© 2011 Anne Morel
© 2011 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
Editor’s note: There are remarkable beings that we rub shoulders with without being fully aware of it until the day when their presence bursts into the full light of friendship (of the editorial staff). This is the case with Anne, a young woman as elegant as she is brilliant and whose vivacity radiates simplicity. Her strength: enthusiasm in the noblest sense of the term! Fully a woman and so close to the Eternal that her testimony wonderfully closes the theme of the Eternal Feminine, a subject that she revisits in her own way.
With self-denial and modesty, Anne decided to realize the professional dream of her husband whom she met in their youth! “What a woman wants, God wants!” Anne’s living faith made it possible to manifest this ambitious project in reality, taking priority over other matrimonial projects. Thank you Anne for sharing this intimate experience as a couple with us!
When I got married, I promised my husband that I would support him in whatever he did. Deep down, I prayed that the Lord would give me the strength to honor the promise I made and to be the wife he needed. I must say that as always, I was heard and I had many opportunities to hold on to that prayer.
It all started in 2004 when my husband found his path, … that of the air. He wanted to become a professional pilot and for him as for me, that meant starting from scratch, setting up a project, finding substantial funding and embarking on an adventure. This began in Florida with his first Private Pilot license and continued for three years with a marriage in between, numerous transatlantic crossings and 9 months of living together under the coconut trees.
When it was time to return to Switzerland, my husband had to tackle the final stretch of his training and convert his licenses to be able to practice his profession in Europe. This involved new logistics and once again I had to put all my energy in the same direction as him: to pass the 14 mandatory theoretical exams as quickly as possible. Several of his friends had already tried with varying degrees of success and in varying degrees of time. Ambitious, my husband decided to take the 14 exams at the first possible date. My contribution therefore consisted of two points: financially supporting our family unit through my work alone and helping him with his theoretical preparation. Concretely, I copied and pasted some 9,000 questions on paper so that he could practice and memorize the material. Success was there and my husband brilliantly passed his exams first time.
A few weeks and about ten applications later, he was offered a position as co-pilot in a local private jet company. This offer was the first and I knew it came from God. If his career had been smooth sailing up until then, the global economy was going downhill * and the 2008 crisis caused his company to stumble. In October, he received a call telling him that they would not be able to follow up on their offer and that he would have to find another opportunity. It was a shock for me because how could we find another job in such a difficult economic context? What followed was an intense year where our only resource was to cling to each other. Doubt set in for my husband and by contagion for me: had we made the right choice? What to do?
This same company called back in December 2009 asking if he was still interested. If so, they renewed their offer but on better terms: co-pilot on a larger plane and they would finance the qualification on the aircraft themselves if my husband agreed to commit for two years. Out of breath, it was a great surprise and this divine wink arrived when he had just decided to give up his career as a pilot.
After two years at cruising altitude, my husband suggested that I take on a new challenge in his profession with him and I am taking it on with pleasure and hopefully, with success. I have chosen not to be an obstacle on the course but to be a feminine support, with the help of the Eternal.
* s’encoubler: French-speaking Swiss term, to get one’s feet tangled up, to get entangled in something lying on the ground.
Anne Morel
