A Soft Place To Land – Sarina Hager
Even though Sarina Hager has technically lived in Tyler for a few months now, you might not know her yet. Sarina’s husband, Fritz, is our new Executive Pastor and they’ve had quite a summer as they’ve transitioned into life at Bethel. We asked Sarina to take part in our “stories” series and what follows is an honest, touching account of a wife and Mom who’s holding to God through a very stressful time. We think you’ll be blessed by what Sarina shares…
When I think of our family’s “launch” from Dallas to Tyler this summer, I think of Jim Lovell’s historic space flight on Apollo 13. He and his crew were as prepared as possible for the expedition to the moon, excited about making their dream a reality, anxious about the risks involved, but eager to begin the journey. Everything began as expected and then, somewhere during the mission, things began to go terribly wrong and the infamous call was made announcing, “Houston, we have a problem.”
For those of you who don’t know me, I am married to Fritz Hager, Bethel’s Executive Pastor, who was scheduled to begin his new career in ministry on July 1.
His decision to leave the business world, enroll in Dallas Theological Seminary and finally to answer the Lord’s call to ministry and accept a staff position at Bethel made for an interesting and challenging winter in 2008. I often tell people that it’s as if God answered every prayer I had ever prayed for my husband in 30 days! I had been studying the bible for 6 or 7 years and God was gently wooing me into a deeper relationship with Him. He worked mightily in my life and helped Fritz and me survive a near fatal marriage crisis. He called us out of the big city of Dallas and the materialistic lifestyle we had lived and began asking me to let go of a series of worldly things—later revealing them to me as idols—and to trust Him to be my provider, my sufficiency, my security, my all in all. God certainly began challenging me as He called me, but He gave me a big, comfy Studebaker to ride in along the way. He gave Fritz a rocket…and asked me to hold on!
Just weeks after we decided to change careers and interview for the position at Bethel, we conceived twins. With 5 children in the house already, we were overwhelmed by the news, but considered it confirmation that the Lord was pleased with our decision. In June, we moved to Tyler and were welcomed by the Bethel family in droves. We had help unpacking, organizing, moving furniture, babysitting, cooking, running errands—you name it. It was difficult for me to accept all the help– in part because I had never experienced such an outpouring of love from a group of virtual strangers and in part because of a prideful heart.
However, I knew I needed to be careful since I was just entering the second trimester of a high-risk pregnancy and I also knew that the Lord was surely teaching me something about His provision through the Body of Christ, so I accepted Bethel’s help and am still humbled by it. A week later, we traveled to Florida for a vacation with my parents, siblings, nieces and nephews. The day before we were to come back home, I awoke at 2 a.m. to the realization that my water had broken. I was only 18 weeks along. “Houston, we have a problem” was an understatement. After a trip to the emergency room in Destin, we were told that one of our twins had died and that there was a 95% chance that I would go into labor that night and lose them both. The first miracle of this journey was that I didn’t go into labor until after I was transferred to Pensacola and after Joshua was delivered, the doctors there (and subsequently in Tyler and Dallas) were able to stop my labor for 56 days. (To read more about Joshua’s delivery and our experience in Florida, please see my blog on carepages.com)
So where was “Bethel” during all this? Bethel was at my bedside—literally. By the grace of God, the Anderson and Strader families were vacationing just 40 minutes away from Pensacola. I still get emotional when I think of these dear friends holding my hand, crying with us, praying for us, running errands and even washing our dirty clothes during the time they should have been relaxing and playing on the beach. Bethel was also on the other end of the phone with me praying for me, our remaining twin and our entire family. Bethel was in the hands of the hospital mailman, who brought me flowers and cards with words of encouragement and scripture which most assuredly accomplished the purposes for which God sent it to me. Peace, comfort and strength befell me as the arrows flew from every direction. Bethel was also on the tarmac at the airport the day I returned to Tyler!
Over the next 12 weeks, Bethel was in my home, in the hospital in Tyler and the hospital in Dallas—shadowing me in every moment of need. You’ve heard it takes more faith to believe in the theory of evolution than it does creationism? It’s sort of like that for me. The Bethel family has been so incredible in its provision of love, encouragement, practical support and prayer–orchestrated perfectly for my specific moments of need that it would take more faith to believe that it happened “coincidentally” than by God’s hand.
So where is the Hager family now in this mission? Well, with a 26 week old twin, Samuel, who has been in the hospital in Dallas now for 9 weeks, we are still in a time of great testing and circumstances which threaten to consume me on any given day. Honestly, I can’t tell you if we’re still in space encountering problem after problem or if we’re on our way home with victory in sight. What I can tell you is that Bethel is still with us daily—praying for us, giving me hugs, holding my hand, sending me cards, offering meals, company and comforts of every kind. No matter what our journey still holds for us, I know that God will continue to provide for us through the Body of Christ at Bethel, and that because of His love we’ll have a soft place to land.
Thank you, Sarina, for sharing your story.