Q & A with Katie Hamilton

STV: You and Josh were married in November 2004 when he was sober. What was like for you as his wife to watch him relapses only a few months later?

KH: His first relapse lasted for only about 24 hours. But it was enough to really scare me. And then he got sober again for another four months, before he decided to drink the night of his birthday (May 2005). It was definitely an eye opener. 

I spent a lot of time in prayer during the days that followed his initial relapse. And that is when I felt God laying on my heart that Josh was going to get back into baseball. And that He was going to give him a platform to share his testimony and share what God had done in his life.
 
It was completely out of the blue that I felt God laying that on my heart ’cause I never really thought about him playing baseball again. He wasn’t playing either time we dated, I had never seen him play, and I just figured that he had been out for so long, he probably would do something different with his life.

STV: What did you do once you felt that God was calling Josh back to baseball?

KH: Well, it wasn’t like Josh was doing so great. So, I asked my pastor’s wife and she said, “God will give us a vision for His will in our lives for the future so we keep the faith and keep serving him.”

Obviously little did I know what the rest of 2005 going to hold for me and Josh. It wasn’t a very good year. And during the worst of his addition I kept thinking back to that time, and I kept thinking, you know Lord, I must have been so wrong, did I just imagine that you told me that. Did I just dream it, was it something that I wanted. And the Lord always just told me to wait. I never felt him telling me, “No, I am not going to deliver him from this addiction.” I just always felt Him telling me to wait.

STV: Was there a specific Scripture that encouraged you during that time?

KH: There were many times I just wanted to quit praying for Josh, but God would bring me back to Isaiah 40:31, which says, “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength” (NIV). And God was always so faithful to renew my strength and desire to pray for Josh on a daily basis. 

Every morning I would wake up and have so much energy and such a strong desire to pray for him. And it was something I couldn’t deny or fight. And when you pray for someone that much, God gives you a love for them. My heart could never really leave the marriage because I was praying for him so frequently and often.

STV: How did watching Josh's struggle challenge you spiritually?

KH: It really strengthened my faith and my relationship with Christ. I have been saved since I was four, but I didn’t understand what it was to have an intimate relationship with the Lord. I completely missed it until Josh’s addiction. And then, spending so much time in prayer and really communicating with the Lord, fasting and praying, I finally got it. This is what it is like to have a relationship with the Lord.

STV: Josh really had a great first season with the Rangers. How do you feel he has handled that success?

KH: I think he has done remarkable, and he is just so humble. He is still the same Josh he was last year, before the MLB Home Run Derby. He is just himself, and one thing I have been so proud of him about is he has just taken every opportunity to give glory to the Lord because we know that his talent comes from Him. God allowed this [success] to happen. It is not about us, it is all about Him. So, we are just thrilled that God has given us a platform to share Christ with people. The fact that Josh has done well has given him a little bit of recognition and he has just been able to turn that right back over to the Lord and say, “no it is not about me, it is about Christ.”

STV: How have you seen Josh grow spiritually during these past years?

KH: There has been change, after change, after change. One of my favorite changes is that he is the spiritual leader in our home now. He never used to pray out loud.  He would ask me to bless the food and pray for things, because he didn’t want to do it. He was very afraid of what people would think. But shortly after he got sober he started praying out loud, and now, he will pray in front of a thousand people. He knows he is praying for an audience of One. 

It really has been such a blessing to watch that whole transition of him becoming a spiritual leader in our home, listening to him pray with our children and helping them learn Bible verses. I know the Lord has blessed my life.

--For more stories about faith and sport, visit www.sharingthevictory.com, the official magazine of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. To subscribe to STV, click here.