By Linda Miller
“My eyes widened, and my heart skipped a beat when I opened the door. Two adorable, sweet children sat in a basket on my front doorstep. Immediately, I thought, ‘I’m going to adopt.’” Suddenly, “I was wide awake, staring at the ceiling.” Stephanie’s dream as a nineteen-year-old remained just that—a dream—until unexpected circumstances changed her life.
In 1976, Stephanie Abram worked in the same Arkansas hospital as a man named Jim Schrepel. But then, Stephanie moved with her parents to New York to serve with a national ministry. As Stephanie served alongside her parents, Jim faced a heart-wrenching experience. His young wife began treatments after receiving a devastating diagnosis of aggressive cancer. Her valiant fight ended in 1978, leaving Jim a bereaved father of their twenty-month-old baby and three-year-old toddler.
The same year, Stephanie returned to her job in the Arkansas hospital. She began to pray for Jim and his young children. Over the next few months their relationship grew from friendship to deep love. Stephanie says it best, “We fell in love fast, and I fell in love with two babies. We married in March 1979. I was twenty-one years old with an instant family.”
The foundation of Jim and Stephanie’s forty-one-year marriage is God and family. Stephanie says, “Our marriage weathered many things. We had some hard times, but through it all we sought God’s path and learned to love and forgive on deeper levels. We learned how to put the other one first. We respected and honored one another—but, most of all, we stayed in love. Within five years, we had three more children. We made our marriage a priority, even with five kids, we managed date night, even if only an ice cream cone at McDonald’s.”
Jim and Stephanie moved to Tulsa for Jim to work in the City of Faith, where he remained until its closing in 1989. As an x-ray technician, Jim touched lives daily with God’s love. Eventually, Stephanie returned to college and embarked on a career as a respiratory therapist. The couple’s calling to ministry includes establishing In Jesus Name International in 2017.
Due to a back injury, Jim took early retirement. Jim, better known as Papa, cared for his grandchildren. It was natural to see Jim and a grandkid putting wiggly worms on fishhooks and casting fishing lines. Stephanie’s three-day work week gave them many fun times together.
Stephanie recalls God’s words to her in February of 2020. “The Lord spoke to me saying, ‘I’m going to walk you through something, do you trust Me?’ I immediately replied, “Yes, Lord!”
In March, Stephanie contracted COVID, however, she recovered. During this time Jim was in California caring for Stephanie’s parents. In July, Jim showed symptoms of COVID and was hospitalized on July 4th. Thankfully, he came home in a few days with oxygen. Their sigh of relief was short-lived. On July 11th his symptoms worsened, requiring re-hospitalization. This time he went straight to the COVID Intensive Care Unit. No visitors were allowed.
Many friends and family members prayed for Jim, and he was improving. Plans were being made for his discharge to rehab, until he took a turn for the worst on July 14th. Then, he was put on a ventilator. Stephanie recalls, “I spent the next two weeks by his side, going through one medical emergency after another. I was fortunate. My former hospital co-workers and I collaborated for his care.”
On the weekend of August first, Stephanie and their family enjoyed Jim’s presence as he smiled, laughed at his children’s stories, and squeezed Stephanie’s hand. “It felt so good–so good to have him with me again” recalls Stephanie.
Later in the day, the family noticed Jim staring up toward the ceiling. Their son asked, “Dad, do you see heaven?” When Jim nodded “yes” Stephanie knew what he wanted, but she was unprepared to let him go, even while knowing he needed to hear, “It’s okay to leave.” As the next days progressed, it became evident we would say ‘good-bye.’ “I was in a state of shock,” recalls Stephanie. As Jim was taken off the ventilator, family surrounded him. His favorite praise music filled the air. Within minutes, Stephanie knew he was gone.
Stephanie’s sadness is interwoven with thankfulness. “I know Jim loved me to the very core. I miss being loved, yet I know our love is eternal.” On Jim’s first birthday in heaven, she wrote Jim, “I am so thankful for our forty-one years. Thank you for spending more than half your life on this planet with me, loving me, the kids, and the grandkids. You taught us how to live with purpose.”
Six months after Jim’s homegoing Stephanie experienced a time of intense prayer and crying. She cried out to the Lord, “Lord, you didn’t take me home, what do you want me to do?” Within twenty minutes she received an invitation to minister in Tanzania. She accepted and went, knowing she and Jim had planned for international ministry. “I knew for me to move forward I had to reconcile I have a call of God on me, not just my marriage,” says Stephanie. “Moving on is sharing God’s love. Tanzania is a beginning, along with our ministry Unity Praise which I feel I am to continue. This is part of my calling, and I am stepping into what God has for me.”
