Wyoming Strong Families Stories

From Fear to Courage

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 23:24:47 GMT

No more broken families on our watch!

Watching friends who never wanted divorce ultimately separate after years of marriage deeply burdened us. They felt trapped in negative patterns, unable to see a way forward or believe that change was possible and were deeply hurting and we felt so inadequate to help.

Several years ago we attended the Dare to Be Different Marriage Mentor Training. We were skeptical that we were in any way qualified to counsel other couples but were curious. We learned that mentoring is not the same as counseling, but more like discipling. The unique dynamic of the couple-to-couple strategy to walk alongside couples empowering them with skills to work through conflict in their marriages gave us courage that maybe we could help struggling couples.

As we began to step out and mentor couples, we got to experience God use us to help couples in their relationships. One of the most memorable couples we worked with had been separated but were back under the same roof, seeking help. With each session we witnessed a beautiful transformation as they moved from avoiding eye contact and physical touch to openly discussing their issues, facing each other and sitting closer together. We are so blessed that God allowed us to be part of His process of restoring their marriage. They have four children and knowing these four kids still have their mom and dad together gives them all a brighter future. All glory to God!

Now we have been mentoring couples for many years and love it! It is one of our favorite ways to minister together as a couple. We are forever grateful for the training we received from Wyoming Strong Families that gave us the courage to offer help to couples.

We’ve learned that marriage mentoring isn’t about having a perfect relationship; it’s about being willing to walk beside others with humility, honesty, and hope. You don’t have to have all the answers; you just have to make yourself available for God to work through your story.

When couples choose to invest in other couples, something powerful happens: faith grows, hope returns, and communities are strengthened one marriage at a time. If you’ve ever wondered if God could use your story to make a difference—He can. The miracle isn’t just in seeing a marriage saved; it’s in watching two people discover that with God there is always a way forward.

Finding Marriage Ministry

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 21:51:36 GMT

Ashley didn't think marriage ministry was for her.

I never thought that I would be in marriage ministry. After all, marriage is just what people do, right? My parents have been married for over almost 40 years, my husband and I are happily married, why do we even need marriage ministry? Only God knew that answering the call for help a new ministry in Wyoming would completely change my thinking regarding marriage and ministry geared toward it.

I met Brady and Melissa Vandeberg at a marriage workshop they were brought in to lead at the church Seth and I were attending at the time. It sounded like it would be worth our time and childcare was provided, so we thought “why not?” We had a good day, got to spend some time together, and even learned a few things. We took the opportunity to sign up for the Vandeberg’s FamilyLife newsletter.

Fast forward a few years to when I opened one of those newsletters. I was looking forward to reading what they had been doing and how God was working through their ministry. They shared that they were working to start a ministry specific to Wyoming. One of their prayer requests was for someone to build a website for this new ministry. This caught my attention! I had built a couple of websites at that point and enjoyed doing it. My kids weren’t babies anymore, which meant I had a bit more available time. I reached out to see how I could help.

Brady and Melissa have contagious passion to help hurting families and fight for marriages to succeed. The more I talked to Melissa about their vision for this new ministry, the more excited I became. It was quickly apparent that marriages need help, and that people aren’t getting the help they need. Melissa and Brady had formulated a plan to make resources available to the people of Wyoming, to help them see the importance of marriage and the family unit as God created it. It didn’t take long for me to be all in! I was going to create a website for Wyoming Strong Families.

I’ve always been the type to be in behind-the-scenes roles, while wanting to understand what’s happening on the front lines so I have the full picture. I hadn’t been with WSF long when Brady and Melissa hosted a Marriage Ministry Workshop near my home. Seth and I planned to attend, just to see what the workshop was about so I could communicate it well through our new website and social media channels. We went through the exercises, thinking about what marriage ministry could look like at the church we were attending for the sake of going through the workshop (NOT because we planned to start a marriage ministry!). As newer members at our church, we had been asked to serve in several different capacities, but we hadn’t yet figured out where God wanted us. It was through this workshop that God seemed to whisper to both of us, “I want you to start a marriage ministry.”

We were both surprised! Yet going through the workshop helped us to see that starting a ministry the church had never had before was doable. It was also necessary. In fact, WE could do this! We took the plan we’d created at the workshop to our pastor. The passion for marriages we caught from Brady and Melissa, along with the vision we’d created in the workshop, made for an easy sell. It didn’t happen overnight, but God is doing big things! We now lead a team of couples who also see the need for couples to be regularly investing in and fighting for their marriages. We have monthly meetings with other couples in our church to spend time strengthening our marriages. We’re planning a full-day marriage event to help couples remember that marriage should be fun and chart a good path for the future.

It has been a blessing to find ways to serve in my local community AND have an impact for families across the state while staying home to care for my children. I regularly get to hear about God’s miraculous work calling couples back from the brink of divorce. I’m more aware of the marriages around me and am looking for ways help support them. I have a clearer picture of God’s design for marriage, the importance and impact a great marriage can have.

Forgiveness Through Christ

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 21:30:42 GMT

Adiction, Confession, & Finding Healing in Christ

I sat across from my husband at a local restaurant waiting for our lunch to arrive. He’d been distant and at that moment his eyes were dull and his body was slumped. I knew something was going on and I was waiting patiently for him to tell me, but I was not prepared for the words he would say. Looking off into the distance, his voice low, he said, "The hospital has put me on administrative leave (from his RN position),” long pause “...for stealing and using narcotics. I have an addiction."

A jolt of emotion hit my body. I wasn't fully comprehending. Stealing? Narcotics? Addiction? I had had no idea that my husband of 11 years was in such turmoil and trouble. Tears streamed down my face. I could only think of one question at the time to ask him, “How did this happen?”

That day, in June of 2017, was the first time that the puzzle pieces of my husband's behaviors could be explained. He became addicted to a narcotic given to him in the ER nine months prior, for a kidney stone. However, the continued use of the drug was for emotional distress. There had been a serious situation at the hospital prior to my husband’s kidney stone and unfortunately, he had not dealt with the emotions of that situation, so the narcotic not only numbed his physical pain but the emotional pain as well.

Looking in the mirror of the past months leading up to this moment, I recalled that my husband and I were not communicating well, and we were having disagreements about petty things. We would talk at each other not with each other. Distance seemed to be growing between us emotionally. He was physically present but not emotionally with us; like a zombie some days. His tone with the children started becoming short and snippy. He worked the night shift and his sleep patterns began changing. Such as, he was sleeping longer into the afternoons and his turnaround from days to nights appeared to be more of a struggle. He would also have days when he would be sick to his stomach. Something was not right, and I felt it in my core, but I didn’t know what it was. We needed some help.

It was recommended to us to look into Marriage Mentoring. We live in Wyoming and the couple we were paired with lived 50 miles away. After some discussion and guidance from others we decided to commit to attending sessions once a week for 10 weeks. This meant we needed to find a babysitter for our 3 kids, spend time and money driving to and from our town to theirs, and to be prepared to do the work they were asking of us. We started the process in early Spring of 2017.

None of the news about the narcotic addiction nor the emotional distress my husband was in came out during the sessions. He continued to live in his dark secret place, until that day in June when he was called into the Nurse Administrators office and confronted with the stealing of the drugs. Our marriage mentors were one of the first people we opened up to about what was happening in our marriage. We had built trust with them. We had come to love them. We knew we needed them to lean on. God had put them in our lives during the tough season so we could call upon them in the critical season.

My husband made the choice to enter a drug addiction treatment facility in July. We were both in a very broken place, individually and in our marriage. He was gone for 38 days; however, the kids didn't see him for 40 days. It was hard, but it was so worth it because the man who came home was healthy and happy and ready to face the challenges.

Life continued to swirl around us after he returned home from treatment. His career was uncertain. He did not get fired from the hospital but was asked to resign. My stay-at-home days were over as I entered the work force to provide financially for our family. I was angry that I had to give up my beloved life of staying home with my children, attending ladies bible studies, going to our local MOPS (Mother of Preschoolers) meetings, and having lunch with my mom weekly. I was also hurting because my husband was hurting.

In September, I went to the annual MOPS Convention in Kansas. While I was there, one of my closest friends was reading the local news articles on her phone when she hesitantly asked me about the warrant that was out for my husband's arrest. I had NO IDEA what she was talking about.

I called home frantic and upset. My husband's calm voice was on the other end. "They are coming to arrest me this afternoon," he said. A knot welled in my throat and the sting in my nose warned me that tears were on their way. I found a pillar to lean against as I felt the weight of the situation begin to push down on me. His voice continued to stay calm. He encouraged me to stay in Kansas City, saying that God had ordained this trip way back in April when I had purchased the ticket. He told me he had arranged for the kids to go to my parents before DCI would arrest him. He planned to take the kids to lunch and tell them that because of his illegal actions he would have to go to jail. (We had been kid-friendly honest with them up to this point about why he had lost his job and why he had been gone to a different town for treatment and that there are always consequences for sin.) Tears rolled down my cheeks, questions ran through my head. Until now, we had no idea that the legal action of him stealing the narcotics would lead to a Federal Case.

There's irony in this story; The theme for the MOPS Convention that year was Free Indeed; Free from worry. Free from feeling stuck. Free from hustling to be loved. Free from a heaviness you can’t put your finger on. Free from thinking you should be someone other than exactly who you are.

As I sat with thousands of women that weekend, learning what it meant to be free, my husband was being placed behind bars. He was being confined, the very opposite of free. However, even though my husband sat behind bars (for 4 days), physically not free, we knew that he was spiritually free. His love and relationship with Jesus Christ, gave him ultimate freedom from a life in eternal darkness.

For better or for worse. Those are not just words I said on our wedding day, those are vows I made and I chose to honor the “worse” part of it. On February 20th, 2018. I sat in a Federal Courtroom awaiting the sentencing of my beloved husband. The benches were hard, the carpet was red, the walls were wood paneled, and it felt sterile. The sounds echoed all around me. My husband stood in the middle of the room with his Attorney at his side. His Attorney was a noble man that we had come to trust and like. This man knew the Judge, had stood in front of this Judge many times, knew how he managed his Courtroom, yet this man also stood beside my husband as his Advocate, hoping the best for our family. The Judge sat a distance away, in front of my husband, his stature somber yet serene. Beside me and behind me, the seats were filled with 26 loving people who were there to represent my husband, as he stood before the Federal Judge.

Minutes ticked by slowly. Words and terminology were spoken that I didn't understand. The crime my husband had committed carried a sentence of 3-5 years in a Federal Prison. I was anxious, because of the unknown yet calm as the Lord's hand, held me tight. I knew and trusted that He was in control of our future. ( Jeremiah 29:11 )

As the sentence was read, I exhaled a big breath that I didn't even realize I was holding in. Eight months in a prison camp, then 60 days of house arrest. A work camp, not barb-wired fenced prison. Months, not years. God's mercy and grace spilled forth from the Judge. We had been told he was a Judge that did not waiver from the Guidelines, oh, but he did! And not by a little, but by a big measure. The Lord heard the cries of His people and we were crying tears of relief and gratefulness along with the pain.

When my world crumbled 7 years ago, I thought it was my husband who needed God the most and that he was the one who needed to make the changes in his life. And while God has done amazing healing and restoration in my husband's life, Jesus also grabbed ahold of my weakest areas and changed me too. I am still working the job I started when entering the workforce and I love it. My husband is back in the nursing field, and he has been used by God to speak into the lives of other addicts. Our story is God’s story of redemption and grace.

How WSF Came to Be

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 23:40:25 GMT

Struggle to Dream to Reality

Wyoming Strong Families has been a dream for us for 15 years, although if someone had told us we would have been marriage ministry leaders 20 years ago we would never have believed them. Our own marriage was in crisis. Our family was being torn apart and we had two small children.

We were living in a small community in WY and struggled to find anyone to help us. The feelings of aloneness and hopelessness were overwhelming. Because of lack of resources and help, we struggled through a painful 3 years healing process that was a lot of ups and downs. We hunted up every resource we could on how to have a healthy marriage. God was faithful and met us with his redemptive plan as we learned we had built our marriage on the wrong foundation.

As we began to rebuild a new marriage, God began to reveal the bigger plan he had for our lives. We moved and began leading bible studies and discipleship classes in prison. This opened our eyes to the magnitude of the effects of broken homes on individual lives and society. We had as many as three generations in prison serving at the same time. God gave us a passion for getting on the upside of these problems by strengthening marriages and families to avoid the crisis and unhealthy generational patterns. We began leading parenting classes, couples small groups, hosting marriage getaways, events and classes in our church and surrounding communities.

We dreamed about more families in Wyoming having access to help and resources so more marriages and families could be enjoying healthy relationships. We had an 8 year plan to wrap up our home business and careers, when we had better retirement investment, and then we would serve families full-time.

One evening after several couples had asked us for help and we had to say “no” due to being stretched to maximum capacity, God devastated our hearts for the deep needs of hurting families. How many families could we help in the next eight years rather than build a comfortable future? That night we said a simple prayer, “God we are willing to serve families full-time now if you will show us how.”

Seven days later, we were filling out applications to be full-time missionaries with FamilyLife. We left mid-career and comfortable to raise support and become full-time missionaries….not so comfortable. In fact it has truly been a faith journey to trust God and believe that the eternal investment is far more valuable than anything earthly.

Since 2008 we have been praying for the dream of God bringing more help and hope to Wyoming families, and in 2022 FamilyLife granted us the opportunity to serve families in Wyoming through a local family and marriage initiative that will bring help to 1,000’s of couples throughout Wyoming. We dreamt big and prayed big and God answered!