Trust in the Lord and He will Direct Your Path

Judy Martz | Former Governor, State of Montana 

I’m thankful to be able to speak to you about how I believe the Lord changes hearts, lives and affects the people not only of Montana but of the entire world.

I just want to share a few reasons why I believe God is so in charge of our lives. I’ll share a few of my experiences because when Jesus walked the earth, he spoke in parables, and parables are very understanding.

My husband had the opportunity while I was in office to ride in an F-16. About a month before that we were in Mexico and a hurricane was blowing in. During that hurricane my husband stayed out in the hot tub watching the ocean just pound in on the rocks under the lights on the shore. He stayed out there until about two o’clock in the morning. When he finally came in I said, “What were you doing out there until two o’clock in the morning?”

He said, “I was watching the awesome power of God. I’ve never seen anything so powerful.”

About three weeks later we came home to Montana, and he had this opportunity to ride in an F-16. This had been in the plans for some time. I didn’t want to join him because I had given up one of my kidneys to my sister. I thought it would be boring to the pilot because I wouldn’t be able to take the G-Forces. We volunteered my husband instead. Of course he was interested because he is a pilot as well.

As he was getting ready to go, they said that he couldn’t go because the helmet made him claustrophobic. However they rigged up a way for him to take the face mask on and off and still have oxygen. So he took off. My daughter and I were on the ground in Great Falls as this powerful product of freedom came across the tarmac only a few feet off the ground, and I said, “Wow. That is the sound of freedom!” The ground was shaking and our hearts were shaking and you could feel it in every fiber of your being. And there went my husband up with this pilot, who actually had the most hours flying in an F-16 than any pilot in the world. So I felt he was safe.

They were gone about an hour and a half. When they came back they flew close down over the tarmac again and banked real hard up again, and I said to my daughter again, “The pilot either loves your dad or hates your dad!” When they finally landed, my husband said to me, “Wow. That is the most powerful thing I have ever felt! That is the awesome power of God.” And I said, “Well what about the hurricane? Which is it?”

“Both,” he said. “The Lord is everywhere.”

When I say the Lord, I’m talking about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I think He is in the life-changing business. And He has so changed my life. I am no more the same person I was 39 years ago when I realized that something had to be different in this life than just striving to do things better and better. This is when I came to the knowledge that Jesus Christ is that something different.

I know everybody does not believe the way I do. But I do know this: if you believe somewhat the way I do, you will have peace in your heart. Peace that passes all understanding. I have known this. I was born and raised in a different religion. In that religion it was binding, but in Jesus Christ it is all freeing. He is in the business of giving us those tools that we need to live this life.

I look back when I was on the Olympic team, and I wish I would have known Him then. When I was speed skating I was excited because people knew who I was. I was an international athlete, an Olympian. It was somewhat important to me. It was important to have that acceptance from my family. My brother was an All-American football player. He led the nation in punting for small colleges. I saw how my dad appreciated that, and I wanted that appreciation as well.

When I found the love of Jesus Christ I realized that I wasn’t really seeking the approval of my earthly dad, I was seeking the approval of my heavenly father.

You’ll hear people say that He is walking around. Well He isn’t walking around; He is living inside of us. To me this is not a religion. This is a way of life. In the Old Testament He talks about the Ten Commandments. In the New Testament He talks about loving. That is all He says we have to do is love. And through love, the Ten Commandments will be fulfilled.

It was a great pleasure and a great joy to be the Governor of the State of Montana. But I don’t know if I would have recognized that pleasure and joy if I had not had the love of God inside of me. He taught me to dig down deep. He taught me not to cry all the time, since I cry over hurt, over happy, and for many other things. He taught me not to cry all the time and keep my eyes focused on the goal. I think we served eight years in four. We put in our time. We did the time. I think the only way that we could have done what we did was by keeping our eye on the goal.

I’m going to give one more story, an example of keeping my eye on the goal, and then I will finish.

When I was lieutenant Governor, one of the media people came to me in my office. He asked, because I’d been on the Olympic team in 1964, if I could come to a rink on the end of town and skate for him. I said, “Sure, but I won’t put on those dinky little tights that speed skaters wear!”

The camera person was there and said, “Alright. Now skate toward me and stop and splash ice up toward me.” So I skated toward her and as I looked up at the end of the fence, there were these little tiny five- and six-year-old kids, the children who wanted to get on the ice. They were paying for the ice I was showing off on. They were hockey players. I asked if they wanted to be on TV. And of course they did. They came clamoring on with their hockey gear, they looked like little Ninja Turtles, and I told them we should race. We got on the ice, down on the end where the hockey goal is, and we were going to skate to the other end. When we took off I was in the stance of the speed skater, and the little guy next to me, before the coach blows the whistle, jumped the gun. So I went with him. We started skating down the ice. And he was very good. He was skating right next to me. He was keeping up with me but I couldn’t show that I really want to beat those kids. I mean I was 58 then and I really wanted to beat them. They were six. That is the old competitive spirit within me. But I couldn’t show that because their parents were in the stands. I started pulling out all my tricks I know as a speed skater. I got lower and lower. The lower you get the farther out your leg goes and the farther you go forward. Yet he must have known those same tricks because he was keeping up with me.

As we got almost to the goal, he fell down. Now I didn’t push him! I didn’t touch him! He just fell. We ended up being buddies and all that stuff. But here is the crux of the story:

In Montana, wheat farmers hold their wheat as long as they can. They hold it in their bins till the price comes up. Cattlemen hold their cattle till they are fat enough. And small business people have the fortitude to hang in there one more year to change their economy and their families’ economy. And that was the kind of competitive spirit I found inside of me that day. And I hope it never goes away. I’ll never be as fast as I was in 1964, but thanks be to God that I’m a healthy person. I know He is the ruler of my life. And I will do anything as He brings me forth and testify of Him, every day of my life as long as I life.

Again I thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit about my life, a little bit about parables, but most of all about the Lord and what He created us to do. He created us to worship Him. What we do is all about Him. Not all about us.