Faith Talks host: And I’m Anna Faith.

And welcome to episode 12 of Faith Talks.

Faith Talks host: Well, last month I was really blessed by hearing Gredible and Story, and I’m really excited

Faith Talks host: dive into another one today.

Before we hear the story, I just wanted to mention that our Victory Conference here in Menominee Falls is coming up this next week, and the theme is going to focus on the extreme love that God has for us, and I think the story we’re going to hear today is just going to tie right into this theme and just show us how God’s providence and His love amid our wayward path just leads us to Him and His will for us.

So feel free to look at the live stream, or I think we also have some podcasts about that are going to share the messages from the conference.

So you’ll have to look at those if you get a chance.

So today we’re excited to have with us Mrs.

Jessica Forster, and she’s just going to share her story of how God brought her through her journey of life and also to her husband.

So her story has been a huge challenge to me.

I’ve actually heard it a couple of times growing up.

We in high school, we had this class on just trusting God.

It was actually called Before You Meet Prince Charming.

I think that’s what it was called.

And we looked at a book there and just trusting God for your future mate.

And so I heard her story, I think two times, and I’m really excited to hear it again and be blessed once more.

So listeners out there, you don’t want to miss this story.

Listen in and be ready to be

Faith Talks host: challenged and brought to a new level of surrender.

Okay.

So Mrs.

Forster, as we get started, would you mind just telling us a little bit about yourself, your family?

What do you like to do?

Are there any

Guest: weird hobbies you enjoy or things you like?

Well, my husband Matthew and I have five children with ages ranging from 10 to nine months.

Our oldest is a girl and then we have four boys in a row.

Our daughter still informs us that she’s praying for a little sister.

But you know, it’s actually worked out really great having four boys because my husband and I bought an old farmhouse about four years ago and our little worker men have had so much fun coming alongside their daddy and helping them pull out old walls and floors and you name it.

It gets pretty dirty but they love it.

They just love showing off their big muscles and all that so it’s been good.

As a family we enjoy being in the great outdoors together, whether it’s hiking, biking, or tent camping, we love it all.

Actually, my husband just took our oldest four on a skiing trip, and they loved it, which is really quite amazing because I am not a skier at all.

Like, I am so bad.

I’m on my face the whole time.

Actually, I’ve only been twice in my life.

That’s probably why.

But anyway, it’s really funny because growing up I was very involved in group like team sports so volleyball basketball which was my favorite and I didn’t do a lot of skiing or those individual type sports whereas where my husband grew up he did that all the time he was always on rollerblades and he was always skiing and snowboarding so I guess it balances out I’ll teach my kids basketball it’ll all work out but But on skiing trips, I’m usually the one just sitting in the warm lodge by the fire, sipping a cup of coffee, which is actually one of the things that I love and enjoy, a good cup of coffee.

So that’s pretty much kind of our family and what we enjoy.

Faith Talks host: Fixing up your house is probably one of your hobbies.

Guest: Yes, yes.

And there’s a lot of not just dirty work but even organizing stuff and just figuring out where, as we’re changing things, where things are going to go.

Ellie is an amazing organizer, so I enjoy organizing things with her.

Faith Talks host: When you were talking about your love for basketball, it reminded me that when I was in high school, I think it was one year, I don’t know if it was two, maybe one or two years, I don’t know, but Mrs.

Forster did a class on teaching girls how to play basketball.

Yes, I remember that.

Because at our church, it’s just the boys play basketball, but I think I can’t remember if it like was my idea or one of the girls we were like we got to play basketball sometime and then I don’t know how we found out that you played I think summer

Guest: rains had asked me if I could lead out in that yeah so anyways that was a fun experience home

Faith Talks host: for two weeks of it okay and I came and played I still remember the only point I scored I grabbed the ball from the other team and ran down the court and scored it in the basket.

Now I didn’t dribble it running down the court.

I just grabbed the ball and ran down the court.

And the best thing about it is nobody called me for the points.

Like no, we still scored the points.

So I was pretty excited about that.

I do remember that.

Great.

I got your sports confused there.

Anyways, um,

Faith Talks host: Mrs.

Forster, why don’t you just tell us a little bit about your home and your childhood just growing up?

Guest: Well, I was about two and a half when my mom got saved and around five years old when my daddy was saved.

I remember my mom taking my brother and I to church with her in those early years after she was saved, and we would pray together often for daddy to get saved.

He wasn’t real keen on going to church with us or anything like that, obviously, And, um, but finally there was an Easter Sunday that my mom was singing in the church choir and she again asked him, would you please come and listen to him?

The program I’m going to be singing in it.

And so that finally got him in the door and, um, he went forward at the end of that service and accepted Christ as savior.

I still remember my mom sharing the story with me often and just talking about crying almost uncontrollably up in the choir loft as my dad was coming forward to get saved.

So that was really neat.

And from that time on, as a family, we were faithfully just going to church together.

And I am so thankful for that, that my parents, even as new believers, made the regular church attendance such a priority.

And my mom was very, very burdened that my brother and I not just go to a public school.

She so desperately wanted us in a Christian school and the problem was we didn’t really have one close by but there was a new one opening up about 45 minutes away and she had an old friend who had just moved their family moved there and were going to put their kids in.

So despite the 45 minute drive my parents sacrificed so much to put me in that Christian school starting there in kindergarten.

And there were a few years throughout elementary that they pulled me out to homeschool just because of the hard drive, but they stuck with it.

And in high school, they moved to the city and actually made that step of, like, we are so determined to have our kids in Christian school and made the change, made the move to make that happen.

And for that, I’m very thankful.

I remember the long drives going to school when I was kindergarten and first grade and listening to a lot of radio preachers and just different things.

And I remember praying at one point after hearing a radio preacher and kind of going through the motions like in my head.

I’m like, okay, yeah, I know all that.

I know I’m a sinner, and so I guess I need to pray this prayer.

And it was just kind of more of a head knowledge thing, And I struggled with doubts all the way up till junior high, actually.

We were back.

We had moved to the city by then and were attending this church and going to the Christian school.

And there was a revival meeting, and I realized why I had been having all the doubts.

I was very self-dependent and really relying on all the truth I knew and not truly depending on the Lord for salvation for my sin.

I wasn’t putting my faith in him. to save me.

I was looking to my own works and my own knowledge.

So I shored that up in junior high and haven’t had doubts since.

It was a real turning point in my life there.

So heading into high school, I really wanted the Lord to use me, but I got very caught up in the peer pressure of having a boyfriend.

And there was a young man at the Christian school who made it very clear that he liked me and wanted our relationship to be more than just the friends that we had been.

And of course, I was flattered by this.

And with some hurts and needs that were in my heart and in my life, I was pretty easily sucked into the relationship.

And I mean, we were both attending a Christian school, so we knew there were lines that you just don’t cross but emotionally speaking I really gave him my heart and was just very very closely connected to the young man in a way that I shouldn’t be just emotionally so this went on for years and I really was convinced that I was going to marry him I mean I I really couldn’t imagine functioning without having that relationship in my life if that makes sense.

So I just had really given him a part of my heart and that was definitely not the Lord’s will, but that’s where I ended up.

And it was really in this crucial time in my life that I could see the power of a praying mom.

She would often just share concerns and warning signs and just thoughts of, I really don’t, I don’t feel like this is who God has for you.

I feel like God has someone better for you.

And I, I listened to her, but at the same time, I didn’t know what to do about it because I was so connected in emotionally with this relationship.

I didn’t even know how to, to cut it off or to, or to move on.

I, I just didn’t really see a way out at that point.

And so that kind of goes into college years.

I followed him off to college basically and just was pretty excited about it.

I thought, oh, you know, there’ll be extra freedom to be together more.

And I was just tired of, I thought I was tired of always feeling like I was kind of fighting for the relationship to stay together, if that makes sense.

I thought, oh, oh, you know, now we can have like a more permanent quote unquote relationship.

And I guess it was probably the talks with my mom that made me have that feeling of like, well, maybe, you know, maybe I’m going to lose this relationship or something.

I don’t know.

But anyway, my reasoning was not right.

It was not, it was not biblical.

And instead of feeling freedom during that time, I actually had a constant tug of war going on inside my heart.

And my mom was more desperate than ever.

And she was very bold and very clear in our phone conversations that she was certain he was not the one for me.

And that I needed to put distance between the two of us.

And I didn’t know how to do that.

Deep down, I wanted to honor my mom.

And I didn’t want the constant strain in our relationship.

I didn’t like it.

I was miserable.

But I just had given him so much of my heart emotionally that I didn’t have the strength to do anything about it.

But thankfully, the Lord was hearing my mom’s prayers and the Lord was working.

And I was actually only able to stay at that college for a semester because of lack of finances.

I had a job lined up and it fell through.

And it just was very clearly the Lord intervening and redirecting my path.

So I’m very thankful for that and thankful for her prayers.

Though I can look back on it now and just praise the Lord for how he intervened.

At the time, it was very hard.

It was very bleak.

I was at home and working to save up money.

I did have a vision.

I wanted to go back to Bible college.

I knew in high school I had surrendered my heart to full-time ministry.

I knew that’s what God wanted me to do, but I was really lacking vision during that time of my life.

I was very discouraged and desperately wanted the Lord to use me, but it was kind of hard for me to see out of despair that I was feeling.

So that, that time in my life, I chose some wrong friends and was just, just very discouraged, was making wrong choices in the use of my time and my money.

And I guess that’s kind of what happens when you, when you lose a vision for your life, you, you don’t really have direction even on how you use your time or how you’re spending your money.

Faith Talks host: probably like emotionally attached to him so not having him there you emotionally were even

Guest: struggling yes yeah emotionally I was I was struggling from a broken heart and it was

Faith Talks host: it was challenging for sure and at that time did like your relationship still continue with him even though like you weren’t together like was he still like interested in you or did it just stop

Guest: at that point well it’s it’s kind of funny um so I thought that if if I told him that we could not communicate for the next semester that that would appease my mom’s desire for there to be like a break in the relationship and that then we could pick right back up where we left off in the summer.

And, um, so that’s kind of what I was thinking.

And I had, you know, we had kind of communicated about that and I told him, I said, I’m sorry, we’re not gonna be able to communicate this semester.

And, um, well that semester the Lord actually brought someone else along his path at college.

And so that was, that was very hard, but it was very good at the same time.

I just, I really just praise the Lord, even despite my weak attempt to break off the relationship.

I’m thinking, oh, we’ll just give it a semester and then it’ll all be okay again.

And the Lord’s like, no, no, your mom’s right.

This really is not my best for you.

So the Lord definitely worked all that out.

So at that semester that I was home, that first semester, it was about halfway through.

It was completely gone.

It was off.

Faith Talks host: And that’s when you started having those wrong choices.

Guest: Yes, I was at that point.

I didn’t want to just totally get way behind with college.

I was feeling I was struggling with the fact that I was home and all my friends were off and still moving forward in college.

So I was taking college classes through a community college and working a lot.

But the friends that I had that were still there around at home were just not a good influence and definitely didn’t help cast a vision for the rest of my life.

But although I will say I had a pastor’s wife who loved me so dearly and took time to challenge me and point me to truth, and that was really key in my life.

I’m thankful for the time she took me aside and shared truth with me and just helped kind of cast that vision.

But there really was a turning point.

After about a year and a half of being home and working and just trying to keep up with some college classes and such, there was a missionary family that my church supported, and I knew them pretty well, actually.

They had come through and spent quite a bit of time during a furlough. and they approached my parents and asked them if I would be willing to go to the mission field with them for nine and a half months and help with their children they were both actually diving pretty deep into language study and needed someone and I haven’t that was one of the times in my life where I was just elated I was so excited because I was hungry for God to use me I wanted to to serve him with my whole heart, but I just, I, I didn’t know what the next step was.

And, and he showed me it was a time of waiting and just crying out to him.

But that opportunity really turned my life upside down.

And he just renewed a vision and he used me while I was there.

And that was, that was an answer to my mom’s prayers, my pastor’s wife’s prayers.

And it was just so exciting.

I um, became very close to the Lord.

And, um, that was a big time of growing my faith, but just also growing closer to him.

Um, and the neat thing about it is during that time when I was away in Uganda, so on the other side of the world, um, there was a young man named Matthew, Matthew Forrester, who was asked to start praying about me.

Um, the Forresters are missionaries in New Mexico and our church supports them as well and there was a lot of mutual friends in our life um our church evangelist who we were very close to was very close to the foresters and so there were just connections there and they they asked Matthew if he would be willing to start praying about me as a possible future wife and so I was off in Uganda and he was in New Mexico and he was praying for this person that he didn’t really know.

So there were definite connections.

And like he met my parents during that time.

My parents went on a missions trip down there with the church.

And so there were some connections there, but it was just kind of a neat thing.

I did not know he was praying about me until I got home from Uganda and had started back in the Bible college.

But And there were some really key points of just surrender and steps of faith in my own life.

I know I’m going kind of long here, but when I got back from Uganda and was back at Bible College, I went to a different Bible college than the one I attended previously.

But the Lord very clearly led me there.

And there were huge steps of faith that I took and steps of obedience that I took while I was there.

The Lord convicted me about just personal standards that I had been just working through and deciding where I stood on things.

They became bedrock in my heart.

And just even the idea of being married, I remember exactly where I was sitting.

And I was crying out to the Lord, and he just broke me.

And I remember coming to the point of being like, okay, Lord, it’s not when I get married, it’s if.

I mean, he was giving me just a vision for missions as a single lady.

I was like, I’m going to go.

Like, I’m so ready.

And, you know, even if the Lord doesn’t bring anyone along, I’m fine with that.

And just things like that, that the Lord was really working in my heart and just bringing me layer by layer, just pulling it back and bringing me to points of surrender.

And so it was just a key time in my life.

And it was because of that trip to Uganda and just some of the work and steps of faith that were taking place in my heart that the Lord even allowed or opened the door for that relationship with Matthew.

And so it’s just exciting to see how even though there were a lot of just times where there was discouragement or lack of faith or just wondering, you know, what is happening?

What is going on?

I had a mom who was praying for me and just the Lord was so faithful every step just to show me love and to give me that vision, that next step or that truth from the spiritual leader that I needed.

Faith Talks host: And would you say like, well, like going to that second college without any person?

I think even just how, of course, like God, you were seeing God use you like on those missions trips, but also just the fact that you were focused on what God had for you.

And and then you said like those growths and with the standards and things like that.

Would you say like that was the difference or one of I’m sure it was.

But like, how is that different from your previous experience at the other college?

Guest: Well, the other college experience was very, I feel like, self-centered.

And I kind of had worked out in my mind what my future needed to look like or what I wanted my future to be.

And the Lord just proved to me through my own experience that whatever good plans or ideas we make up for ourselves are so far short of what he has for us and the goodness and blessing that he wants to just pour out on us as we just look to him and choose to walk with him, each little step, each little faith step.

Faith Talks host: Okay, so he’s praying about you, and you find out about this, so you’re leaving me hanging.

What happens next in this story?

When did you guys first meet?

Guest: Okay, well, I knew his younger brother, Caleb, and down from there.

So there were, let’s see, Caleb, Jeremy, Andrew, so the last four, I knew them and had met them, but Matthew was away at college when I had met them.

So I knew there was an older brother, but I had never met him.

I had no idea who he was.

So it actually kind of all started when I was back home from Uganda.

That summer, actually, it was toward the end of the summer, beginning of fall, the Forrester family was bringing Caleb up to college here in Wisconsin and so they were stopping through my church in Missouri and Mrs.

Forrester had called ahead to my mom it was a few days ahead like oh can we come over Sunday night we’re going to be there for the service can we come over to your house Sunday night to just have like just snacks and we want to hear about Jessica’s trip to Uganda.

So of course, you know, like, oh yeah, sure.

Come on over.

That’ll be great.

And so I knew they were coming.

So I made sure I had my pictures organized and I was going to tell them all about it.

Well, they walk in the door.

Oh, so Sunday night at church, I remember talking to Caleb.

Like I was so excited to see Caleb again.

I’m like, oh, you’re here and you guys are coming over.

This is great.

And then they came over after church and Mr. and Mrs.

Forster And they’re like, oh, and this is our son Matthew.

I’m like, oh, hi.

And I think that’s the only word I said to him all night.

Like I had no clue who he was.

And he had been praying about me for like nine months now.

And I had no idea.

So anyway, we sat down.

We had snacks and we sat down.

And I just was so excited about my trip and everything that God had done.

And I just spilled all of it out to his parents.

They kept asking me all these questions.

And I just thought, oh, they’re so sweet. know like they really care about which they did but they wanted Matthew to hear all that he could so um that was the first time I met him officially but didn’t really actually after that night I think my dad kind of wondered if if he was interested they hadn’t actually called him yet or anything but he asked me like so what do you think about Matthew Forrester after they had left I was like oh dad no like and I didn’t even know him I just thought like oh no anyway kind of a funny thing but um so then it was uh that was kind of early fall I went off to Bible college then and it wasn’t till Thanksgiving time that my parents told me that um actually it was quite funny we were on the phone I was on my the phone with my mom and um she was just acting really funny I was like what’s going on mom and she’s like oh I well um I’m just really excited about something but I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell you yet and I’m just like well mom you’re telling me now like you can’t leave me hanging like that and she’s like oh no it’s fine you know dad and I talked I just I don’t know I thought maybe you should be here or something but she’s like do you remember when the foresters were here in the fall I was like yes but get to the point you like you can’t get me off track here I thought she was just trying to like, you know, get me sidetracked.

No, no, really.

Like, that’s what it’s about.

Matthew Forrester is interested in you and has been praying about you.

He prayed for you the whole time you were in Uganda.

And I was shocked.

I was speechless.

I had no idea.

But it was really neat despite the shock and not even really knowing him.

I knew his dad very well. and just through different ministry trips in high school and such.

And just knowing his godly leadership in their family and just the vision that he had for his kids and how he walked with God.

Even though I didn’t know him, I was really excited.

I was like, oh, God is doing something here.

This is really neat.

So that Christmas break, we spent time together as our families spent time together.

And that was really when just in a casual setting of playing games as families and such, we got to know each other.

And I would say I pretty much knew I was for sure going to marry him the January after that, like the next month.

I was convinced like he was the one.

And it was just really neat to see how that was definitely nothing that I had put together.

I mean, that was the Lord working all of those details out.

And just his goodness was just amazing.

It was overwhelming at times.

Faith Talks host: But that is a really neat story.

And I think it ties in perfectly with this next part, just looking at the different Bible characters.

And I think it’s interesting to see how individuals in the Bible, some of them have stories that really mirror our own at times.

And I know I asked you this before, but is there a Bible character that has stood out to you over the years regarding just your particular journey?

Guest: Well, there were a few that I thought of, but I think the main one that sticks out is Ruth and just how she really purposed to keep close to a spiritual mentor and just her desire for something more. she knew she was missing something, and she just clung to every little bit of truth she could.

You know, she told Naomi, your God is going to be my God.

Like, I am going with you.

She was just desperate for more and desperate for truth.

And 2 Corinthians 5, 7 says we walk by faith and not by sight.

And I feel like sometimes, especially as young girls, we can really limit God or limit what we think God can do through us or in us by maybe wrong choices we’ve made or just hurts or things that have come across our path.

And we serve such a big God and he loves us so very much.

It’s just amazing as we draw close to him and just hunger for him, like Ruth had that hunger for truth for something more as we hunger and thirst after him he he just pours out his love and his blessing and um he honors those who take that that next step of faith or that next step of

Faith Talks host: obedience that that he shows us we need to take i think it’s interesting too just how ruth had that first relationship that ended up dying in a very literal sense and it would could have been easy for her to think like, oh, God doesn’t have anything more for me, you know, but then just to see how God brought the whole other situation with Boaz and just even the journey of faith, just her seeking God and him revealing himself to her.

I think that’s so neat how it parallels with your story of how you had a relationship die, not in the literal sense, but you know, the relationship part did.

And then just how God brought another person into your life,

Faith Talks host: just in his perfect timing.

I think too another thought of how it correlates to your story would just be I mean we don’t know Ruth’s story when she was a teenager and we only know until after her husband dies but I can imagine her growing up and hungering for the truth which you had that same experience and just wanting to know but still being stuck in her worldly the worldly influences around her and it wasn’t until she that relationship ended which not like that was a problem but you could parallel like janna was saying and she felt like she had nothing and then then that’s when she chose to trust god so i think just her her her blind faith in god you know even with her spiritual leader wasn’t even maybe the best example, but she still saw the truth and God gave her that desire to know more

Faith Talks host: Because she wasn’t even an Israelite herself, you know?

That’s a good point.

Just as her being a teenager, she wouldn’t have, that wasn’t her upbringing, but as God showed her different steps, she just took it to get closer to God and then God directed her path.

I think that’s really neat.

I think it’s to just her being willing to go to a foreign, uncomfortable land with her mother-in-law.

I mean, that’s some pretty big steps that she took there, but just being willing to go into the unknown, just taking those steps.

Speaking of steps, just as we conclude here, are there any application steps or just things you would advise our listeners to do that you, maybe things you have done or maybe things you wish you know.

I really wish I would have done this when I was younger just with that.

Guest: Well, I feel like my biggest takeaway for you girls listening is just the fact that a heart of faith always obeys the next step, the next truth from the Word of God that’s understood or the next step of obedience that God gives you.

And that is so key.

I think we try to overcomplicate the Christian life or think, you know, I have to surrender, you know, all of this or, you know, I can’t have this or I can’t do that.

And that’s not what it’s about.

That’s really keeping our eyes on ourself.

But as you look to Jesus and are hungry for him, he really will just, he will reveal the next bit of truth that he wants you to understand and you to apply to your life or to obey.

And if you just keep that heart that says, yes, Lord, whenever he speaks to you about any little thing or big thing, that is really what will make the difference.

Just help grow that heart of faith for the next step that he has for you.

Faith Talks host: well thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to come interview with us i know you have a very busy life with a lot of little people um i know that’s a really big sacrifice but thank you so much and we really appreciate it i know i was super blessed by hearing your story today

Faith Talks host: i as well even though i’ve heard it a couple times it was a blessing again to hear and just concluding everything as we go throughout this month girls let’s just remember that we just need to keep our eyes on God and even if you feel like you’ve made some wrong steps in your life don’t limit God’s amazing providence by your unbelief just take that next step as she was talking about and remember you’ll you’ll get the faith as you obey and God will give you more faith to believe in for bigger steps and even if it is something if God worked in your heart even about a relationship that you may have and you know is not right I would encourage you just ask God for the faith to say, okay, I’m going to stop this because I want to know God.

And even just seeing how he brought Mrs.

Forster here to the perfect one and it was all God.

It wasn’t anything she did.

And I’m sure she’s so thankful.

You probably can’t even put into words how thankful you are for how God brought you, took you out of one relationship and brought you into the relationship that he made you for.

And God has a perfect relationship for each one of you girls.

So I just encourage you, just trust him in that area.

It’s easy to want to be married and try to take it into your own hands, but God has a perfect will for you.

And as you just obey him, he’s going to direct you to something that you can’t even imagine.

And let’s just remember this, this month, faith doesn’t just talk, faith walks.