at Wolf Pond Baptist don't know much about Greg. But I feel it is my duty to bridge that gap. I want all of my friends and family to know about both of these important people. However, I don't want anyone to always be looking at the past and living in it. That is not at all what they would want us to do. They would want us to remember them with fondness and laugh at the good memories, but never would they want us to just live in the past. For today, I am going to focus on Leslie and what I have learned about her. We are going to celebrate her and remember her. Then, we are going to go and serve the Lord just like she would want us to!

This is what I have learned about Leslie as I fell in love with her husband and son. She was a very loving and kind wife and mother. She was feisty and independent and loved to laugh. She loved frogs, snowmen, Star Wars and the Biltmore Estate. She wasn't much for dressing up, she loved her comfy clothes! She always had her phone and loved to play Candy Crush. She loved the kids in Nicaragua and that became her passion. Chosen Children Ministries became the organization that made her heart beat. She loved her job at Myers Park Country Club and was an incredible organizer. She loved Mark and Eric and all of her family, but above all of these things, she loved Jesus! In her last days on earth it was apparent to all who knew her that she had a true peace and was ready to meet Jesus! Her question for all of you would be, "Are you ready?" Here are some of the photos I have found of her that I love, I hope you love them too.
                                                           



                                                             Leslie Michelle Evans
                                                     May 14, 1973 - December 17, 2018

Leslie and Mark dating

Eric and Leslie in Hawaii

Eric and Les at the Biltmore Estate

Les an her daddy in Nicaragua

Leslie and Robert

Sisters by marriage friends by choice! Erin and Leslie

Family

Leslie and Eric in Hawaii

Mark and Leslie 

Aunt Leslie with Parker

My favorite picture

Eric and Leslie

Best smiles ever! 

If you want to remember her today, remember her like this! 

Thanks for praying for our family as we continue to learn and grow and look forward to all God has planned for us! 

The Woods and Evans families

Stress Test

My job at Novant has recently taken a change and I am no longer working as a transporter. I am now working as a Radiology assistant, I really like the job and have learned quite a bit. One of the tests that are administered is a Stress Test. In short, a stress test is a way of seeing how your heart is functioning. First, there is a picture taken of your heart in it's resting state, then your heart is "stressed" or put under pressure, then there is a second image called a stress image to see what your heart looks like after it has been stressed. This gives the Cardiologist a  way to see what your heart looks like before it is stressed and after it is stressed. The goal as explained by my precious friend, Mandy, is to see more blood flow in the after picture so it shows more life and energy in the heart.

Now to my own heart's stress test.
Over the past 3 years and 10 months, I have had my heart stressed in ways I never knew it could be stressed. When I was serving in Mexico, if there had been a resting image done on my heart I would have thought life couldn't have gotten better and that I was truly living the dream, the resting image would have shown a perfectly calm heart.

However, then my heart was put to the test. I found out my husband had stage 4 brain cancer, I had to let go of the precious daughter, Ali, who we were months away from adopting, I had to leave the country and people I had grown to love, and once again sell everything I owned, I lost the job I loved, I lost my best friend and husband of 24 years, I lost my identity. My heart was pushed almost to the limit where the nurses would be calling a "code stroke" and saying my heart was failing. However, just when my heart had hit that wall and I felt I couldn't take anymore, the stress test was over. I was shown grace and mercy and love by all of those around me.

Stress test was getting to a very difficult point. 

When one of our patients has their heart stressed, some of them become nauseous and get a headache. So, we give them food and a caffeinated beverage and this usually helps them to feel better. I am to that point in my life now where I feel I am getting the food and beverage I need to make all of the pain and nausea go away.

When the Lord brought Mark into my life I had no idea what He was up to. It wasn't my plan. I wasn't trying to hurt anyone or cause any pain to anyone. I just simply wanted the stress test to be over. I wanted to be obedient to Him and His will to be done no matter how long the stress test lasted. However, I had prayed that it wouldn't last too much longer as my heart was truly stressed to its limit and I needed a break from the pain. When I met Mark, I felt the pain ease as my heart began to beat at a more regular pace again.

After knowing each other one week. 

Now to the stress image, it appears that after my stress test, I have indeed passed the test. My heart has been pushed to its limit. It was stressed, it hurt, I cried, the Lord heard me and sent me help. He rescued me from the pain I was in. The stress image shows that there is more blood flow now in my heart and it has much more energy.

Psalm 34:18-19
 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all;

On Friday, October 18, 2019, Mark Evans asked me to be his wife and I excitedly said, "Yes!" I couldn't be more excited for the future. I knew when Greg passed that he wanted me to live my life to the fullest. I just wasn't sure how to do that without him. I wasn't created to be alone. The Lord has made it abundantly clear to me that as a team, Mark and I can serve Him well. My heart is full and pumping and so excited about the future. I know that if we could see into Heaven, we would see Greg Wood and Leslie Evans cheering us on! Thank you all for loving us all and praying for us as we face many transitions and embrace the new adventure that God has set in front of us!

It is well with my soul!
Missy

He asked and I said, "Absolutely!"

I was amazed at how he is spoiling me!

It was so nice to have all our kids (minus Jerod) there to witness this moment. 

Jerod watched via Facetime. He couldn't be there because of work. 

We had an amazing weekend and feel so blessed by God. He is moving in ways that we could never have imagined. Thanks for your prayers.

Thank you Catherine Gray for taking such amazing photos of our special day!
https://www.graycatphoto.com

Seasons Change

In 2003 I was pregnant with Annie and Greg called me from work in a panic. He said the Lord had been speaking to him for months and he couldn't ignore Him any longer. He left work and asked me to meet him at our church to pray. I remember meeting him in a prayer room and we prayed for a very long time about the call that Greg felt God had put on his life. He felt like he was being called into the mission field. At that point, I had NO idea what that meant. I just knew God was up to something and I wanted to be a part of it. However, I did NOT want to move out of my home, leave my friends or change my life in any way. I just wanted to be a part of the Lord 's plan on my own terms. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

 Over the next months, God did amazing work. I went from saying I would never leave the country and did not feel called into missions, to saying I was ready to be used by God in any way and was ready to sell everything I owned and follow Him. Soon after that, we did just that; we sold everything and went to serve an indigenous people group in Mexico. It was a beautiful 11 years of my life and I am thankful I surrendered to His calling and left my comfort zone in Asheville, NC.

When we were getting ready to hit the mission field. 

Our first prayer card.

Farm fun.

Our first Christmas in Costa Rica

If I hadn't surrendered to that call on my life, I have no idea what direction our lives would have taken. I don't know what job Greg would have done, or what schools our kids would have attended. I don't know if my kids would still have the passions they do now or have the compassion for people that they do now. So many things would have changed for our family if I had dug my heels in and said, "No Lord, I am content and can serve you right where I am." However, Greg had been praying for me, I had been praying for His will to be done and I had been crying and seeking Him. He moved mountains during that time. I mean, there are a string of stories where He made Himself abundantly clear to me and gave me a peace about everything. I knew it was His will and what He wanted for our family. Amazingly, I surrendered, however, to most people it looked as if one day we just decided to become missionaries and move to Mexico.  They didn't see all of the struggling, all of the prayer, all of the God stories behind the preparation of getting us to a point to where we surrendered to His call. So, once I surrendered to the call, I thought everyone would be thrilled for us. Thrilled that we were doing exactly what we felt the Lord was calling us to do. However, that was not the case. We were met with resistance from family and friends as they were just hearing of this news. They hadn't been praying and struggling with these decisions for a year. That is when I had to take a deep breath and realize they would get to a place where they could encourage us, but they just needed time.

Annie learning to play in the dirt. 

Annie's friends. 

Alex entertaining kids.

Me loving on little kiddos. 

The boys in their fort. 

Greg sharing the Christmas story. 

Annie sharing a Bible story with her friends. 

Sharing shoes with friends. 

I tell you all of this because there have been many changes taking place in my life lately.  As I mentioned in my last post, the Lord has moved in my heart and brought Mark Evans into my life. It has been interesting to see how He has directed our paths over the years and brought us both to a place in our lives where we are ready for our hearts to be mended. We have prayed and cried and searched scripture for God's guidance. I had been praying for a year and a half when I met Mark and he had been praying for 6 months before we met. So, now that we have been together and God has answered more prayers than I can count I am in that same place as I was when I surrendered to the mission field. I am ready to move forward and know that God is at the center of this relationship. So I am ready for everyone to be excited for us as we both know that this is 100% what God has planned for us. But, this is all new to everyone else. I am realizing that it is hard for others to see me and Mark together or even to hear us laugh again as we haven't done that in so long. I now see that when God reveals His will to some, He doesn't necessarily reveal it to others at the same time. I am okay with the awkward stares or the sad looks when people see us together because I know that some just haven't had time to fully comprehend what God is doing. I would simply ask you to try and see things the way God does. He has taken two very broken hearts and put them back together in a way that will bring Him glory. All the two of us want to do is share God's love with people.

Our families together. 

Mark meeting Honey. (MamaSay was there too, just at home)

Annie and Eric

Annie and Mark at the beach. 

Mark and Annie at Olive Garden

Playing games at the beach arcade.

Annie, Mark and Eric

The two of us having fun cooking. 

On the Gator.

Mark visiting with my kiddos in Lynchburg without me. 😞

Hiking

Just being together and rejoicing in God's goodness! 

We love you all and thank you for your prayers and support of our families. Please pray for us as we continue to seek God's will during all of these transitions.