Jacob and Tori Petersen - God Making Families Whole

Oh my goodness, I am so thrilled to introduce Tori and Jacob Petersen to you all! What a beautiful story of redemption and a testament to the power of the work done on the cross. Jesus is so good, you guys!
I connected with Tori over social media and she was so gracious to invite me to her family’s home in Albert Lea, Minnesota. I’d never been to Minnesota before and enjoyed spending the weekend with this sweet fam. I got to see a few new cities, cross over into Iowa for half a day and go to church Sunday morning with the Petersens. They also taught me a new card game, plus got to meet a couple of Tori’s girlfriends and grab dinner, such a warm welcome!

intro

We start with a talk about Instagram behavior (who agrees it’s a time-sucker?) and started on the fun side with me asking about their go-to date night, it involves lakes and ice cream cones! And we learn Jacob is the king of thrifting, with chairs being his specialty find which is also a symbol of their hearts in their marriage, a bunch of different chairs hosting a bunch of different people around their table. Tori’s ministry is blossoming and her husband shares in her heart’s burdens…she writes how her heart is “burdened for the foster care community, foster youth, vulnerable youth, & suffering families.” They have been married for 2 years and enjoy raising their two-year-old son, supporting a teenage foster son, and are anticipating welcoming their baby girl who is on the way!

testimonies

Minute 08:00 — Tori shares on her platforms what it was like growing up with a mom who suffers from mental illness and what it was like being placed in the foster care system at a young age and what she experienced going through 12 different foster homes over the span of 7 years, from ages 12-18. She shares with us, that she was bitter at God for not giving her a dad to fix what others diagnosed as “daddy issues”. This bitterness caused her to question Him and eventually what led her to the knowledge that she didn’t have an earthly father but she had Him as Abba Father.

Yet it didn’t stop her from asking hard questions like, “If there’s such a good God why are there so many people enduring so much suffering?” God brought her to Genesis — “We are made in the image of God and Jesus came down to live a human life so we can know what it looked like to live a life of love like He did and Jesus’ glory is found in his greatest suffering, to bring glory to my Abba Father who has loved me sacrificially I will walk through suffering.”

Because of her hardened heart, it was a slow process for Tori to fully accept Him and accept being adopted by Him and it took a while to understand her identity. She also shares how it’s dangerous to place our faith in people because people can abuse the name of Jesus and manipulate. She experienced this and wondered, “Why are people proclaiming your name but aren’t living it out?”

She wants to bring people to the gospel and understanding what it truly means to be adopted into God’s family. She also touches on forgiveness and shares,

“Because of His forgiveness, forgiveness flows through me” — Tori 

Minute 20:00 — Jacob shares his dad was his pastor, he would always sith with his mom and siblings on Sunday. He began to see Christianity more like a political position than a godly one. In college, he checked out and was able to “fake” it, put on the mask but his heart wasn’t it. It changed again when he met Tori and she said “Hey we’re going to go to church together”.  He went because he liked this girl but bad habits stuck around that he wasn’t ready to release.

Jacob admits he likes drinking, he enjoyed the culture, picked up those habits in college and he wasn’t ready to give it up. He mentions Furious Longing Of God by Brennan Manning, a story of a man who struggled with alcohol his entire life. Jacob knew it would take something really serious to wake him up and give him the motivation to stop drinking, he shares the wake-up call was a really scary car accident he had after a day of drinking. God has helped him out of that spot he was in, and he shares, “When you stop drinking you find other outlets.”

“I’m not a pastor or world-renowned speaker but I’m a good dad and a great husband.” — Jacob

30:00 We hear their heart for the family and what it means to them.

40:00 Is the story of how they met — Jacob said she knew he existed but he didn’t know she did and we get to hear Tori’s nickname her and her friends had for him!

44:00 Some wedding day stories —
They share how they had a shotgun wedding, having gotten pregnant before marriage and yet God makes ALL things good and the redemption of her childhood at her wedding. Their wedding objection for their guests was for them to have FUN and sounds like that’s just what everyone felt, how fun it really was celebrating them!