Read Rose’s wise words and hilarious stories below. We’re so glad to get to know you better, Rose!
Tell us about your family.
I have 3 boys ages 58, 28, and 26. Okay, just kidding. Bill is 58 and we’ve been married 32 years. Daniel is 26 and super intelligent and the funniest person I know. And (shameless plug) he needs an entry-level job in computer programming. Zach is married to Jennifer and they are expecting their first child in April. I am going to be a Grandmom!
Where do you live and what community group do you attend?
We live in West Chester. We attend community group at the Culleys.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in West Goshen, less than a mile from where I live now! Our current neighborhood was our woods when I was growing up. When we moved in, my adult brothers went to see if their names were carved in any of the trees in our backyard!
When and how did you start coming to Covenant Fellowship Church?
We started coming in 2009 at the suggestion of our son Zach who had been attending with his high school friends.
Do you have an interesting family tradition?
At Christmas, our kids got three gifts. That’s all baby Jesus got, and well, Christmas is His birthday. So to extend the gift-giving time, we did a treasure hunt with increasingly difficult clues leading to unusual hiding places in the house, the yard, the neighborhood, and we even enlisted the help of a Walgreen’s employee to hide a gift in a store display. My boys want to do this with their kids (not sure if that’s payback or if they actually loved it!)
What is your most embarrassing moment?
Oh, there are many embarrassing moments! Most stem from having narcolepsy, a condition where I fall asleep regularly with no notice while reading, watching TV, listening to sermons (sorry pastors), playing board games, and more dangerously, driving, doing the lawn on a riding mower, and horseback riding. With narcolepsy, going to the movies or concerts become expensive naps. I can mostly keep myself awake by moving around or by eating constantly. Narcolepsy accounts for quick REM sleep and vivid dreams where I regularly talk and yell and laugh when sleeping. Once at the end of a church meeting, while sitting in comfy chairs with the lights dimmed for an extended prayer time (my body thinks, “nap!”) I fought it by eating a bag of baby carrots. I thought I could beat the narcolepsy, only to awake to bright lights, people standing over me giggling, and a stream of drool from my wide open mouth extending to my now orange stained white shirt!
Tell us about your job.
My main job is wife and mother, but for spending money, I clean. When my boys started school I cleaned three houses a week. I loved the flexibility of having time to volunteer, never missing any school functions, and being home when they were. Later I cleaned to pay for school tuition. Age and the physical work caught up with me, and so for the past three years, I have had women working with me, almost all from Covenant.
The work itself can be tedious and boring, but I try to really get to know the homeowners (many I have known 15-20 years) and have felt like part of their families. Many clients are home and I have regular opportunities to share the Gospel. One man is very adamantly against God. At one point, I was going to quit cleaning his house, but God clearly told me to stay and continue engaging him on the topic. This man owns a business and should be gone when I arrive, but he chooses to be there almost every week, and five years later he is still on a mission to tell me how crazy I am and what magic I believe in, and weekly I love him and talk with him about Jesus.
Can you list “five favorites in five words”?
Jesus, family, friends, laughing, games.
What ministries do you serve in at CFC and how have you have seen God work in one of those ministries?
I love being on the Greeting team Sunday mornings, and I had been serving at Bridge for the past three years at church. In September, God opened a door to bring Bridge to Gaudenzia, a substance abuse rehab facility in West Chester. God is doing amazing work in this ministry as weekly more than half of the residents are coming to the Bridge Course. They are so excited to be there to hear the Bridge joke, watch the video with Jim’s talk, and then join in the group discussion. They are hungry and open and honest with their doubts and struggles. God is breaking through. Many are coming to Covenant on Sunday mornings and to the twice-monthly service we do at Gaudenzia Sunday afternoon. I am so privileged to be part of this local ministry as my husband and I were in an addiction recovery center ten years ago. I understand firsthand some of what these folks are experiencing and God gives me opportunities to speak into their lives and, He reminds me of His grace in saving us.
What are you currently studying and learning in your devotional times?
I like to read “Tabletalk”, a monthly devotion by R.C. Sproul’s ministry. This month’s focus is on “Perfectionism and Control.” These are sins I have greatly struggled with and by God’s grace, do not have a stronghold on me anymore. Yes, I still sin in these areas, but this month I have been praising God for delivering me from that lifestyle and am focusing on sharing that with others who I know are dominated by this.
What is your favorite verse or passage of scripture, and why?
In Joel 2-18-27, God promises to restore the years the locusts have eaten. God restored our falling-apart marriage and family as we surrendered our lives to Him. And in that process, He took my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19), and brought laughter back into our lives (Proverbs 17:22).
If you could talk to a younger version of yourself, what advice would you give her?
- Love unconditionally. See everyone as a child of God and love them where they are, not just when they are who you want them to be!
- Laugh every day.
- Remember God is sovereign even over the hardest things!
When and how did you come to Christ?
I grew up the 11th of 13 kids. I was taught about God through 12 years of Catholic school but never knew about having a relationship with God. My parents taught us to work hard and not show emotions, except for anger. Those values of hard work and stoicism pretty much reflected my faith and life. I always tried to be good enough and despite straight A’s, perfect attendances, and competing at high levels in softball, cross country and basketball, I never felt I measured up. Our home was run like an army camp with lots of screaming, lots of work, and not a lot of love shown. It was every man for himself. I stopped going to church in college and searched for love in all the wrong places, many days waking up wondering how I got to where I was and wondering what I did and who I was with. I still had a voice in my head telling me right from wrong and I knew I was headed the wrong way. I met Bill after college while competing in a canoe race. I was already dating a guy, but Bill was determined to win me over. And he did as He spent time telling me about the Lord. I was drawn to Christ’s unconditional love and not having to work for it. Grace and what Christ did for me started to take over my thinking.
What is one situation you have faced or are facing? Share how God moved, or is moving, in the midst of this experience.
As Bill and I shared at Covenant during the sermon series on Redeeming Sex last summer, our marriage and our family were broken by Bill’s addiction to pornography and my sinful reaction of anger, resentment, disrespect, enabling, secrecy and hopelessness. We spent years going around in circles with broken promises, separations, bad counsel, and not trusting in God. The Lord took us to America’s Keswick Addiction Recovery Center in New Jersey and for four months, we dove into God’s promises and His love for us individually and as a couple. We surrendered our marriage and family to Him and He broke us and redeemed us. God has opened many doors for us to be vulnerable and share our testimony about these sins that the world wants to normalize but actually stay hidden and destroy lives, marriages and families. God brought love and laughter back into our home. We are eternally grateful for His love and mercy.
