My Brave Story- Brittney Ford

This ladies name is Brittney Ford! I met Brittney over 8 years ago when my husband got a phone call from his friend Heath saying that he had met this amazing woman! CW and Heath had lived together for a couple of years before they both were married. CW had walked side by side with Heath in his relationship with God and everything that life brought! I remember shortly after Heath had told CW and I about Brittney I was able to share a car ride up to Montana with her and Heath. CW, my husband had been working out of town and they offered for me to jump in to head up to see my husband! I got to know Brittney more that trip and realized how perfectly she and Heath matched together! It's so neat to see the way that God brings people along in our lives when we need them the most and that's just what God did with these two! I know you'll enjoy her story of walking through tribulation, but learning to trust God along the way! Here's her Brave Story!

First off I want to share that Kirste contacted me in May about writing for her and Candace’s blog.  May, guys, as in months ago. Even as I type this, I can feel my flesh rebelling. I have been a faithful reader however I have never felt like I had something “good enough” to say. I have never been very shy about sharing Jesus, however when you see women like Tiffany Davis and LeAnn Hart pouring their hearts out the devil can begin the lies of how unimportant and unqualified your testimony is compared to theirs. But God…God had a different idea and had no problem using the devil’s plans to spread His word. For it was LeAnn Hart’s words a while back that finally pushed me to write this. Mrs. LeAnn said, “If God has given you five words, He has given you five words with authority.” Wow! With that being said, here is what I have to share.

My name is Brittney Ford. I grew up in a little town in Montana with rodeo being the center of everything. I was fairly successful with nationals in high school and college, all of this leading me to the love of my life. For three years, God worked on bringing Heath and I together and when we finally met, I knew he was perfect. He, however, had a heart that had been drug through the mud, was sitting 2nd in the world, and had no time for a girl. However, God had been setting this up without us realizing. Looking back, we are able to see His hand in everything. One common point we had was Jesus. Anyone who has been around Heath knows how much God means to him. As Heath and I’s relationship grew, it was impossible for my relationship with Jesus not to do the same. I had never felt closer to the two most important men in my life. Soon after, we married and had talks about starting a family.

I was able to get pregnant right away. However a couple short months later, our baby had gone to Heaven. It took a whole year to become pregnant again, yet this baby now in Heaven as well. It was at this time I began to struggle with healing.  When the first signs of miscarriage showed, I found a scripture and prayed and believed with all my heart that Jesus would save my baby. When that didn’t happen, I was shaken to the core. I am going to be completely honest, I had a stomach bug a couple of weeks later and didn’t even bother praying because the devil was telling me, “He didn’t fix that other situation, why would He fix this one.” I was hearing him more clearly than I was hearing Jesus. Like I said, full honesty. After lot's of time on my knees screaming, fighting, crying, and finally loving God, I was once again able to trust God’s will for my life. Today I have two daughters (3 and 1), who are the spitting image of their father and more than I could have ever asked for.

Just recently God was able to confirm what I had been building on for all these years. Heath had been rodeoing around the house but decided to go a little further for a little bit over the 4th of July. He was able to win 2nd in Greeley, CO however dislocated his shoulder. Even after much praying, it didn’t seem to get better and a doctor’s appointment was made. After surgery, Dr. Tandy Freeman said Heath’s shoulder would be in the hall of fame of worse cases; his shoulder had been completely torn to pieces. Immediately I could feel my weak spot. Why didn’t my prayers heal him? Little did we know, it was only the beginning of more tribulations. 

Over the next few weeks, our trials would include: a blown water heater that destroyed our master bathroom, holes in brand new truck tires, broken pipes that would destroy our kitchen, a tragic death in the family, accidental death of Heath’s family dog, a few more injuries and then the "big one."

Heath and the girls were driving home from Colorado. He called at 10:30 pm from Amarillo saying it was raining pretty hard and rather than pushing it, I should just book them a room. He said he was going to stop at a gas station until I called with an address. Five minutes later when I called with the information, Heath answered with a panic I have never heard. He half screamed, half cried that he had just been in a wreck. Our car was totaled and it had killed our dog. I could hear my youngest daughter screaming. It was a “scared to death” cry that was forcefully repetitive. I thought it was by far the worse sound I had ever heard until I realized I couldn’t hear my oldest daughter make any sound at all. Immediately I asked about her and Heath said she was just looking around stunned. I was 7 hours away. I jumped in the truck and took off driving. A moment later Jesus and I were deep in conversation. I started praying for the results I wanted as I waited for more news. I told Jesus exactly how He needed to work everything and what He needed to do for it to be this way. It was in that moment that Jesus told me, “I don’t need your help to take care of them.”

 As a mother, that was a punch in the face. But, it was one I definitely needed. So many times we get hung up on the right scripture or the right prayer to “fix” the situation. However it is the fix to what we think it needs to be, rather than what God already has written. Please don’t misunderstand, I fully believe in standing on scripture and praying for things on Earth as they are in Heaven, however a lot of time they get very “person” centered. More specifically, what can I do to fix this? Or how can I pray? Or the worse yet (and yes I’ve been there recently) how come I prayed and it was fixed this time, but when I prayed this time, it wasn’t fixed? We become so centered on what we can do, we forget it is all about Jesus. Not only what He is doing, but what He has already done. When we gave our lives to Christ, we inherit all that He earned on the cross including His protection, His healing, and His will for our lives. It moves from being about us to being completely about Christ. Our vehicle was completely smashed except for the box around my family. Jesus didn’t need my prayers, He already had my family in the palm of His hand.

In the beginning of this I shared how I have had difficulty writing this. I also shared about my amazing husband who has no problem sharing the word of God and has had an amazing platform to do so. This has led me to allow myself to stand in his shadow, allowing what he says to be good enough for the both of us. However, a couple of weeks ago I went to a women’s weekend where they handed out stones to the women. These stones have a word on them that has been prayed over weeks leading up to the weekend. When I got my stone, it said “Anointed.” I felt my heart stir. I felt God tell me that I was “good enough” to share as well. If nothing else, I hope me stepping out encourages someone else to do the same. We all have a testimony to help expand the Kingdom and it may be yours that changes someone’s life. Be blessed everyone!

-Brittney