Back when we were in college, my wife Ashley’s nickname was “Strong Independent Woman.” Our friends used to joke about it because it always seemed like Ashley was someone who could handle pretty much anyone or anything.
Throughout the years I’ve known her, “Strong Independent Woman” has been a nickname that always seemed to fit her well. After all, she married me. I can be tough to be around sometimes. And then seeing what kind of a mother she’s been to our three kids and watching how she handled things when we left our home in Texas to plant a church in Bar Nunn, Wyoming—through it all, she really has been “Strong Independent Woman.”
But I didn’t fully understand just how well that nickname fit her until October 2024, when she started getting sick.
Ashley was eventually diagnosed with small round cell sarcoma. It’s a very rare, very aggressive cancer. There are only 200 people in the world who have ever had it. We ended up having to drive—over and over again—800 miles round-trip from our home in Bar Nunn, Wyoming, to Salt Lake City, first for 14 rounds of the most intense chemo they have, and then for six weeks of radiation. Through it all, I was blown away at how God made Ashley strong.
She’d been helping lead worship at our church plant in Bar Nunn, and she refused to quit serving during that time. She said, “I’m going to be up there every Sunday I can,” and, other than the time she missed when we were away for radiation and two Sundays when she was too sick to get out of bed, she did just that. She was up there on stage leading our congregation to praise the Lord with no hair, no eyebrows, and no energy. It was beautiful to watch.
Not long ago, someone asked her, “What are you most proud of during that time?” She didn’t even have to think about her answer. She immediately said, “God has been so good to us, it would’ve been sinful to complain. That was really, really hard, but I didn’t complain about it. I’m proud of that.”
It makes me emotional just thinking about it. We committed to give thanks to the Lord no matter what was going on, and that decision to be grateful in all circumstances trickled down to our children. They didn’t complain about missing events or having to do all that traveling. They saw Ashley giving thanks to God in every circumstance, and it changed them. It changed me, too.
That’s why when I was asked, “Who’s your Annie Armstrong?” I knew right off—it’s Ashley. From what I’ve read, Annie Armstrong was a woman who would stop at nothing, who’d do whatever it took, to show people just how good and how great Jesus is.
That’s Ashley too. She is, and always will be, my Annie Armstrong.