When the Lord places a dream in your heart, and you see it come to fruition, it fills your soul like nothing else. Marriage has always been deeply important to me. My husband likes to tease me that I am always watching love stories or trying to help someone find a spouse.

After moving to Belize as a missionary more than 18 years ago, I noticed that the value placed on marriage in this community was low. Statistics and life experience showed that 70–75% of the population was unmarried, and even among those who were married, many relationships were unhealthy. Only 24% of children have an active father in their lives.

My calling to Belize is for the orphan. We run a children’s home in the southern part of Belize, and every day I see the hurting and broken. These kids have become my kids. After meeting Larry and Lorrie for an intensive six years ago, I was amazed by the tools they had to help marriages succeed. At the time, our own marriage was struggling under the pressures of ministry, and I found myself wondering, How had I never been taught these things? I decided to join their online institute and receive even further understanding and tools.

Then, at the end of last year, during worship at our church, I began noticing how many young married and engaged couples we had. I sensed the Lord was birthing a desire for marriage in Belize, and my heart became excited about sharing the tools I had learned. Wouldn’t it be amazing to equip these young couples before the house begins to fall? I told my husband what I was feeling and that I wanted to start some type of marriage class. He was hesitant and told me I was already carrying too much and could not add more to my plate. I felt the Lord telling me to lay it down. Meanwhile, He was already working a plan.

One of our foster parent couples was struggling in their marriage, and I wanted them to attend an intensive. After they received a U.S. visa denial, I asked the Lord, “Now what?” He impressed on my heart to reach out to Larry and Lorrie to see if they would come to Belize to lead the intensive. They prayed about it and felt peace to come. Then we decided to add a marriage conference during their visit. I could hardly believe what the Lord was doing. I know the material, but I am not anointed and called in the same way they are to communicate it. For the Lord to bless us by bringing them here to teach was such a gift.

We spread the word, and because we live in a very small, remote area, there are not many venues available. We found a church with seating for fifty people. We invited our church, their church, not even reaching out to the community, and more than seventy people registered. We squeezed in extra chairs and made it work.

My heart was overflowing with joy. The majority of attendees were people I knew and loved. The Lord was ministering to those in my close circle through something so special to my own heart.

The day was incredible. People were engaged, attentive, and truly taking to heart what was being shared. There was so much laughter and so many lightbulb moments as individuals and couples began to understand new truths.

Since the conference, so many people have come to me to share what the time meant to them. One young man wrote a forgiveness letter and went to speak with his father. For the first time in his life, they cried together and embraced. Other couples shared that they learned how to communicate, that they now feel safe expressing their emotions, and that they understood the importance of meeting their spouse’s needs.

Another couple shared that the wife had been unable to move past an affair. She would bring it up repeatedly and talk about leaving whenever they argued. Through the conference, she realized she needed to forgive, and for the first time in years, she is looking toward the future instead of living in the past.

One couple shared with me how the husband asked for forgiveness and saw his mistakes. The night of the conference, he downloaded the Bible on his phone and read it with his wife and prayed for the first time.

My heart has always been to stop the cycle that my kids come from, to give them hope and a future through the truth of Christ. There are so many times I feel overwhelmed because there is so much to teach, to show, to help with. Having Larry and Lorrie here showed me the Lord’s faithfulness to our calling and that I am not alone. He brought them to come beside us and give exactly what my young adult children needed, what we all needed.

Countless lives were changed. The gift of this conference to break chains, heal broken hearts, and lay a solid foundation for these young people to build healthy marriages and families is more than I could have ever dreamed. I am filled with expectation for what the Lord has in store moving forward with Shepherd’s Heart Ministry and Belize.