A testimony of restoration : Corey and Meredith

Today we got the privilege to hear the testimony of our leaders, Corey and Meredith. An awesome couple with a daughter who serve together with them.

Corey had a mom who was a methodist and a Jewish father, and they sent him to Catholic school. So as a child he was confused 'religiously'. He knew Jesus is real, but never interested in Him. He graduated from high school and thought he didn't need to spend money to go through college to learn how to make money, and he decided to start his own business to make money. God spoke to him in a audible voice, "Corey, give your life to me" and he said "No!" God didn't force him because He is a God who gives us freewill. Making money was Corey's live vision at that time. God showed favor to him and pretty soon he had his own business making a lot of money.

Meredith, came from a messed up family, lived with her mother who was abusive, and her 2 brothers. Meredith and her brothers were so close together. They knew what love was because they been through a lot together as siblings. As a child she would go visit her father with permission, and her father would be drunk most of the time and poured out his heart to her, telling her all the horrible things he been through during the Vietnam war. In the process, she became strong and learnt how to protect herself and her brothers and she learnt how to survive. At the age of about 14, she went to the court and got her freedom to leave her abusive mom. Before that she ran away from home a few times.

She was later married to a man, and they were doing heavy drugs. After a few years, she left him and God gave her strength to step out of drugs just like that (even though she didn't know God yet at that time).

Corey met Meredith at this restaurant that Meredith worked at and he wanted to pursue her. At this point, Meredith was struggling because her brother was battling against sickness. She blamed herself and felt guilty because it seemed to her that she could have did something for her brother instead of just leaving them with her mother. Her brother died a painful death and the process lasted 6 months (not long after Corey and Meredith married). Because Corey was very sweet to her and he didn't give up even though Meredith rejected him again and again, she finally decided to give it a try. At this time, Corey owned a huge successful business.

They clicked and soon they were married. They had about a 6 months great times together. They travelled a lot and they were who each other needed. Corey, a workaholic needed a wife who is fun like Meredith; while Meredith, who had been striving to survive by herself all these years needed a husband who she can leaned on.

After that 6 months of honeymoon period, Corey's accountant disappeared suddenly and they found out she had stolen a lot of the company's money and left Corey in huge huge dept. They were very desperate at this point. To a point Corey said he even heard demonic voices telling him to end his miserable life. Then one day he heard Jesus spoke the same words to him again "Corey, give your life to me". Corey said on one condition he would give his life to him, if God bring him out of this mess - to take care of all his debts. The next day he felt God telling him to call huge company to buy his business. The first call he made and he explained the situation to him, and that guy laughed him and said "I would buy your business after the IRS took it, so I won't have to pay anything". He was very disappointed and then he heard God urged him to call again. He did. This time, the guy said he would come in 3 days and he did, with a group of accountants and they calculated how much the employee had stolen and how much exactly the company owed... and he bought the business from Corey and even paid him $4000. Corey knew it was God's hand.

After this stressful days, Corey and Meredith went for 1 1/2 months (or 3 months, I don't remember) driving across the country to enjoy each other and the nature and spent the money they had. At the end of the journey, randomly, they stopped at Brownsville where revival was breaking out. They stepped into the building where the meeting was going on and they encountered the Lord there.

There, they spent all their money and had nothing left. They didn't know how they could drive back to their home. They prayed to God. The next day a lady came up to them and told them the Lord spoke to her to bring them to breakfast and after that, she gave them $20. They drove and drove, a long journey and all night driving they got home. When they woke up, they realized the $20 was still in his pocket and he didn't even add any gas to his car... wow, the Lord multiplied the gas miraculously!

Corey started to get involved in church. He failed in business, and now he was looking for success somewhere else. Later on God dealt with his issue on identity and freed him from having to prove his success in things he does. Anyway, at this point, his wife received a prophetic word. Someone told her God said He would heal her miscarriages (she had 8 miscarriages). Later on she did get pregnant and gave birth to the daughter that is with them now. However, through the pregnancy, she unusually gained 100 pounds, and she got very depressed. On the other hand, Corey was striving and working hard in ministry and he didn't like a depressed wife. Their relationship got real bad that they divorced. They made a deal to have each one takes care of the daughter 3 1/2 days per week for they both loved the daughter (Sammy) very dearly. (When Sammy was very little she had somehow gotten leads in her and her health was really bad. God healed her!) Meredith was mad and bitter and she started drinking.

5 years later, they got back together. It wasn't easy. When Sammy grow older, she would go up to the front to line up and pray on the microphone that her parents would reconciled, that her mom would stop drinking and that her father would.... she was very straightforward in her prayers. One time God spoke to Meredith that God would reconcile her marriage with Corey. She listened to God and started attending the church that Corey served at. Corey was still very mad at Meredith and didn't want to have anything to do with her. He welcomed her into the congregation like any other member, but he told the pastor, told her, and told everybody that they won't get back together. Since Corey had been serving in that church and people knew him first, they had a bias towards Meredith. So, for 3 years or so, she only had 1 friend but she pressed on.

On a random occasion, both of them signed up to attend a seminar without knowing the other person also in that program. The leaders in the program cast lot to put people into groups and by divine appointment, Meredith and Corey were in the same group with another 2 couples. The leader of that group didn't know Corey and Meredith and didn't know they were divorced. During one session, they were doing 'forgiving' and after the 2 couples did theirs, the leader asked Corey if he wanted to forgive Meredith. He tried and realized he couldn't. And the leader told him to ask the Lord why he coudln't forgive. Then God showed him that he was actually mad at himself because of the failures instead of Meredith.

They both signed up for counseling to be better parents for Sammy and eventually the counseling turned into being better spouse in marriage. God spoke to Corey that he should reconcile with his wife. They tried and things were really tough for them. At one point, they both were gonna give up. Then, before they were gonna meet and talk about giving up, God spoke the same passage to both of them individually.

James 5:16-17
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you maybe healed. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

So, both of them met and instead of saying let's just give up, they confess their sins to each other. And all of a sudden, Corey told us, he looked at his wife differently, he didnt' hate her anymore, he wasn't mad at her anymore, and she looked as pretty and lovely as the days he was pursuing her. Wow!

Now, before they got back together, one night, Sammy asked Meredith "Do you know what I want for Christmas?" Then she said "I want you and Daddy get back together". God did heard Sammy's prayers. That December, Corey and Meredith took Sammy out for dinner and told her they were gonna give her a Christmas gift. There's another Christmas gift that Sammy told them she wanted, so she thought that was what she was going to get. To her surprise, they announced to her that they were gonna get married again to each other.

That was 3 years ago and now they as a family are serving the Lord together in love and in unity. They shared in details what they went through. I didn't remember all the details and didn't write a lot of the details here. Their testimony was so powerful. I was in tears and sobbing by the time they ended their testimony. I believe the Lord who restored their lives and their marriages will also grant the restoration to many marriages and family life!