Faithful Through the Seasons
Harold, Cara and their children, Moly, Mallory, and Elliot, joined our church in 1996. Cara served as Director of Administration for our church for over 26 years. We are blessed by their faithfulness and servant hearts.
We were blessed to grow up in families of faith and in a church family. In our childhood we were taught about Jesus. We cannot remember a time we did not know about God and Jesus. We can’t remember a time of not believing or trusting in God. Our Faith story is about how God has been faithful to us and how we have grown and continue to grow in our faith and trust in God.
We do not have a conversion story or life changing experience that shaped our faith. Our journey is about how God has been unconditionally faithful in times when we were not deserving. That is the beauty and miracle of Our God’s love for us.
We were blessed with examples of Christian life from our grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and a host of family. We recognize the importance and impact that it has had on us as children and try to be an example for our children.
We moved to central Texas from north Texas in 1995 and joined DSMC in 1996. Our children were in elementary school when we joined DSMC. They were all confirmed and grew up in this congregation. We are most proud that all 3 children know Jesus and have a grounded faith in God. We did our part as parents, but we also had the support of the church. We relied on the church, our Pastors, church programs, small groups, and fellow members. The church helped our family and us remain grounded in our faith.
Recently on the Today Show, Walker Hayes sang a song to Hoda Kotb on her retirement day called “Wednesdays”. The song was about the high times in our lives. The celebrations and special happy times, our Saturdays. And our Mondays, the low days. The times of loss, distress, the times that weigh us down and we are in the valley. But most days are just Wednesday. The normal day that we just go about life. We have been blessed that most of our life has just been a Wednesday.
Like everyone, life has had its valleys and mountain tops. We have had our share of Mondays. Stress and uncertainty in our work lives, parenting, health and relationships. We have faced the challenges of aging parents and the loss of parents, grandparents, close family and friends. Life has its stages that we all must experience. What has been constant is God’s grace and love. God has been faithful to carry us during the hard times. We may not always felt like God was with us during those times, but when we look back, it is clear He was with us through the church and our church friends and family.
We still have times of wondering when a prayer will be answered, or when a situation will be resolved. God’s time and our “need to know time”, have always been a challenge of patience. We must remember to trust that God is active and working in our life. HE has always responded to our prayers and situations on His time, not our time. We have learned that we must be open to what God has set forth for us. Trusting God’s plan many times means adjusting our plan or expectations for our journey.
As we think back on our faith journey, we see that the church has been instrumental in keeping us grounded and relying on God’s plan for us. God has given us opportunities to serve His people through the church. God uses the Church to form our faith journey and reliance on Him.
We are blessed to have been part of DSMC for the past 29 years. The pastors and people of this church supported and helped us as we have walked our Faith journey. We haven’t always done as much we should. We let life and work take priority many times, but that is the Glory and mystery of Grace. He loves us even when we don’t show Him the same love and especially when we don’t deserve it.
The next 5 years…
We are in our mid 60’s, have celebrated 45 years of marriage and raised 3 children. We are blessed with 4 grandchildren and 2 sons-in-laws. Retirement is a bright light at the end of the work tunnel. We talk, plan, scheme and try to imagine our future as we think it will be or what we want it to be. But at the end of the evening, our conclusion is always the same. What we are certain of and what we know in our hearts, is that God has always been faithful in our life and whatever our future holds, He will continue to be faithful. After all this time and all our short fallings to follow a life worthy of Him, he has never failed us. Why would He start now. We have faith Jesus will celebrate our Saturdays with us, hold us close on our Mondays and just walk with us all the Wednesdays of our lives.
God Bless,
Harold and Cara Mullen
