A Good Word

Fully Restored

By Patty Kennedy

Evangeline Zorehkey, the daughter of newly elected General Superintendent George O. Wood and his wife, Jewel, grew up in the Assemblies of God. When she was just four years old, her father began pastoring Newport-Mesa Christian Center in Costa Mesa, California, where the family remained for the next 17 years. Evangeline attended Christian schools in kindergarten and first grade, and then again in junior high and high school. She is a graduate of Vanguard University in Costa Mesa.

By the time Evangeline was in her early 20s, most of her Christian friends had either moved away or married. At this same time, her father left the church in Costa Mesa to serve as assistant superintendent in the southern California district office. Evangeline started spending more time with non-Christian friends and, because her dad no longer occupied the pulpit every week, it became easier to avoid going to church. She eventually ended up only attending when her dad came to the city to speak.

In February 1991, she became engaged to a man who was the son of friends of her parents. However, she had misgivings and realized that she couldn’t, in good conscience, go through with it. She called off the engagement two months prior to the scheduled wedding—after some 700 invitations had been prepared for mailing.

Immediately after calling off her engagement, Evangeline left for a business convention. The first night there, she and her associate had a business dinner with Rick Zorehkey and his brother. Evangeline was immediately attracted to Rick, and just five months after they met, she called her parents to tell them she and Rick were in Las Vegas and would soon be married. Though the Woods did not approve of Evangeline and Rick’s decision, they knew that, since Rick would now be their son-in-law, they needed to love him and reach out to him. When the newlyweds returned, they met the Woods at a restaurant for lunch. Jewel expressed her hurt, but told Rick she was determined to love him as her son-in-law.

Evangeline knew she had strayed from the Lord and her Christian upbringing. She sensed God had been trying to reach her and Rick for some time, but they were ignoring Him. Crippled with pain from ankylosing spondylitis, a nasty autoimmune disease, Evangeline began receiving oral chemotherapy treatment. Doctors informed her that the harsh effects of the methyltrexate would likely mean she would never have children.

The Assemblies of God biennial General Council has always been a priority for the Wood family, and in 1995 Evangeline and Rick traveled to St. Louis to attend. When people were encouraged to come receive prayer for healing, Rick felt compelled to take Evangeline to the altar. Though he had not yet committed his life to Christ, he sensed God could heal his wife—and she was healed instantly.

Evangeline became pregnant, and although she miscarried her first child, she conceived again fairly quickly. As soon as Jacob was born, in 1997, Evangeline’s disease came back. She is firmly convinced that God healed her so she could bear a child.

Jacob had just turned four when Evangeline recalls noting that Rick had been rather distant. At first she ignored it, telling herself they were living the American dream. Nine days after the 2001 terrorist attacks, the two of them went to dinner together, and Evangeline confronted Rick. After a period of silence, Rick told Evangeline that he had been committing adultery for four years, with various partners. Rather than being sorrowful, though, he said he wanted out of the marriage.

Evangeline called her father, and he prayed with her and gave her wise counsel. She cried out to God, committing to give her life completely to Him, and determined her son would grow up in a Christian home. Rick saw an instant change in her, but thought she was faking it just to keep him around. But after two months passed, he realized Evangeline’s change was genuine. He said he wanted to stay in the marriage. Evangeline agreed on two conditions: he would never commit adultery again, and their son would be raised Christian. He agreed.

In just two short months, Evangeline was amazed when Rick asked if he could accompany her to Saddleback Church. A voracious reader, he began poring over all he could get his hands on about Christianity. Though initially his search was motivated by a desire to prove Evangeline wrong, he earnestly wanted to know if eternal life was real.

God really worked through Evangeline’s pain and suffering to start Rick on the road to salvation. She would go to bed with Rick at night, and after he fell asleep, she got up and cried out to God for hours. She forgave Rick right away, but it took her three years to fully love and trust him again. When Rick accepted Christ on Good Friday in 2005, Evangeline says “the final scar fell off,” and she knew she had completely forgiven him.

Now Rick is very active in ministry. He teaches leadership training, oversees seven men’s groups in his church, and leads a men’s study. In addition, he and Evangeline host a couples’ home group. He strives to put on his “God goggles” every day, so he can magnify God in every moment.

Evangeline says Rick has inspired her in her Christian walk. He is the one who will not just walk by a homeless person—he asks if they need food or if he can pray with them. In the past, Evangeline admits being content to be “comfortable” in her Christian walk, but since 2001 she hasn’t wanted to be comfortable anymore—she wants to minister to hurting people.

Rick never asked Evangeline to marry him the first time—he just said “let’s get married” and they went to Vegas. This year, though, he officially proposed to Evangeline. They are renewing their vows on a trip to Israel in 2008, and Evangeline’s father will perform the ceremony.