July 26, 2022:
Dear Grandchildren,
This month, we have a special letter from your cousin, Sabrina. She’s sharing her 7-7-7 Story! I hope you get blessed as much as your grandmother and I have.
Sabrina:
Growing up in church and looking back on my life, I could see where God was faithful. When I actively pursued Him, He was always there. There were times I was more intentional with pursuing God, and other times when I let distraction and my selfish desires drive my heart. Even good things were being a distraction because we weren’t enjoying and using them the way God planned for us.
My whole life, I identified as a Christian. I always believed Jesus is who He said He is, but never fully surrendered my own plans, my own desires, and my past to Him until July 7, 2022.
After the marriage conference in April 2022, Aaron and I walked away from that weekend knowing we needed to be intentional in creating new friendships and mentorships with Christian couples. We wanted to find a community of believers who could challenge us and pour into us.
We had been attending our new church in St. Louis, but after that weekend in April, we were actively pursuing God and making Him a priority in our life and our marriage. The people we had met at this church, including my new life group leader, had a contagious joy I was immediately drawn to. I truly wasn’t sure what it was about them, but now I know they were filled with the spirit and allowed Him to guide and lead their lives and conversations.
Between April and July, so many things shifted in our day-to-day routine. Since the marriage retreat, we started tithing and surrounding ourselves with believers. Then all these good things happened to us, but we didn’t completely make the connection why. We thought it could be God, but it could also just be a coincidence or our own hard work, etc (that was our mindset at the time). We started having revelations and visions for our business and healing past hurts. And every sermon I heard and at every life group night I attended, it felt like God was speaking directly to me.
One major thing that stuck out during this time was the way God transformed our finances. Prior to April, we had a goose egg month. Yep! Zero bookings and only one wedding film day we were paid for. On top of that, we had all our hospital bills from Franklin’s birth and were still adjusting to new housing expenses (we had just moved and bought our house in October 2021). We were feeling overwhelmed and unsure if we could support our family through this business or if one of us would have to get another job. While it was a tense time financially, starting in April, we tithed even if it was only from one wedding, as we trusted God to provide for us.
Between May and June, we had our biggest months of bookings for our business ever, including a $7K wedding, the highest booking we’ve ever had. God completely blew our mind, and we knew it wasn’t our own doing. We were getting revelations and ideas for our business we had never thought of before and later recognized that it was 100% God.
Fast forward to driving to Michigan the week of July 7th. During the eleven-hour road trip, Aaron and I, as usual, spent the entire time talking to each other and going over the crazy things that have happened over the past two months. During this conversation, we verbalized we truly felt God’s calling on our life was to continue growing our business but doing it in a way that glorified Him. Serving our clients, their guests, and vendors the way God saw them and encouraging our couples in their marriage through creating the best wedding films we could.
This was where it got crazy. In that exact moment we verbalized this calling to each other and in our minds surrendered our business to God and all expectations to Him, Aaron and I were filled with the spirit. I felt so different and asked Aaron if he felt that way, too. He was.
It truly felt like my eyes were opened and my heart was so full. It truly wasn’t until then that I could look back at my past life and see how God was always faithful when I pursued Him and everything in my past had equipped and brought me to this moment. It felt like the shades had been lifted from our eyes; I had an understanding in my mind and my heart that wasn’t my own.
When Aaron and I pulled into a gas station, it was 7 p.m. So, this all happened on July 7th at 7 p.m. (7/7/7)- so weird. We wanted a souvenir to remember this day, so after writing about our experience, we went into the gas station to buy something.
Aaron and I first met each other at a church camp when we were thirteen. There, we gave each other friendship bracelets. And what did we find at the front counter of this random gas station in Michigan? Friendship bracelets. What gas station sold friendship bracelets?!? We bought them for each other and got back in the truck.
Ten minutes down the road, Aaron turned to me and said he had two secrets he kept in our marriage that he needed to tell me. In my heart, I also had two things I had an overwhelming feeling to share and to ask forgiveness for. Within this conversation, Aaron confessed two struggles; again my mind was completely blown away. They were the exact two things I had to share and ask forgiveness for.
In that moment, we cried and were covered in God’s grace, as we could genuinely forgive each other for things that the day before we had no intention of ever sharing so we wouldn’t hurt the other. It truly felt like God had set us free from our past, and we were able to fully step into this new life as a new creation and with a righteousness that again was completely not from us.
Grandma and Grandpa Freeman were the first people we could talk to about our experience, and I know that spending that weekend with them and having them share God’s truth with us in a new light was a part of God’s beautifully designed plan. His timing was perfect.
We went into our wedding film day with a new authority, knowing this was what God called us to do right now, and it was the best wedding film day we had ever had. Being able to film for Ryley and Devin for the day, as well as being surrounded by family, just made it all so special.
Sunday night, Grandpa baptized Aaron and me in their hot tub. I had been baptized as a kid, but this felt like a completely new experience! And it was only the beginning. July 7th felt like Day One. Since that day, God’s presence in our business, relationships, finances, and household has been daily. It has been overwhelming in the best way possible.
He’s helped me speak against the anxiety and depression that controlled my life for two years. I was broken, and God gave me new life with a joy and peace beyond understanding. He’s healing past hurts and creating new friendships. He’s given us words that were not our own and for the first time in my life, I truly know God as a loving Heavenly Father. Temptation is still there, anxiety and depression (the enemy’s lies) are still very real. The everyday stress of the world, and the people around me haven’t changed, but by having Jesus in my heart, I know I’m not alone. And even on the hardest days, I can stand firm in God’s truth that nothing can separate me from His love.
Romans 10:10 (NIV): “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Featured Image by ragdolldesignz from Pixabay