“We live up to the stories we live under!  Are you living up to the story God intended for you or are you living up to somebody else’s story for you?”

I make that statement and ask that question often because I believe it is important for each person to intentionally reflect upon their life being lived in the moment to determine if one is experiencing joy and peace, love and hope; and if not, how come?  If not, what does one need to do differently to live more fully into God’s purpose and passion for each of us?

Often it is through telling our stories to ourselves and one another that we discover God’s true story of love, as well as our true self and true path for this is what God may have intended when it was discovered that it is not good for a human to be alone.

In September I shall begin a new monthly group called “Testifying and Story-telling” in which we will learn more about God’s story, telling our own story, and helping others tell their story, too…to learn more, see the July Image on page #4.

For now, learn more about the story of Gina and Monty because their story is your story; and their story is our story, too!

Ten years ago, this August, we first laid eyes on each other at a ubiquitous dormitory freshman orientation at Evangel University; instantaneous attraction flowed through our beings.  We were two teenagers with a common vision and passionate desire to change the world and to humbly serve our God.  As we parted ways for the night, we were both left with a lingering sense of a home-coming as if we had just met a best friend that we had always known.  As the days passed we became increasingly enamored with one another, and as we shared our deepest secrets and desires in life, two passions emerged: a genuine desire to make a difference in and for our generation and the next, and a growing innocent, deep, easy yet complicated love.

We, like most individuals and couples, have traversed many obstacles, sorrows, joys and triumphs along our relatively short journey in life.   Before the tender age of 20, together we endured:  sexual violence which resulted in a pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage, the sudden death of a best childhood friend where one of us was put in the position of choosing for the family whether to cease life support or not,   and two life-threatening and life-altering medical conditions.  We were devastated by these traumas.  We flailed for many years in torrents of pain and confusion barely able to keep ourselves from drowning in the ocean of grief we felt submerged in. 

Couple these events with an awakening to our personal truths of sexual orientation, gender identity and the complete rejection of the faith that once consumed our entire beings and it is understandable that we felt utterly lost and exhausted.   However, our love for each other only deepened, and our faith in a Creator that loved us may have wavered but never truly vanished.  We progressed in life the best way we knew how, one day at a time.  As we groped our way through our time of wilderness, a need to seek out answers to the questions of our spirits intensified.  Although as time passed, the feeling that obtaining answers was imperative ceased, and thus we embraced a tenuous sense of comfort in simply living with the questions. 

Yet, we were not left without recourse.  We were directed to Imago Dei by the Spirit through an unplanned web search.  We performed this search with “gay churches” as the keyword.  Oddly, Imago Dei’s website was the first hit instead of a database to search for open and affirming churches.  A week after locating Imago Dei’s website, we again performed the web search and were dumbstruck that the search response could not be replicated.  From that moment, we have been drawn to and believe we were divinely led to Imago Dei.  We are ever grateful for this pivotal moment because the people of Imago Dei have slowly but completely changed our journey. We are also grateful for Imago Dei because every time we enter the doors of Imago Dei we enter an oasis against the stares, whispers, and finger pointing that we receive as an out Trans couple.  Imago Dei is a balm to our sometimes bruised spirits; however, Imago Dei is also a catalyst for growth, personal and spiritual.

For too many years our spirits and desires for our life languished in slavery to fear.  We were afraid to live; to take risks; to be rejected.   Through the divine Creator and Imago Dei MCC we are able to cast aside those fears and once again remember our passion to try to make a difference in our world.  We will answer our calling to foster peace, seek justice, demand equality, and to simply share this liberating promise: “[f]or freedom Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1 NRSV).  What an awesome gift!  We are freed simply for the sake of freedom.  No longer should we feel, think, or act as if we are bound to that which oppresses us because we are already free.

This August, as we make a covenant of marriage, we will close the chapter that was the first ten years of our lives together and begin the next ten years of our journey.  We choose to honor all that transpired for it indelibly shaped our lives, and  we still bear some residual effects from our earlier sorrows and newer sorrows; however, we are consciously choosing freedom, choosing to forgive, choosing to integrate all the parts of our life’s story, and choosing to see only that which is light and goodness.  We know not where our journey will lead us but we do know our purpose.  We are excited to share the next phase in our journey with all those of Imago Dei MCC as we would not be where we are if it weren’t for the people of this church.  May we always remember that we are all on this wonderful journey of life together.

With Grateful and Joyous Hearts,

Gina and Monty