Sherwood and I met when we attended the same high school. We never graduated with our classmates; we quit high school to get married. I turned 17 in August and we were married in September. In February we had Chip, our first child. That spring we watched from our car as our classmates graduated from high school, and Sherwood made the comment that we had made a big mistake.
Our married life began with Sherwood working a full-time job and a part-time job. He went to night school to get his high school diploma, because his father told him he would need that to get anywhere in life. Four years later we had our second child, Shirl.
I went to work part time to help out with the bills. Sherwood worked part time too, and eventually we both had our own friends and didn’t do much together. After living like this for 10 years, we decided there had to be more to life than this. We were going to get a divorce. I followed the advice of my mother-in-law and sought counseling. During that time, I was introduced to Jesus and I asked Him to be Lord and Savior of my life. It was a life-changing experience for me.
Sherwood watched me and couldn’t understand what was happening to me. He mentioned one day, “Linda, you have done some pretty strange things already, but this is the strangest of all.” He said he had wanted a new wife, and now that he had her, he didn’t know what to do with her. Well, God had made a new person out of me by showing me how to love my husband the way Christ loved the church. After watching my life for six months, Sherwood decided the change must be real, and he wanted the same thing for his life. He also accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
After that, we had three more children — Martha, Sherri Lin, and Amanda. We believed that now that we were Christians, our children would be perfect. They weren’t perfect, but they had the privilege of being raised in a Christian home, and God has greatly blessed us and them.
Jesus Christ truly saved our marriage. We can never repay God for what He has done for us, but now we are gratefully and faithfully serving Him every day of our lives. In September 2012 we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary, and we know that without Christ in our lives it never would have happened.
God has given us five wonderful children and seven wonderful grandchildren. We are very proud of all of them, and we thank God for our children’s spouses. We have been on some great family vacations and have many happy memories that we love to share again and again. In these 50 years, God has blessed us tremendously through our family and the many friends He has introduced us to. We are truly looking forward to what He is going to do in the future. To God be the glory!
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Article by Sherwood & Linda Conrad. The Conrads recently celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. They are faithful members at Valley Forge Baptist.
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