Recognize and Rejoice with Charlotte

Charlotte shares how she spent years waiting for one unmistakable spiritual experience, only to discover that God was building her testimony through hundreds of quiet moments instead. Through motherhood, cancer, divorce, teaching, and countless unexpected opportunities, she learned that the Savior prepares us long before we recognize why.

Her story reminds us that faith isn't usually built in dramatic moments—it grows one faithful step at a time as we trust the gentle nudges of the Lord.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hello everyone. Welcome to Recognize and Rejoice, where it is my honor to rejoice with you as we recognize the hand of the Lord in each of our lives. I'm Megan Jorgensen, and I'm excited to meet with you again to rejoice in the Lord through the stories of our lives. I would like to recognize and thank our sponsor, Coach Katie Switch School, which helps keep our episodes available indefinitely. Welcome to Recognize and Rejoice. This is Megan, and I am so excited to have Katie Hubblston on as my code host. We are excited to introduce Charlotte to you today. And this is one reason why Katie is co-hosting with me, is because Katie is the one who introduced me to Charlotte. I have loved her from the moment that Katie introduced me to her. But I'm gonna let Katie introduce how she met Charlotte, and then we'll let Charlotte introduce herself.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

So Charlotte moved into our ward probably almost two years ago, right? Charlotte? And um I saw her in church, and then my husband and I were on a walk, and I saw her walking around Art Dive Park, and I was like, Haley, I know you. I just got to meet her then, and then we were able to meet more in Inklings. We had an Inkling group that we went to, and um she worked with our activity girls in our ward for a while. And the things that I really just love about Charlotte is like she's so real and down to earth, and she just gets into the grind and uh just does things, and it's pretty awesome. Another thing that I love is that when we're having gospel discussions, she will ask Chat GPT questions and then she'll have like the best answers. Like she'll read what it says, and then she like just goes off on this awesome little ledge into something cool that I'd never thought of before. So she has a really great mind to be able to look in the bigger picture, and I've really appreciated that about Charlotte. So I'm really excited to hear what she has to say and to teach us today. I know that everyone will be blessed by what she has to say. She's a great lady.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Okay, so very nice.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Charlotte, take it away and let us know what you are interested in right now, what stage of life you're in, and then when you decide to follow Christ and the stories that you have chosen for us today of when you recognize and rejoice in his hand in your life.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Okay. My name is Charlotte. My stage of life is a little bit weird. My boys are grown and out of the house. They've blown the coop, as I say. But then I recently got married, and so I have a couple of step kids as well. So then I'm learning how to adapt to that. And it's like I went back in time and seeing things at a different stage because I've loved seeing my boys grow into the men that they are, seeing their characters, their choices, the lives they're making for themselves. But I'm not in their daily lives anymore so much. Also, I'm a teacher by profession. I've kind of fell into that. We'll talk more about that later. But one of the things I've learned through that is the importance of growth, of continuing to recognize how everything relates to everything and how we can use that to grow. I love storytelling. I read, I watch movies and shows. I have been running a couple of tabletop RPG games for a couple of groups. And I think again, it's those stories that those arcs of how we start and what our experiences make of us. I I think that's just a fascinating change.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Can you explain what a tabletop RPG game is? I have no idea what that is.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

It's it's like DD.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Yes, yeah. It's where you, you know, you create a character and everybody kind of collaborates on telling a story.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

What does RPG stand for?

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Role-playing game.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Yeah, so I also I do love physical challenges. I recently joined a boxing gym and then they they talked me into doing sparring as well, which has been terrifying. And but at the same time, it's been like, okay, well, this scares you, so you have to do it. And you know, it's just fighting those demons, I think that we all hear those voices that that say you're not good enough, you're gonna look dumb, you look this is this, why are you doing this? And you know, I'm getting to the point where most of the time I don't hear those voices, but every time I start something new, they they come back pretty strong. And so it's like, yep, now we have to do it. We don't get to listen to those voices. And then I love hiking, being in the mountains. I feel like sometimes that just really helps clear out your soul sometimes. Something about being in nature and seeing the light and wildlife and the trees, and just kind of clears everything out that you've been carrying.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

So true. Nature is very clearing and helpful. I agree.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Okay, so kind of my faith journey.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Yeah, just when you decide to follow Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

Okay. So I grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I always believed everything, but I didn't have a strong personal faith throughout my teenage years and young adult life. I did all the things I was supposed to do. I, you know, read my scriptures and I said my prayers, and I think a part of me was kind of always waiting for this big moment, this clear, undeniable moment that, you know, I could say, yeah, that's when I knew it's not something that ever really happened. Um, I think God knows us better than we know ourselves. And so instead of a big moment, he knew that I needed a lot of small moments to build a foundation. And so before I recognized that, I I kind of drifted a bit. I I still believe, but I didn't prioritize church. I kind of stopped going. I got married and just, you know, was moving on with my life, doing all the things that I was supposed to do, you know, working and maybe not church, but I always felt like it would be there when I was ready. And then I had a couple of visiting teachers that would would show up consistently, and I don't know that I ever really gave them much to work with, but they were still so good to show up despite my reticence to really connect with them. And then I became pregnant with my oldest son, and I felt there was just like this pressure that it's time, it's time to start moving back to what's necessary in life. And I really kind of resisted. I didn't want to do it. It was again one of those new experiences. I was gonna have to go to this this ward that I didn't know people. My husband wasn't interested in going with me. And then I remembered those, those two visiting teachers that would come, and I was like, okay, they'll be there, and I'll at least know them, and it'll be okay. But even so, I was still pretty stubborn and I made a deal with myself. I was gonna slip in a little bit late after the after the opening prayer, and then I would leave before the prayer, the closing prayer, so that I didn't have to talk to anybody. And so even though I never really I didn't let those visiting teachers know that I was going and where sit I am or whatever, it made such a difference in me going back, knowing that they were there. And then little by little I started staying longer. I started talking to people, I started building some relationships. You know, again, those little by little things. I I'm starting to understand that I think I think relationships or connections are one of the main purposes of why we're here in life. God needs us to understand those around us and to build connections. That's kind of how I started going back to church again.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

I love that it was the visiting teachers that didn't even know. Like they didn't know that you were there. That's awesome. I mean, it just shows that we can put forth effort and not think that there's any fruit to our efforts, but really there is. And like people feel it. People see it, people feel it, and it changes lives, even if we don't see it.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Right. I I I do hope that someday they they realize the difference they made.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

All you need to do is send this to them and then they'll know.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

I you know, the terrible thing is that I don't even remember their names anymore. I just remember them showing up. I remember them being there and showing up and making it kind of being a bridge.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

So that's how it started growing. And then when did you decide I'm gonna stick this out? Like my your relationships are growing, you're building these relationships. I love what you said. That's one of the main reasons that we're here is to build these relationships. And so you you're doing that, and then when was it like I am not just doing this for the relationship with people, I'm doing this for the relationship with Jesus?

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Um well, I mean, it got to be a habit for sure, and I felt I felt that I needed to be there, and I enjoyed the things that I was learning, and I think the the differences it was making in my life and my understanding. But again, there was never any big moment that it was like, oh yeah, this is it. Again, it's I I it was just a lot of little small things, like just little nudges. I think God has a has a tendency to kind of nudge me a little bit, and he also knows that I'm stubborn, and so he continues to nudge me. So, like I said, I drifted a bit. I started college, but I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I liked English, and so I was like, well, I'll just be an English major. But I was also like, Well, I don't know what are you gonna do with an English major just, I mean, teach. And who wants to do that? That sounds terrible, right? And I ended up I ended up dropping out, so I just worked and I was good at being a worker, and then I was able to be a mom. And when my boys were born, I was able to adjust my work schedule so that I was able to uh I could go in a little bit during the day and I could take my oldest son with me, but then I could um come back at night when he was asleep and do the rest of the work that I needed to do. And it was great because that's what I wanted to be. I wanted to be there with my boys as they grew up. And then um my youngest was born and it got a lot harder to do. And I worked really hard on managing our budget so that I could stay home. And I was able to stay home for a couple of years, and it was wonderful. I loved it. And then my oldest started school. As I would take him to school every day for probably a month, every time I was on my way to school, I would have this persistent thought that, oh, you know, when I'm ready to go back to work again, maybe, maybe I'll work as an aide at the school. And then I had to bring something to my son's class, and the secretary stopped me and she asked me to run the book fair the next week. And I was like, uh, okay. And again, there I met a gal that she was helping with it, and she's been my friend ever since. We've stayed in contact, and she's just she's been one of those people again that God I think put in my life. Then about a week after the book fair, the secretary stopped me again and said, Hey, the principal wants to talk to you. And the principal asked me if I would be willing to work as an aide at the school. And I was like, Oh, okay. And I and again, I didn't been having that thought, and it wasn't the ideal timing because my youngest was still home, but it felt like I was supposed to, and we were able to work it out. And I watched a lot of great teachers and I learned a lot, and I ended up teaching math in a special ed class, and I realized how much I loved math. That my life, my personal life was chaotic, but math made sense and it had order, it had um rules that you followed, and you would get the same result every time. And you know, that doesn't really happen in life. So again, I think God kind of pushed me in that direction again to be there and to make those realizations. And then a few years after I had been working there, I I was diagnosed with cancer. And again, I think God had been preparing me all along. Sorry, I'm gonna get I'm not gonna get emotional. I'm fine. Um, but all those relationships that I would build through church and through work, that became my support system. These were the people that brought me mills, they helped me with my boys and supported me as I did chemo and radiation and surgery, and they did fundraisers and they they made it possible for me to to survive this. And you know, another little thing too, my son, the aide in his first grade class, about a year before this happened, she had cancer. And so my son watched her go through that, and I think that helped a lot for him to realize that this was gonna be okay, you know. And the biggest thing as I faced that challenge of cancer is that there were a lot of the little things I was in the best shape physically I'd been in since having my kids. And um, I think that helped me a lot as I healed and endured treatment. I was able to show up for my boys and continue maintaining a sense of normalcy in the middle of all that. And yeah, again, it wasn't a coincidence. It was it was God kind of put all these things in place despite the challenges. There were these little blessings that helped make it possible for me to to do this. The most terrifying part of it for me, I I wasn't afraid to die, but it was I had wanted to be a mom my whole life. And I I couldn't stand the idea of not being there and missing that time with my boys. And I just remember praying to God and being like, How am I gonna do this? You know, I can't I can't leave them. And I again just a little nudge. I remembered my patriarchal blessing that I hadn't looked at in years, and I remember that there was a line in there that said, I would be healed and in my in a time of need for me. Yeah, that gave me something to hold on to. It helped me realize again, I wasn't alone, and Heavenly Father kind of had a plan. That's was like another little stepping stone.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

One of the things that I've been just um in awe about lately is that the Lord, He He definitely makes things happen in our lives so that we can overcome something in the future, right? Yeah and I love that that's exactly what you're saying in your story with your cancer battle. Like there were things that he had put in place before you even knew that this trial or this stumbling block or whatever you want to call it was gonna be in your way. He'd been building you and preparing you to be able to handle that future thing that you had no idea about. And I I love that in hindsight we're able to see it. I wish that in the middle of it we could maybe see it a little bit more. But I'm grateful that we're able to look backwards and see so much strength that we received from him in the middle of a trial. So thank you for sharing that.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

I agree, yeah. Well, uh, about a year after um I finished treatments with cancer, we started looking at buying a house. And I found one that I thought was just perfect. It was next to this reservoir, it had a big trees, a big yard, and I just knew it was gonna be perfect for my boys. And it was a short sale, so a little bit of a long shot. And my husband at the time was not impressed with it. The downstairs had pink carpet and the upstairs had blue carpet, and he's like, no, but it's carpet, we can change that. That's not the important part. So we ended up putting in a bid and it was accepted. And I I just knew that we were supposed to be there. There were so many little things. Like I had several people kind of out of the blue talk to me, and I realized that they had put in a bid on this house as well. And somehow ours was the one that was accepted. After the sale was final, an insurance adjuster came out and he told us that there were some issues with the back deck and they wouldn't insure the house, and it's something that should have stopped the sale to begin with. But we were able to fix it, and then the people who were living there, they left all this furniture. They were moving to a new house and they didn't want to keep this furniture. They left three full bedroom sets with mattresses and dressers, and there was a freezer in the garage that they left and a riding lawnmower for this big yard. And I was like, this is a little bit of magic. I this is where we're supposed to be. It was like so perfect, and it was exactly what I wanted it to be for my boys. They had so many adventures there, and it really became it became our home. And then there came a point where I I knew my marriage was heading for divorce divorce, despite everything I'd been trying to do to make it work. And I remember driving up to the garage in this house at one day and having this very clear impression that if you get divorced, you might lose this house. And immediately I thought, I mean, I love this house, it's it's our home. But I also realized I'll be okay as long as I have my boys, it'll be okay. I can lose this house. And then I got this deep sense of peace and understanding without that, with that I would be able to keep that house as long as I needed it. And I did need it. It became kind of our sanctuary. And as I walked through that divorce and shared parenting time with my boys and figuring out how everything was gonna look, that house was our home. It was our safe space, it was our it was my comfort. We did a lot of work on it. We pulled out that carpet, we replaced flooring during COVID. We even redid the entire basement, tore everything out and rebuilt it, including electrical and plumbing. And it was just such an experience and a blessing to be there that God provided for us, you know, materially, emotionally, a place where I had some stability in a time of uncertainty. And it kind of held us together, I think. So again, it was just this continued reinforcement that God is always gonna be there and always gonna help us with the details with making everything work.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

One of the things, Charlotte, that I that I think is really cool about the Holy Ghost that you're kind of telling in the story is like you had this thought, I could lose this house, right? So you're you're thinking, you're being human, and then the Holy Ghost can come in and like put little thoughts in, like, okay, are you ready to give this up? And then you have this, you know, you have to like logically go through the things, and then the Holy Ghost can come in and be like, okay, but you're gonna be okay. As long as I have my boys, I'm gonna be okay. And you're like, okay, I I can accept that. And then you move a little bit further down the road and you're like, wait, I still have my house. I'm still finding peace. The Lord is still blessing me. And the Holy Ghost doesn't always give us like the end picture at the beginning, but he just gives us a little bit of hope as we continue to move forward with the path that the Lord has for us. And I feel like that story illustrates that principle so well. Yeah. Just with us.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

Yes, right. Yeah, so that leads me into the the next. Stage is that with my divorce, I had to get a job that I could have health insurance. My boys could stay covered on their dad's insurance, but I needed insurance for me. I knew I could get a job. I could do whatever I needed to do, but then I kept thinking about, you know, with this uncertainty that my boys already have because of divorce. I hated the idea of adding in working nights or summers or other times when I might be able to be present with my boys. And that's when I had the next realization that God had been prepared before all along. I was already working at a school. My schedule lined up with theirs. And I had been learning how to work with kids, not just academically, but relationally. I was becoming a better mom because of the work I was doing at the school. I saw so many kids with different abilities, and it helped me better understand that, hey, your kids are okay too. They're doing fine, they'll get there, and it's all gonna work out. The other thing is that, you know, when you're teaching, you can't exactly yell at kids to make them do what they what you want. And I had this realization that um if I'm not doing that with other people's children and I'm figuring out how to work with them, why am I not doing that with my own kids? And it changed the way that I parented my kids, and I started realizing that maybe I was supposed to be a teacher all alone. Even though I had uh not wanted to do that so many years ago. Again, the idea of being in a classroom, of being away from my kids during this chaotic time, I just didn't think I could make that work. And I ended up finding Western Governors University that I could work on my own time, and I had about 24 transferable credits from my previous experience in school, and so I needed about a hundred more. And I got this very clear timeline in my head. So this was like January, and I had this very clear timeline that I needed to be at a point the next fall that I was ready to start teaching, and I was like, that's a year and a half. I don't know how I'm gonna do this. And I was like, Well, we just gotta get started. You just gotta take that next step. Just like you said, the Holy Ghost says, take that next step. Uh, that first six months, I completed 13 courses, the equivalent of like 38 credits. And then I did it again the next six months, and I just kept going. And I mean, so much of what I've been doing at the school prepared me to take these classes. There was things that I'd already been learning while I was in classes working with these kids, you know? And so it helped a lot with that, and somehow it all worked out, and it was not always calm and peaceful. There were a lot of times that I kept going back to God, and I was um probably not very patient with him. And I'm like, you set this up, you said this is what I'm supposed to do. You gotta help me figure out how to make this work because it would seem like things weren't gonna work out, and then something would shift. There would be an opportunity. As you said, Katie, about that next step. I kept remembering this blessing that my father had given me when I was pregnant with my youngest son. That I didn't always need to see the end, and I just needed to have the faith to take that next step. I needed to trust in order to take that next step, and that kept me going. And some of those classes were so demanding. But that first year I was able to work as a maternity sub at the school. There were a lot of teachers that were pregnant, and so I was able to work almost full time, but somehow there was always a break just when I needed it most for like a difficult class or a really time-consuming project. And I was able to do most of my schoolwork late at night when my boys were asleep or when they were with their dad. And I I don't think I slept hardly at all. I know there were times when I was running on two hours of sleep at night, and I don't know how I did it. And when money got tight, um, opportunities for a week tight weekend job would come along, and there were just so many things. And then when it came time, when I was about a year through, um, I had about 15 credits left that I could do over the summer, and then just have my student teaching left, which I discovered I would be able to do as the teacher of record if my school would allow it. And my school had an opening, and they were willing to do that for me. And so I hit that timeline despite it should have been impossible.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

It should have been impossible. That was amazing what you did. You know, Heavenly Father gives us amazing things to do, and then he provides us support to do it. But you had to do it. Like you had to put forth that effort and have those late nights and run on two hours of sleep and do all those really, really hard things.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

And taking the next step.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Yeah, just keep taking the next step and and seeing the miracles of the break right when you needed it, and the weekend job right when you needed it. Heavenly Father was with you. It wasn't easy, it was hard, but he was with you and he gave you that timeline and he walked with you.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

Yeah. Yep, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

What is it that Camille Johnson just said? When you do the hard with Jesus, you make the heart holy. Right? Isn't that what you did? You made the hard holy as you did that with the savior. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Yeah, it was a crazy experience. And um, so on top of all that, as I had started this program and I was taking a bunch of the math classes, I remembered that I'd been teaching in SPED and I'd been doing that math, and I remembered how math just started to really be a place of order in my life. And I was like, oh, wait a minute, why am I getting an elementary license? I should just get a math license. It was too late to do anything at that point. And so I taught that first year as a fifth grade teacher. And one of the teachers in the math department at the school I was working at, we had a K through eight school that I worked at, and she she approached me and she's like, Yeah, we're gonna there's gonna be a math opening next year. You should apply. And I'm gonna do the state program that'll allow me to get my degree. I have two years to finish the schoolwork to get this endorsement, you should do it with me. And and again, it just kind of lined up and happened perfectly. Not wanting to be a teacher to begin with. And thinking, first of all, well, if I were gonna do a thing and be English, and then realizing, oh yep, yep, you're supposed to be a teacher. And not only that, but we're gonna do math. And just accepting that and realizing that, and um the biggest thing I think was realizing that I was good at this. This was something I could really do, and knowing that I was good at it because this is what God wanted me to do. This is what I was supposed to be doing, and so God made it possible for me to get there. And I think all of those little things adding up, I don't know when I finally had that moment that I choose this gospel, I choose Christ, but it it happened. It was just suddenly there, it was non-negotiable. Those are my stories.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

I love them all, and how they're very relationship and all. That's not a word, but I like to make up words on this podcast. But there was always people around you helping you. As you were talking, I just felt God loves his children. Well, first I thought God loves his daughters and God loves his mothers. And he's there to help us. And as I was thinking about that, I was like, well, God loves his sons too, because there's a lot of good stories from from men in my life too of the Lord helping them out and being there for them. So that led me to say God loves his children. But we are all female. I'm just gonna say, God loves his daughters.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Especially when they're trying to be good moms. In fact, that was one of the things I had a friend say that to me as I was going through all this. She's like, God loves mothers who are trying to do what's best for their kids and he will make it possible. And it was what I needed to hear. So true.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

As you're speaking, Charlotte, and some of these stories I've heard before, and I just I love hearing them because they're so real, and the way that you share them is so personal, and I just, wow, the Lord walked walked that path with you, and you said it over and over. He nudged me, he kept nudging me. So that's what I kept getting out of what you were saying. We have these relational experiences with people around us, but yet you constantly said, He nudged me, he nudged me again, he nudged me again, he never left you, right? Like no, and and I think that that's impressive to be able to see that.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

Yeah, even when I wasn't all in, he was always there.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

Wow. I see, I think that's incredible. Even when I wasn't all in, he was always there.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

I think that's awesome. Thank you, Charlotte.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

We'll go ahead and close with our final question. What action or practice would you suggest to help others to recognize and rejoice in God's hand in their lives?

SPEAKER_02 32:39

Um, it's gonna be what we've already touched on a couple of times. Be willing to take that next step. Yes, whatever it is. Even even when we want to see the whole path or when we don't think we're ready for it, or things seems big or scary, just be willing to take that next step. And and I think just be honest with God about it too. That uh, well, you know, I don't know that I can do this whole thing, but I'll I'll take this next step if you'll help me. And he'll he will, he'll be there. I think that our lives are made up of all these different pieces, experiences, challenges, relationships, as you've mentioned, and they they don't always hold together naturally. I think that God's the emulsifier, he's the part that holds it all together. All these things that shouldn't work, that shouldn't happen, he's the one that holds that all together. And I think we see that as we move forward when we take that next step, when we start recognizing the patterns of him being there throughout our lives and the way that he is constantly guiding us. Yeah, those small steps, those are what helped me recognize and rejoice for myself.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

I love it. Charlotte, thank you so much for being with us today. Kitty was wonderful co-hosting with you. This has been a blessed time. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

Thank you for listening to Recognize and Rejoice, where we come together to rejoice in the many ways that the Lord shows up in each of our journeys in unique ways. We hope you have found peace and joy in the time you've spent with us today and encourage you to continue recognizing and rejoicing in the hand of the Lord in your own life. We would be honored if you followed and shared this podcast so others may come and rejoice with us. If you or someone you know would like to be a guest or co host, please send us a text and we'll see what we can do. See you again next week.