A blog about post-traumatic stress, trauma, life, liberty, love, marriage, the Bible, and Jesus Christ.

Although my husband battles a huge BEAST called post-traumatic stress with traumatic brain injury, he remains my BEAUTY.  

Jacob and I met in fourth grade elementary school in Standish Maine.

After saying “no” to Jacob in fifth grade to “go out with him”, I lived to regret that decision for a long time. I was certain my wheelchair was going to get in the way.

But God has a way of working all things out for good, infinitely above all that we ask or imagine him to do.

This is my story, our story, of how God has remained faithful to both of us, even during the most desperate of times, and how His providence has protected both of us—for a purpose.

Jacob served fifteen months in Iraq in 2002-2003, returning with a demon called traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress. The twenty-four seven need to match the adrenaline rush and mask the wounds of war and trauma from childhood, torpedoed Jacob into a world of hell.

The post-traumatic stress took over his life. Arrests, suicide attempts, multiple car accidents, homelessness, burning bridges, and violent relationships were his normal. It took God sidelining him with a back and neck fusion to get him to see the kind of life he was living was not sustainable.

In August of 2018, God told me, “Jake Sawyer is going to marry you, Erica.” Despite having no contact with Jacob for almost two years, I trusted God’s promise.

On October 24th, 2018, I moved to Las Vegas to help Jacob during the darkest time in his life. Jesus showed me what true mercy and grace was during those two months there, as he answered my cries in prayer over and over and over again…faithfully.

On April 28th, 2019, God’s promise came true when Jacob Sawyer did marry me.

May this page be a place to come to for hope. A place to come to for encouragement, love, and faith.

We promise to be as real as possible. Life is not pretty sometimes, but with the promises of Jesus Christ, those less than pretty moments can be turned from ashes to beauty, from a caterpillar to a butterfly, from dust to glory.

Trust, Faith, Hope, Grace, Mercy, and Love—-May these resound in our words…..