Nate and Jennai's Testimony

Hey! It's Nate, the owner of Iron Covenant Collective and I'm an active duty Army veteran. I’m married to my beautiful wife, Jennai, and we have four kids with our fifth on the way. God said to be fruitful and multiply, so here we are, and we definitely will be done once this fifth baby is here (my wife finally agrees).

I met my wife at my first duty station in Georgia. We got married and had our first daughter. At this time, I was very disconnected from God, and I was unknowingly battling a sin that took up residence within me from high school. It came from a life saturated in sin. I was consumed by women, drugs, and partying, which led to addiction. Addiction carried with me in the form of video games that turned into disrespecting my wife frequently, laziness, and not being a present father or husband. Our testimony begins almost seven years later. Our marriage almost failed while we were stationed in Korea where we then had our three kids. Before my wife flew back to the United States from Korea with all three of the kids without me, she said words that still sticks with me to this day (Glory be to God, I know I am forgiven).

On my way to work, I decided to jam to some Kirk Franklin. Halfway through the song, I started crying uncontrollably. I wasn’t sobbing. I was singing the lyrics to the song, but tears kept flowing from my eyes and I was expressionless. His presence filled my car. God will come to us at our lowest times. I promise you this is when I felt the most alone, and He knew. He filled the space I was in. Something inside, which I now know was Jesus, told me CLEARLY to call my wife and tell her “Let’s start doing devotionals.” From that day forward, our marriage turned around completely. We looked to God, and He paved the path of our marriage along with our relationship with Him. We put God first in everything we did, and He’s led us ever since.

But that's not the end of our story. Our testimony continues with our fourth child, Josiah (we currently have 2 girls and 2 boys). Josiah was born with Down's Syndrome (Trisomy 21), and we found out through an NIPT test around 13 weeks of Jennai’s pregnancy. For those who don’t know, 50% of down syndrome babies are miscarried or are stillborn. Additionally, there are many health complications that come with the baby when they’re growing in the womb and after they are born; heart, muscular-skeletal, brain, and essentially every functional organ of a developing child is at risk with Down's Syndrome. The thought of termination briefly crossed our minds (gross), but who do we think we are for not trusting Christ. Who are we to willingly terminate a pregnancy when we have already miscarried four times. The Lord said put our faith in Him, and we did. Josiah is eight months old by the time I have written this. Praise God, he has NO complications! He is growing healthily and steadily like any other baby; our boy is healed and whole. I thank the Lord that Josiah is here every time I look at him. Life has never felt more abundant than it has since our walk with Christ began.

This is our testimony as a married couple, one flesh. If you want to know my full story before I met Jennai, feel free to reach out through DM on Instagram! I’d love to share the lore of Nate Bond and hear and learn more about you guys.

Thank you for making it to the end. Jesus loves us and wants to work in our lives. Jennai and I are living proof of His works.