Choices: When You Are Faced with a Challenge, What Choice Will You Make?

By Lori Vober

Life rarely turns out exactly as you pictured it, and we all face challenges along the way.

God always has a plan.

But He leaves it up to you whether you follow His plan or not.

Life is about choices.

I have chosen to depend on God's faithfulness through all our challenges.

• Everyone has doubts about their own a

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Mar 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685560881

Lori Vober

Lori suffered an intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke at age twenty-nine, and then developed epilepsy due to the stroke. She is a walking miracle, and felt called to share her story, and her journey of faith and perseverance, to encourage others. Lori believes God has a plan for each of us, but life is about your choices! Even with her difficulties, she was able to become an adoptive Mom of a sibling group of three.

Book preview

Dedications

My Husband, Dainis Vober

We have been through many challenges and seen many blessings throughout our wonderful twenty-three years of marriage, and I am so thankful for you. God has blessed me with a mate and a best friend to stay by my side. We quoted it in our wedding, and Genesis 2:24 NIV says, That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

I look forward to all that our future holds for us together. You are amazing! Thank you for staying by my side no matter what. I love you!

My Parents, Jim and Cathy Tackett

Words cannot express my gratitude and appreciation for all of your love, support, help, and encouragement through the years. I thank you for raising me with the values you did and giving me all the opportunities you did growing up. I am thankful for the relationship that we have with each other today.

Our Kids, Angie, Ingrid, and Juan Vober

Although adoption and parenting has had its challenges, you have blessed me with the great opportunity to be a mom, and I sincerely thank you for that. My heart breaks that the first years of your lives weren’t in a loving and stable environment, but I know that, out of the many children waiting for their forever family, God chose you to be ours from when you were ages six, eight, and ten. I am so thankful that we could become a family, and you could have so many new opportunities in your lives.

Endorsements

In this book, Lori Vober shares her life story with vulnerability and honesty that will touch your heart and make you think. Choices provides tips and tools for your own journey, along with reflection questions that will give you wise counsel, biblical encouragement, and practical advice. Don’t miss it!

Carol Kent, Speaker and Author of When I Lay My Isaac Down (NavPress) and He Holds My Hand (Tyndale), CarolKent.org

Choices hits the mark! Lori Vober’s book is honest, real, and perfectly describes the plans God has for her from this day forward. She relates her experiences as a stroke survivor in a way that touches the heart and answers the tough questions. This book gives us a glimpse into the struggle to stay focused on God’s plan despite what life throws our way. 

Tammy Whitehurst, Christian Speaker, Author, and Co-Director of the Christian Communicators Conference, TammyWhitehurst.com

What do you do when life is interrupted by one catastrophic event after another? You trust God in all things! Lori’s book, Choices, is an invitation to look at your life circumstances and make a conscious decision to persevere with the help of your Heavenly Father.

Stacy Leicht, Author of Good One, God Christian Children’s Book, stacyleicht.wordpress.com

Lori’s story is one of incredible faith, perseverance, and miracles! This life, with all its trials and tribulations, can be so difficult and very often we are left to wonder if God has lost sight of us. Lori reminds us that even when the path is unclear or circumstances seem impossible, God can and will make a way out of no way! A truly inspiring memoir of hope and great faith.

Tracy McKelvey, Author of Simeon the Snail and the Stained-Glass Butterfly, tracymckelvey.com

Lori Vober is an amazing woman filled with determination to pursue life to its fullest despite a serious physical disability which occurred in her early married life. I have had the privilege of knowing Lori as a fellow church member as well as through our women’s Bible studies. My attention was drawn to her when I learned about the many and varied procedures Lori and her husband Dainis experienced as they sought to adopt three siblings from Colombia. Lori’s story reveals the glory of God as she faced each of the many hurdles with faithful obedience to God’s Choices for her life. It is her desire to help others to successfully navigate the bumps in the road and troublesome detours which often appear on the road called life. There is much to learn in these well written words. I am not sure that I have ever met a stronger woman.

Marilyn Sonmor, Author of Led by an Unseen hand: A Legacy for the Next Generation, College Professor, Dean of Women, Who’s Who recipient, and pastor’s wife, marilynsonmorbook.com

In her new book, Choices, Lori Vober demonstrates how both her faith and her faithfulness have, together, helped her persevere through many obstacles, always with hope and gratitude. Through these glimpses into Lori’s life, Lori models a faithfulness available to us all. I encourage you to read this book while reflecting on your own faith and faithfulness.

Dan Kent, Teaching and Community Engagement Pastor, and Author of Confident Humility, Becoming Your Full Self Without Becoming Full of Yourself, thatdankent.com

Acknowledgements

Writing this book has been an amazing journey, and I am so thankful God called me to share my story.

I would like to thank my family, Dainis, Ingrid, and Juan, for their patience and understanding when I got busy with my own agenda. A special thanks to our three dogs for always keeping me company while I was working on my book.

I would like to thank all of my wonderful college friends, who have stood by me and held me up through the years, as we have navigated life’s challenges.

I would like to thank all my friends, near and far, who are so good at supporting me with their encouraging words and prayers.

I would like to thank Tami Engram, Women’s Director at Desert Springs Community Church, for giving me the opportunity to be a Bible study leader for the past several years and always encouraging me.

I would like to thank Erica Wiggenhorn, Marilyn Somner, Carol Tetzlaff, and Debbie Alsdorf, who were the first author contacts I made after I completed my manuscript, for their behind-the-scenes support.

I would like to thank all of the ladies that are a part of the She Writes for Him tribe. I have learned so much from each of you and am so thankful that I found such a supportive writers’ group.

I would like to thank Jennifer Melton, Sue Cecil, and all of my beta readers for their time and dedication reading through my manuscript and helping me through the editing process.

I am thankful for the opportunity to work with Trilogy Publishing, and so excited to see what God’s plan is for my story.

Chapter One

God Always Has a Plan

God always has a plan. Even when we think we are in charge and have everything under control, God must be up in heaven chuckling, because I have learned that He is the one that has the plan and will take control if we will let Him. Through many challenges and blessings over the years, I have found that we will all hit roadblocks, but it is up to us what we do when we hit those roadblocks. Although it is not always easy, sometimes all we can do is depend on God’s faithfulness, one moment at a time. One of my favorite Bible verses is from Jeremiah 29:11 NIV, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. It is not easy to sit back and wait for God and His plan, and it takes great faith sometimes to do so. However, God has always taken care of us. His plan just may look a little different than ours sometimes!

I am an only child and grew up in a loving family with two supportive parents. You will learn more about my parents in a later chapter, but I will open my story with my time in college. My background is in marketing and sales, and I graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1996. I absolutely loved college and had the honor of being in the Longhorn Marching Band all four years. It was an amazing experience traveling with the university’s football team, being part of the band’s sorority, Tau Beta Sigma, and making lifelong memories and friends! I had the opportunity to play the flute, piccolo, and be a part of the color guard during my four years of being in the Longhorn Band. While in the band’s sorority, I served as treasurer, secretary, and then president. Although I received an amazing education, so much of college for me was from my experiences in the Longhorn Band. The experiences helped me gain leadership skills, helped me gain confidence in myself, and helped me become the person I am today.

I also learned firsthand the importance of perseverance, dedication, and enthusiasm while in the Longhorn Band. I was not the most talented piccolo and flute player, but I absolutely loved every minute of being part of the marching band and gave it one hundred percent effort. My freshman year, I was on the Big Bertha Crew for marching band. Big Bertha is a huge drum and longstanding tradition. The Big Bertha Crew would stand in the end zone with the drum during the game, beat it for touchdowns, and roll it out on the field during the band’s halftime performances. I didn’t care that I was not in the stands playing an instrument with the rest of the band, because I was still a part of The Longhorn Band. My sophomore year, I made the piccolo section, and that was a whole new amazing experience with performing the halftime shows on the field! My junior year, I didn’t make the band at all, but I was already set