God is always at work in the lives of His followers and the church -- performing miracles, giving insight and direction, providing for our needs, and so much more!  Have you had a "Yay God" moment?  We share a new "Yay God" story every weekend in the beginning of our worship services, and we'd love to share your story too!

Click here to submit your story to mystory@ngate.org *

A recent "Yay God" Story...

This “Yay God” story was submitted by Marty…

Okay, Pastor Ken. I have been meaning to write this earlier, but after today’s message, I am writing it out of guilt. You see, my wife and I have always been very active in our church. But we have been attending Northgate for almost a year now and have not yet been serving in any areas. Our excuse has been that we don’t know how long we will be here, but realize that whatever the circumstance, we should be involved wholeheartedly or not at all.

Having entered a new season in our lives, we found Northgate online and first came last October, when the sermon series was about death. Then the next month it was about money. Since those were issues that we were currently dealing with, between that and the great music, we were hooked.

Six years ago, we had it made. We moved from Sonoma and were able to purchase a home in Cordelia. It was much larger and nicer than any place we had lived in before. Our two young granddaughters and daughter lived nearby, and lived with us for a while.

Everything was going great for about four years, and then things started to fall apart. First one of our dogs got cancer and died. We didn’t know that it would be so difficult, especially for our oldest granddaughter. She was the same age as the dog (10), and they practically grew up together. Next, my Mom had a heart attack, and she died several months later. My Dad had died a few years before, and now I felt like an orphan.

Then in 2008, my wife had three surgeries. In February she had an egg-sized tumor removed from her sinus area. In July she had a complete hysterectomy plus more. Still recovering from that, it got much more serious in November when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a surgery to remove the lump in December.

2009 began with her chemotherapy, which was brutal. That was followed by 30 rounds of radiation. This was all difficult on both of us, both physically and emotionally. Between the housing market, the economy, and the fact that she hasn’t been able to work much in almost three years, we began to suffer financially. Our home is currently in foreclosure. Even though I have two jobs, they are both precarious right now.

Despite all this, we feel that our faith has never been stronger. Our marriage has never been better. And we learned to value what really matters. We know we will soon have to move and downsize. But we understand now that we have too much “stuff” that doesn’t matter. After helping our daughter by having her and her girls live with us before, now she has a home large enough for us to stay for awhile.

Without you knowing it, Northgate has helped us through this past year. The inspirational music and “real” sermons have spoken to our hearts and renewed our faith.  And we will be more involved, beginning with the 1st Morning Prayer on Tuesday.

Yay God!

* "Yay God" story submissions may be edited by the church staff for clarity or length, however no details will be changed. We also respect your confidentiality, and will only use first names when referencing you and anyone in your story.