MELINDA ELLEDGE

A Different Type of Fairy Tale

Melinda Elledge

Melinda Elledge was searching for her knight in shining armor. Instead, she found the Prince of Peace.

Life hadn’t exactly turned out how Melinda Elledge pictured it would. She described herself as the type of woman “who lived in a fantasy world.” She expected to have a fairytale wedding with her knight in shining armor, a man whom her parents adored. She expected her father to walk her down the aisle to meet that man. She expected to have a big family. At 38 years old, she had yet to experience the “fairytale”.

Elledge grew up in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. She was raised in a Christian home, and most Sunday mornings, she could be found sitting on a pew at Fairplains Baptist Church. She doesn’t remember the day, the month, or even the year that she walked to the altar to accept Christ, but she remembers it being the natural thing to do.

“It’s almost like it was just the way you were supposed to do it,” she said. “I don’t remember a difference in my life, and I think I struggled with that.”

Throughout middle and high school, Elledge was close with her youth group and the pastor at Fairplains. The pastor, especially, was instrumental in showing her what a Christian should be.

“It definitely served as an important piece of who I became today based on the fact that I had that foundation,” she said.

But Elledge “was just a kid.” When she moved to Charlotte to begin attending The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, her life began to change. Her friends from youth group all went to different areas, and they no longer shared a weekly Bible study meeting. She made new friends who didn’t share her values and didn’t have her church background.

“Once I graduated high school, … I really, truly became the definition of living for this world,” she said. “You hear people say a lot of times about being unequally yoked with a partner, but I think the same thing applies to friendships ... Instead of taking the high road and being the witness to [my new friends] that I could have been, I got sucked in the other way with not seeing the impact they were having on my life.”

class. She had a job, and making money to support having a fancy-free lifestyle became more important to her than her education. She said she made many poor decisions during that time that led to not only unequally yoked friendships (friendships with people who weren’t Christians) but also unequally yoked relationships.

Her lifestyle lasted for only one semester. With nothing left of her GPA, she dropped out of school and decided to move to Wilmington, North Carolina, to begin school at The University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She speculated that her parents thought it would be good for her because she was living with one of her old youth group friends.

After such poor decisions previously and a year of community college credits from the past, Elledge decided to attend Cape Fear Community College before transferring to UNC-W. Her roommate from her old youth group had her own new group of friends and struggles of her own. Elledge’s lifestyle mostly remained the same, although her grades did improve. She worked two jobs, one as a veterinary technician and a second as a waitress.

“I felt like I was running away from that God presence in my life [because] being a Christian wasn’t as fun as the life that I was leading,” she said.

After a year, she successfully graduated from Cape Fear Community College with an associate’s degree. She was able to transfer into UNC-W and graduate within a year and a half. During her senior year, she started working at Target. She said that she never asked off for Sundays, so no one knew that church was important to her. At that point in her life, it wasn’t.

Soon after her graduation, she was offered an interview at Ogilvy & Ogilvy in New York City. It was her dream job. But nine days before her interview, 9/11 happened, and she decided New York was not where she wanted to be. Only two days later, she interviewed for an executive position within Target and took it. She moved around the East Coast for her job for the better part of a decade, leaving in 2008.

Hitting Rock Bottom

Elledge decided to use her nest egg from her time at Target to live a carefree life in Mexico. She spent months living a dream life, until the man she had grown close to conned her out of all her money. Broken and at the lowest point of her life, she decided to move back to North Carolina. God was drawing her home.

“I didn’t start looking up until I was rock bottom,” she said.

She moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where she worked for her brother growing his customer base for his printing company. Her experience at Target helped her build a market for the business. She worked with him for a year until she decided to move back to Wilkes County to pursue a relationship she was in. She moved in with her parents and began working in Boone, North Carolina.

“Even though that relationship didn’t work out and I felt like I gave 5 years of my life to it, I know that was God’s way of working His way back into my life and bringing me back to where that foundation was,” she said. “He brought me back to Fairplains for one, to the family that I grew up with, all of those people I talked about previously who were so instrumental in my life.”

The relationship ended last year when Elledge’s life changed. On April 13, 2014, she met her pastor at the front of the church she grew up in during an altar call. She told him that she didn’t feel assured she was saved, and she wanted a change in her life.

After Elledge decided to truly accept Christ, she made some other changes in her life. She began tithing. For the first time since she began working, money no longer ruled her life. Although she makes less money now than she did when she worked at Target, she said she no longer worries about anything related to finances. She’s gotten out of debt and now gives her money to God.

She also started teaching Sunday school. At first, she was reluctant to accept. But she did, and now she teaches a classroom of 3 and 4 year olds on Sunday mornings. Through the experience, Melinda made a realization. Although her life hadn’t turned out the way she planned, she had found a purpose.

“It’s other people’s kids,” she said. “I was created to be something for them.”

And it’s not just the children at Sunday school. Elledge also enjoys giving advice to her nieces and nephews. As she sees them struggling with potentially making bad decisions, she tries to steer them in the right direction with advice from her past.

She has also toyed with the idea of providing a counseling service to a business plan she has considered. The counseling would focus on complete life fitness, including spiritual and physical wellness. Elledge said that she hates to see others who struggle with weight because she has experienced that and knows the difficulties.

“A lot of it has to do with emotional issues and obviously having that void of God in your life and not having that relationship,” she said.

Perhaps most importantly, Elledge now realizes how important it is to share her faith with others. Before she accepted Christ, and especially during her college years, she said she knows she led others astray with the lifestyle she led. She realizes that she can’t take those actions back, but now that she’s found the Prince of Peace, she hopes to influence people’s lives in a different way.

“A lot of people in my generation feel like when you want to talk about Christianity, or, as most people would say, religion, that you’re wanting to shove it down someone’s throat and that you’re wanting to impose your beliefs on them or judge them for what they do or do not believe, but now I see that that’s not my concern,” she said. “My concern is to be able to share what I feel. And if I can share with the one person that could experience the change that I know that I experienced, the joy from that can’t be put into words.”

Elledge’s fairytale ending finally came to light when she stopped seeking the love she so desperately wanted in a relationship and relied on God to lead the way. She met a man who she was first attracted to because of his faith in God.

“Little did I know from that initial date, where he took the time to say the blessing before dinner, the happiness God had in store for me,” she said. “What I’ve learned about the ‘fantasy world’ is that it is possible to have everything you have ever dreamed of. The difference is how what you dream of changes when you are living for God and not yourself. In the end finding the Prince of Peace also gave me my Knight. The story continues…” Written with Chelsea Charping ~

For Nothing Will Be

Impossible With God

Derek & Meredith Boggs

It’s the phone call every parent dreads. At 4 am my phone rang and on other the other end was a surgeon from North Dakota who said, “Your son has been in an accident. He has fallen from a roof and we’re doing everything we can to save him. You need to get here as soon as possible.”

My wife and I threw some clothes in a bag and headed down 321 for Charlotte. On the way, my wife called the airline and booked our tickets for the first flight out. When we arrived at the counter, the clerk said we had just purchased a one-way ticket to Fargo. We explained what had happened and that we have no idea when we’d be able to return to NC. While I was telling her our story, I would suddenly break down in tears. Saying out loud that you’re trying to go somewhere to see your son before he dies is extremely emotional and gut-wrenching. So this very nice lady told us she would change our ticket to one in which we could return whenever we are able.

We then headed to security. As I was coming out of the scanning machine, a large and burly TSA official met me on the other side. I’m sure I looked like a mess. I had been crying since early that morning. My face was puffy, red, and my eyes were bloodshot. He looked at me and said, “Sir, are you OK?” I paused for a moment and then said, “No, I’m not OK. My son in North Dakota has been in an accident and we’re hoping we can get there before it’s too late.” With that, this very large man walked up to me and said, “Sir, hold out your arms.” He then walked closer to me with his scanning baton in hand. But then he stretched out his arms, gave me a huge hug, and said, “Go, we’ll be praying for you.”

When we arrived at the hospital we found our son in a coma with a severe traumatic brain injury. My son just laid there with no movement. The doctors told us they had done all they could; now it was wait and see. For the first three nights, my wife and I took turns sitting with our son while the other tried to sleep. For me, it was strange that as I tried to sleep, I woke up at the same time each night – always at 1:37. It was kind of weird, but I didn’t think too much of it at the time.

After days and days of sitting with our son, the reality of never talking with him again became more and more possible. It was such a blessing to have First Lutheran of Fargo right next door. They brought us prayer shawls and the pastors came and prayed with us. Our home congregation, Grace Lutheran in Boone, was very supportive and sent us countless cards of encouragement. Friends from across the country sent us words of hope.

We even received cards from congregations we had never heard of before in places like Illinois, Kentucky, and Iowa. Complete strangers were compassionate. One I remember in particular

was from a 7-year-old saying he was praying for healing for my son and strength for this mom and dad. We were overwhelmed with the outpouring of love, support and prayer from the wider church. The people of God really were the people of God in a very powerful way.

Finally the time arrived to remove my son from the ventilator. The night before, my wife and I prepared ourselves for what might be the end. I was at peace. I knew that whether my son lived or died, God had him. God would not let him go. Still, that morning walking down the hall to my son’s room was filled with very heavy steps. My legs felt like lead. We were told that when the ventila- tor was removed, our son may simply stop breathing. How does a parent even begin to prepare for such a moment? You don’t. Your whole being is numb.

Three hands came together as the mask was removed. I prayed with every breath. I was ready to tell my son goodbye.

And then, my son’s eyes began to flutter. Those hazel eyes opened and glanced at us, then slowly closed again. Then my son spoke. THAT’S RIGHT, then my son spoke, “I love you guys.” Tears of joy streamed from our faces, we held our hands tight, and joy- fully embraced each other. Our son was alive! After much thera- py and wonderful care, our son has made a miraculous recovery. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t give thanks to God for my son’s smile, laugh, and life.

Throughout this journey, I learned a great deal about life, death, hope, faith, and the church. I truly was at peace knowing that my son may not live, but I knew God would for- ever hold him. I saw the church at its best - lifting up those at their breaking point.

The Sunday before we were to fly back to NC, we worshipped with the good folks at First Lutheran in Fargo. It so happens that they were going through a series called “The Story” and we showed up on the day they were celebrating Christmas during Lent. The reading that day came from Luke 1. I’ve heard this passage many times before, but never like I heard it on that day. When the Lector said, “For nothing will be impossible with God” I glanced down at the reading, and there it was: 1:37. I will never see this piece of Good News the same.

The pastor’s sermon focused on how God continues to come to us today in Word and Sacrament and through the Holy Spirit’s movement among God’s people. I took my wife’s hand and placed it with mine. He ended his sermon by asking the congregation, “How has God come to you?” With that, our grip became tighter, and I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Suddenly those poor folks had a sobbing man sitting in the pew next to them.

For us, we received our miracle, thanks be to God! But for oth- ers who have been in those shoes, without the same happy ending, we look to the cross. We look to the cross and know that death is not the end, because God has us. Whatever journey you’re trave- ling, I invite us all to 1:37. Written by Derek Boggs ~