My 9/11

If you’ve been around me or PFTNG you have heard my testimony, but I always give God the praise every year. Some stories just don’t get old. Thank you, Lord.

9/11. NEVER FORGET. A day of tragedy and loss of life. We saw amazing heroism and bravery come from places we didn’t know existed. Families still grieving and many of us remember watching the unimaginable unfold right before our eyes. For me, it is a stone of remembrance and a major part of my testimony and learning that GOD ALWAYS HAS A plan. Even in the storms. Every year I use this day to give honor and Glory to God and “tell of His mighty deeds and wonders.” Psalm 78:4. The story hasn’t changed and neither has MY GOD!

As I look back on the timeline of events of the past 28 years of my life– there have been over 10 “spiritual markers” that He has lovingly used to shape me and teach me how to Praise in the Storm. 2 of those markers happened within the first years of our marriage.

A quick overview – My husband Monte and I met and dated while living a very free and fun life in New York City – we were not believers. I don’t remember many conversations about God, Jesus or religion. In 1996, we were married in a non-denominational church in my hometown in NJ, and just 2 months after taking our vows my mother died after a “routine” heart valve replacement surgery.

It was there in that NJ hospital waiting room that the Holy Spirit came upon me, and I surrendered my life to Jesus – after over 20 years of walking away from Him.

The next years were filled with grief and heart ache for my very big, close knit Italian family. They were also filled with a new relationship with Jesus. The grief drew me  to him. I wanted to know this Jesus that my mother held so dear to her heart and lived for. I KNEW she was with her Savior, and I wanted to know Him too.

The next 4 years were filled with family, my career, faith building, marriage and then came baby Catherine. Bringing such joy to our family. And then, a new home in the MOST charming of towns in New Jersey close to my sisters, church, friends, family and the train station! It was always about the commute from New Jersey into New York.

I had become a stay-at-home mom and Monte was commuting in and out of New York City daily to The World Trade Center where he’d just taken a new position.
And then something I didn’t see coming, hadn’t expected in a million years happened – Monte was offered a job in Atlanta, NO!! NO WAY!! This is NOT what we Italian girls do. We DO NOT leave the nest, especially when all I know, and love is right here!!

BUT GOD. I prayed and prayed God would block the move. I prayed against the job offer coming through with every fiber of my soul. But I remembered that at our wedding ceremony God WAS there. I had a reading from Ruth 1:16, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” I don’t know why I chose that verse, but I’d made a vow, and I longed to please God. And the thing was, if I told Monte NO…He would’ve stayed. BUT the job went through, and God was answering and leading us South.

And in 2001, just about a year after we moved into my perfect house in NJ, the moving trucks pulled up and we discovered that I was pregnant with baby number 2.

Atlanta wasn’t easy. All the babies had bows in their hair, and all the cars had numbers on them (later came to learn that was for carpooling).. I had a hard pregnancy and was restricted to bed rest. I had no mama, no sisters, no family – I cried a lot. And then Miles arrived with Colic and so we both cried a lot! I’ll tell you sisters, I was doing a lot of grumbling and complaining.

And then on a seemingly normal September 11, 2001 – Monte off at work, Catherine was playing, Miles was crying, and I was on the phone with my sister (probably crying) with the TV on in the background. And there it was on the TV, a plane flew right into the World Trade Center, Tower 1, where less than a year before my husband routinely went to work on the 86th floor every day.

And while tragedy ensued, I knew right then and there that GOD HAD A PLAN FOR US. God rescued us. I would never, ever, ever (did I say ever) have moved BUT GOD. I would never have made the choice to leave the familiar. I can say with 99 percent certainty that Monte would have been sitting at his desk that morning. And I can share with certainty that I fell to my knees thanking God for saving us. I praised HIM for bringing us to Atlanta. This testimony has shaped and molded OUR family for God’s Glory. I love that our story is HIS STORY and all PRAISE and HONOR and GLORY to HIM!!