Thank You for the Valleys

Joseph Molis, US Marine Corps Combat Engineer (Retired), is a Purple Heart Recipient and Iraq Veteran.  Joe was injured during combat operations when his vehicle struck an Improved Explosive Devise (IED), killing members of Joe’s team and severely injuring him.  After returning home Joe struggled with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Post Traumatic Stress (PTS), and re-integration issues.  Joe began to make poor life choices, struggled with addictions, isolation, and even criminal behavior. He entered into the Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs’ Fight Club in 2013, graduated, and shortly thereafter, went to Israel with his church to learn more about Christ. He is now a speaker with the Mighty Oaks Warrior programs.

My dearest Joey,

I know you will agree with me that our God is a mighty God! Just look at the work that His hands have done in our marriage; it’s enough to leave me breathless. Wow!! My love, the past eight years have been quite the journey for us. Something that started out so carefree and so far from God has now come full circle and He is planted firmly in our hearts and in our marriage.

As I look back and trace the steps we had to take along this road – a lightning quick marriage, deployment to Iraq, that dreaded phone call, hospitals and rehabilitation, therapy, pregnancies, miscarriages, babies born, betrayal, addiction, anger, resentment, separations, a marriage on the brink of collapse and then… ceaseless prayer, a life given to Christ, patience, curiosity and questions, opportunity for healing, forgiveness, grace, mercy, love, pregnancy, a baby born, another life given to Christ, redemption, growth, a marriage saved, commitments honored, discovery, laughter, living for Christ – I am praising God again for all He has done for us and for our children.

Joey, I love you and I love the Godly man that you have grown to be and the man God is shaping you to be. I see a man with a servant’s heart and a fire for Jesus that just keeps growing. You are a constant source of amazement and I am honored to be your wife. Thank you for this journey that we are taking together. Thank you for the mountains and most of all, thank you for the valleys because without those valleys I don’t think I would have met Jesus or asked Him to come into my heart. I needed those valleys more than I could have ever imagined, they saved my life. The valleys gave me opportunities that the enemy never intended for me to realize but the endless love and God’s pursuit of my heart could not be stopped. I’m overwhelmed with emotion to think about that incredible love that was waiting for me and the incredible marriage that was to come for us. It is only just beginning, my love!!

Lauren

Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs Founders, Chad & Kathy Robichaux, met Joe and Lauren at a Mighty Oaks Annual Gala, and Lauren asked about getting Joe into a Fight Club Program.  Chad says, “When I first met Joe, he didn’t seem interested in changing… like many combat veterans we work with, Joe was not only skeptical about our program, but hopeless that anything could help him or his situation… much less his marriage.  When Joe left the program we weren’t sure what he would do with the challenges and skill sets with which we presented him.  However, the decisions he made blew everyone away.  He not only changed his course, but also radically transformed his life, family, and the world around him.  He aligned his life and marriage with the life that God intended for him and discovered that he could still be the leader that he was as a United States Marine and even more.  Today, he is one of our premier instructors at Mighty Oaks, and also serves on the Board of Directors for one of our partner veteran non-profit efforts, Warrior Benefit.  What Joe has allowed God to do in his life is nothing short of a miracle, and the love and grace that Lauren has shown through it all is a perfect picture of the love of Christ.”