For Christian music recording artist Laura Story, ministry is a family affair.
“I travel doing music, and the kids are able to travel with me,” she said. “Even though that is so different from the way I grew up, my goal is that our children will not have lived a day of their life that wasn’t on mission.
“We believe God has called us into music ministry, and I believe the kids are a big part of that. In the same way that I want my songs to encourage people, I can walk into a lobby and see my two little boys stumbling around, blowing kisses, and that is as encouraging as anything I could have said on stage. I feel like our family is on mission together, and that really is a beautiful thing.”
Laura and husband Martin relax with their twin sons, Benjamin Cary and Griffin James, and daughter Josie.
Story’s ministry is an unexpected blessing birthed from tragedy. Like many newlyweds, Laura Story and Martin Elvington had their life planned out. Martin would finish his degree in graphic design in Atlanta and find a job, then the couple would move back to their hometown of Spartanburg, have children, and Laura would be a stay-at-home mom.
“Within a few months of moving to Atlanta, Martin was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and the whole plan fell apart.” Story said. “Ten years later, we are still in Atlanta.”
“We had a plan for our lives that was very comfortable, but God had a different plan. We are realizing now the adventure that exists when you say, ‘God, I’m willing for You to take me out of my comfort zone.’ ”
That adventure includes a lot of travel for the Grammy-winning artist and her family. The couple’s daughter, Josie, had visited 48 states by the time she was 18 months old.
“My life is so different from the way I expected to be raising my kids,” Story said. “We are gone a lot, but for our kids home is not necessarily the house we live in — home is being with Mom and Dad and our family.
“That is a good lesson to learn,” she said. “The things of life don’t give us our sturdiness; the promises of God give us our sturdiness.”
Among the promises of God, Story clings to one found in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
“No person was placed on this earth by accident,” Story said. “God has a purpose for every single life. I feel like He has big plans for each of us, things He has already prepared in advance for us to do.”
Her constant prayer is that God will open her eyes so that she can see the ways God will use her family in spite of — and because of — their circumstances. While the couple has experienced much healing in Martin’s body, he still suffers from vision and memory deficits.
“It makes our lives complicated,” Story said, “but the more people I talk with, the more I find that almost everyone has something in their life that they have prayed God would change.”
Laura Story grew up at Spartanburg First Baptist Church and was active in the youth and music ministries.
Story does pray for complete healing for her husband, but she says God has used the trial to allow her to minister to others in ways she never would have imagined.
Her book, “When God Doesn’t Fix It,” tells her story and gives biblical insight into times of trial. “We have two options,” she said. “We can believe that God doesn’t answer our prayers in the way that we want because He doesn’t exist, doesn’t care or isn’t capable. Or we can respond in faith and say that if God hasn’t fixed this thing yet, there must be a good reason. And we can ask God how, in a time of waiting, He might use the brokenness of our circumstance to minister to other people.”
It is in the time of waiting, Story says, that faith is truly tested.
“We as Christians call ourselves a people of faith — right up to the moment our lives require faith,” she said. “We want to say we are people of faith — and that is how people refer to us — except I can’t say I live my life with an enormous amount of faith.
“I haven’t taken that many risks on my own, but God has a way of putting us in circumstances that require us to step out in faith.”
Story exercises her faith by focusing on the blessings in her life. “We can choose to focus on the things that we don’t have, or we can choose to focus on all of the things God has done,” she said. “We have twin boys who didn’t spend a day in NICU. The way God has answered our prayers with these little ones is stunning.”
Story counts her blessings as she looks toward the future. “With three kids ages 3 and under, this is definitely an opportunity for me to lean on God more,” she said. “God uses the things we go through in life to teach us about Himself and ourselves.
“I have a lot to learn in this new season.”
— Jennifer Weaver is a wife and mom living in Spartanburg. She writes for Upstate Parent Magazine and TALK Greenville.