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Julia Moore and three of her five children — Lincoln, Lauren and Rebecca — sit in the garden in front of their nearly completed home.

GRANT CITY, Mo. – Heart heavy with each step, Julia Moore walked around the perimeter of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Her husband, Donald, lay dying with cancer. Their five children faced an uncertain future. Anguish had driven Julia from bed in the middle of the night to pace and pray.

Donald had enrolled at seminary in Dallas, Texas, with dreams of serving God as a bi-vocational minister. However, the discovery of Hodgkins lymphoma meant a much different path. As Julia walked the sidewalks that night, she begged God not to waste the experience, but to use it for something good.

“My prayer became, ‘Don’t let me waste this,’” she said.

More than two years later, Julia stands on the steps of a nearly finished home at Grant City and gathers her children ages 5 to 14 around her. She is determined to use the painful tragedy to point others to hope.

“This story is all about God,” she said. “He cares about the little things and the big things as well.”

As Donald’s time on earth grew short, the Moore family longed to return to Missouri. The couple had met at Northwest Missouri State University, where they both earned degrees to teach agriculture education.

Family friends offered the use of an old farm house in Worth County, where Julia is from and her family lives. The setting was perfect for Donald to spend his last few months, Julia said.

On Aug. 14, 2006, Donald died. And at age 34, Julia became a widow.

“It’s a strange shadowland I venture in,” she said.

She put her education degree to work and became an English teacher at Worth County High School. She has shared online writings to encourage other young widows.

“God has provided for us continually without fail,” she said.

She is grateful for use of the house, but the aging house is much too small for a family of six. The remote location is 15 miles from her parents and 12 miles from school. She looked for a house, but couldn’t find anything that met their needs.

Julia became acquainted with Charles McCrary, a patrolman with the Missouri State Highway Patrol who is also an active part of Missouri Baptist Builders. He told Julia if she could provide a plot of land and the materials, they’d make sure she’d get her house built.

“I just wanted a place we could sink some roots and serve God,” she said. “This is where he led us.”

They broke ground on the site in May 2008. Julia created her own floor plan to suit the rural setting, as well as five children. In “Extreme Makeover” fashion, the builders descended for one week last October. They framed the entire house, roofed it and put up the walls in the basement.

Julia said every church of all denominations in Worth County was represented during the construction. Pastors, retirees, state troopers, church members and countless volunteers hammered nails and women brought in meals.

“It’s been a real community effort,” Mr. McCrary said.

Before the workers began construction, Julia went over the floor plan, then shared her testimony. The volunteers were all stirred by the recounting of her journey.

“Just meeting her and seeing all she’s been through, God is right in the middle of it,” Mr. McCrary said.

Builders did electrical and plumbing work on the new house. Crews will come back to do finish work, tiling and the ceiling. When First Baptist Church of Albany built a new building, Julia rescued two stained glass windows from the old building that will go in her new office.

The Moore family hopes to be in their new home this summer.

“There is no way we could have a home like this without the Baptist Builders,” Julia said. “I don’t know how many man hours have gone into this.”

The children are equally amazed at their blessings. Lincoln, age 5, has grown up in a house without closets. When his room was framed in, he timidly asked his mother whose room was in the back of his. She assured him it was just a closet for his clothes.

“It looks like someone else’s house,” said Victoria, age 11.

For the young widow, sitting on the nearly finished porch of her home on a warm summer evening feels like living in God’s fulfilled promise. Shortly after her husband’s death, Julia was drawn to Jeremiah 29, where the Lord delivered detailed instructions to the Israelites living in exile: “Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce ... Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage ... Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you in exile.”

“We’re building a house we’re going to live in. We have a garden and we’re going to eat its produce this year,” Julia said. “We’re praying for the community we live in. We’re taking it one step at a time.”

Susan Mires can be reached at susanm@npgco.com.