How one couple’s sacrifice turned out to be priceless

Will and Rose Boozer’s Story

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Will and Rose Boozer married in 2007 knowing God was for them, even if the odds were against them.

The Northeast Columbia couple's plan was always to have a family one day.

It didn’t matter the statistics said Rose’s genetic disorder, cystic fibrosis, would shorten her average life expectancy to her early 40s.

It didn’t matter that carrying the baby to term would be hard on Rose’s already frail body, prone to potentially deadly respiratory infections.

Rose knew she had the heart of a mother, and she had so much love to give.

"I loved children, and I just thought that Will and I would make great parents,” she says. "Because of my health, I knew that becoming a mother, carrying a baby and being a mom, was going to be a challenge, but I had faith that Jesus would get me through all of that."

The burden was strong enough that she gave up the chance of joining a clinical trial for an exciting new cystic fibrosis medication because she wouldn’t be allowed to get pregnant if she participated.

For two years, Will and Rose tried to conceive, and they were crushed every time the pregnancy tests came back negative.

In 2012, after fertility testing, they received the final, devastating news: conceiving by natural means would be impossible for them.

We just let Jesus take control, and we would have faith in him and follow him wherever he led us — Will

Shattered Dreams

Faith in Jesus had marked their relationship from the beginning.

Will, then a boyfriend of just a few months, was by her side all two weeks during Rose’s first hospitalization at 18, when she thought she might not live to be his wife.

They were watching a church service together on the small television in her room the Sunday morning when Rose cried out to God to be saved.

“If you'll just get me through this,” Rose remembers saying, "I promise I'll live the rest of my life for you."

But Rose’s faith wavered. She felt as though God didn’t love because her prayers — and her heart’s deepest desire — would remain unfulfilled.

All Will could do was be her rock and point to Jesus.

He knew now was the time to remember that faith in God’s perfect will was what mattered in the end.

“When we decided to get married, we didn't worry about the disease and let that play a factor. We just let Jesus take control, and we would have faith in him and follow him wherever he led us,” Will says.

They didn’t have God’s peace about adoption or in vitro fertilization, but the two started saving money toward the cost of pursuing another option just in case.

God At Work

God’s spectacular work at NewSpring Church was what drew them to attend and get involved in 2010.

They were captivated by the vision of reaching 100,000 people for Jesus by opening up campuses all over South Carolina.

At a special event the summer of 2012 to kick off the Step Up fundraising campaign, they heard Perry Noble mention that one of the new locations they were eyeing was Northeast Columbia — close enough to home to invite friends and family.

She hadn’t received her miracle, Rose told herself, but there were miracles to celebrate all around her — people asking Jesus into their lives, addicts set free, marriages restored.

Both knew they had to support the Step Up campaign financially. The only question was how much they would be called to sacrifice.

I didn’t have any idea how we were going to do it, but I was going to do whatever I had to do to reach that commitment — Will

A Priceless Promise

On a morning drive a few weeks later, Rose heard God speak to her heart in a way that she had never heard His voice before or since.

“I heard God speak to me and say, ‘Rose give the money that you would spend on having a baby and give it to the church, and I will give you the child that I've been praying for,’” Rose says.

Trust welled up instantly within her, along with a flood of tears. The experience was both exciting and overwhelming.

Perhaps God would place before them an opportunity to adopt at some point in the future?, she thought. For sure it meant giving up a child that would be biologically theirs, she told herself.

Will didn’t blink about giving up the baby fund. Just to see fresh fire in his wife’s flagging faith was worth the financial sacrifice.

Then Will felt God tell him to go a step further — give the baby fund plus 10 percent of the income from the concrete finishing business he’d grown to 15 employees over the course of 7 years.

"I didn’t have any idea how we were going to do it, but I was going to do whatever I had to do to reach that commitment,” Will says.

An Unexpected Gift

Having abandoned hopes for a pregnancy, Rose had started the clinical trial drug a few months before, and her health was improving drastically.

At her lowest point, Rose’ breathing capacity was just a third of a normal person, with the nearly constant infections and hospitalizations sapping her strength and hope.

But with the medication, she was struggling less and breathing much easier.

That’s why she was so surprised, nearly a year later, when she began to experience some unexpected congestion, fatigue and other flu-like symptoms.

She thought her friends were crazy when they suggested taking a pregnancy test. She didn’t think she had the courage after dealing with the disappointment so many times before.

The result was positive. Nine months after God promised her a child, she found herself 9 weeks pregnant.

That wasn’t the only blessing either — Will’s business was booming.

"We immediately grabbed hands, and started praying, thanking God that he chose us to have a miracle,” she says.

The Greatness of God

Rose’s pregnancy turned out to be routine, so much so that that Rose's doctors were at a loss to explain it.

In January 2015, their daughter, Whaley, was born healthy, and just a few months later, she became the second child in KidSpring at the Northeast Columbia Community Campus, the same campus they had prayed for.

Rose’s special medication continues to improve her lung function — now a half of normal — and her extra energy is always just enough to keep up with her active daughter.

“For once I don't worry about if I'm going to be able to take care of her for the rest of her life,” she says.

God rewarded the Boozer’s obedience in sacrificial giving in a way they never expected, and they could never have imagined.

Watch the video at the top of the page to see how the Boozers' story is proof of God’s greatness.