Outpost Stories
Andy and JoEllen Varian: Trusting in God During Lean times and Plenty
Andy and JoEllen were high school sweethearts who made their relationship with each other a priority in their lives. Growing up with two different family dynamics left Andy with surface level faith and JoEllen with hesitation in regards to faith. Both struggled with the hypocritical attitudes of Christians in their lives which ultimately led to a stronger reliance on God. Dealing with job loss and fertility Andy and JoEllen relied on God’s timing and provision. Read their story to see how in each of these struggles the Varians kept their faith and trust in God.
Read the full story
In high school Andy’s father received a job transfer from Southern California to Central California where JoEllen lived. They were both part of JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) which is how they met.
Andy: I always joke that the first time I asked her out she told me no. I still hung around and she eventually accepted my persistence.
JoEllen: I told him no because I wasn’t allowed to date. We’ve been together since high school; no break ups or anything. We had other adults in our lives and other kids tell us “Relationships when you’re young never last you might as well let it go now.”
A: I have a lot of siblings and so did my dad and grandfather. I grew up with family being very important. All the men pretty much sought out and married their high school sweethearts. So when we met that was my mindset. I was looking for my wife in high school. I don’t blame people for telling us it wasn’t going to last because for the most part they were right. Often there wasn’t commitment.
My mom has always been strong in her faith. She really relied on God growing up so she was always a strong presence for us checking in and asking us what we believed and making sure that we had some level of exposure to faith. We always went to small churches and had good relationships with people and learned about the Bible. I remember getting baptized in my mom’s friends Jacuzzi in her backyard. I think I was seven or eight. I remember thinking this was cool and accepting God into my heart. Of course you don’t have a deep understanding of what it is to pick up the cross and follow Jesus. But as a kid I believed this is the truth and I want to follow God.
I did have that bit of rebellion where I believed in God and that the Bible was true but I wasn’t really delving into it or spending a lot of time with God because part of me, if I was honest with myself, didn’t want to be held accountable. I definitely encountered Christians who engaged in hypocritical behavior. I think everyone’s experienced some disappointment with fellow Christians which makes sense because we’re human and we’re sinful. If we expect someone to be perfect and never mess up it’s an unrealistic expectation.
J: I had two older brothers who were quite a bit older so it almost felt like we were kind of raised separately. It was really just my mom and I who went to church. She raised me Catholic until my Holy Communion. I was eight or nine and we pretty much stopped going after that.
With Christianity I was kind of hesitant at first. A lot of the kids who said they were Christian were some of the meanest girls in the high school and they were the ones who attended the Bible studies so I was pretty hesitant to do anything with the church because of that. I had to learn to get past people’s sin and selfishness. Get past the fact that it’s not about the people. You’re Christian because of God.
I chose to be baptized when I was nineteen and had to learn that lesson again because the pastor that baptized me ended up taking information that he got from our youth group and used it to hurt my family.
Andy and JoEllen were married at 22. They had their oldest son Nathan at 23 and Josh at 26. Between those years JoEllen was finishing up her degree. In 2010 Andy was laid off from his job with the city and they faced foreclosure with their home.
A: It was tough because at the time all the interviews I went to there were hundreds if not thousands of other applicants applying for one position. We ended up losing the house ultimately. In that stress it was really awesome because there was that moment where I went this is not what I planned but I do trust God and I trust that He has a plan.
Originally I thought about law enforcement but then I landed that job with the city so after being laid off I revisited that service interest. I applied to different academies and I was able to get into the academy in Fresno where my sister lived. She offered to let us stay with her so we had a roof over our heads and had resources to survive while I went through a six month academy. I had a little bit of retirement built up before I was laid off so I was able to use that to keep our head above water.
Andy graduated from the academy and had a couple of job offers. One was in California and one was in Wyoming.
A: In California law enforcement it takes about six months to go through the whole background and everything. Wyoming was much more expedited. I got the conditional offer here right away. I wasn’t expecting it so soon and I was nearing the end of the background phase in California.
After calling the lieutenant of the California job Andy learned the man had decided to rescind the job offer after learning about the Wyoming job. In that moment the decision was made.
A: The bad thing is I didn’t talk with my wife at all about any of this. When I did talk with her I said “Hey we’re moving to Wyoming!” That was a little abrupt for her. She was under the impression we were still working on the job in California.
J: We moved within the week of that phone call.
A: That’s kind of where my weaknesses are as far as being a biblical husband. When things come up now I sit back and ask myself how am I communicating or not communicating?
J: Josh was six weeks old when we moved out here. I was pretty mad at Andy for moving us a couple states away from everyone we knew. I didn’t know anyone and just had a baby. It was hard to meet people and there was a lot of loneliness and isolation. It took a lot of trusting God and prayer to build our marriage back to a biblical marriage and not have that anger and resentment anymore.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you future and a hope.”
JoEllen finished up her degree and ended up student teaching at Cody and teaching in Greybull and Powell before ultimately returning to Powell.
J: A lot of people ask if all of our kids are all ours together because there’s a big age gap. We just had a bout of unexplained infertility. They doctors didn’t know what to do. It was all very vague and unhelpful. We went through fertility treatments to try to get pregnant.
I remember praying because it was really rough on me. I wanted to expand and grow our family. So I was praying to God to take this desire out of my heart and make me not want this anymore if it’s not supposed to happen.
In my mind I saw very vividly a little girl who looked like Raegan and this feeling of reassurance just washed over me. I needed to trust God, trust His timing and it would happen when it’s supposed to happen. And sure enough, it did. No fertility treatments or anything.
Through all of this our kids have had different health things: Josh has had several surgeries for his ears. He has partial hearing loss and he also has seizures we are learning how to manage. Last year our daughter Raegan was diagnosed with autism. While trying to navigate all of this our big thing has been I trust you Lord and I know You have good planned for us. We just need to keep listening and keep following You.
In 2011 Andy started his new job with the sheriff’s office in the jail.
A: I didn’t actually know what position I was applying for I just knew there was an opening. When I started I said I’ll sweep outside I don’t care I’m just happy to be working; paying the bills after I’d been unemployed for a while.
Andy eventually ended up on patrol and after a couple years started working in the Cody district. Years later there was an opening for sergeant.
A: One day the previous sheriff talked to me about the under-sheriff job. I wasn’t expecting the job offer so I came back and talked to JoEllen because that’s a lot of responsibility. When I do a job I don’t want to go halfway I want to do a good job. It’s not just me thinking about myself out there. My other big worry is about prioritizing family. There’s definitely some days I fail at prioritizing that. But family should be important. With law enforcement or being a first responder people see tough stuff and have different trauma exposure and a lot of people get divorced. I thought if I can do this and do it well and balance everything I think it’s a good position to make a positive change. I just need to keep getting a little bit better every day and bring a positive attitude.
J: Andy and I watched my parents get divorced when I was in high school and we knew that’s not what we wanted for our lives or our family one day. We wanted a biblical marriage.
Andy and JoEllen started out at a different church. After a time their church began falling apart so when their friends began attending Outpost they began attending as well.
J: We started at Outpost and became members of a group to hold us accountable.
A: Yeah she really pushed for that. It was really good because all these things I was trying to be good at could be intimidating. I remember when she said, “I think we should be members,” and I was like wait that means I have to meet weekly. It was pretty selfish. I had that feeling of discomfort because you know good things come out of hard work and if faith is important to me I should be making it a priority.
J: It really comes down to what it important to you and what you prioritize because we’re all busy we all have full schedules no matter the different lives. It’s about prioritizing what’s truly important: God and family.
"For God didn’t give you a spirit of fear but of power, love and self-control.”
2 Timothy 1:7
Outpost Stories
Andy and JoEllen Varian: Trusting in God During Lean times and Plenty
Andy and JoEllen were high school sweethearts who made their relationship with each other a priority in their lives. Growing up with two different family dynamics left Andy with surface level faith and JoEllen with hesitation in regards to faith. Both struggled with the hypocritical attitudes of Christians in their lives which ultimately led to a stronger reliance on God. Dealing with job loss and fertility Andy and JoEllen relied on God’s timing and provision. Read their story to see how in each of these struggles the Varians kept their faith and trust in God.
Read the full story
In high school Andy’s father received a job transfer from Southern California to Central California where JoEllen lived. They were both part of JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) which is how they met.
Andy: I always joke that the first time I asked her out she told me no. I still hung around and she eventually accepted my persistence.
JoEllen: I told him no because I wasn’t allowed to date. We’ve been together since high school; no break ups or anything. We had other adults in our lives and other kids tell us “Relationships when you’re young never last you might as well let it go now.”
A: I have a lot of siblings and so did my dad and grandfather. I grew up with family being very important. All the men pretty much sought out and married their high school sweethearts. So when we met that was my mindset. I was looking for my wife in high school. I don’t blame people for telling us it wasn’t going to last because for the most part they were right. Often there wasn’t commitment.
My mom has always been strong in her faith. She really relied on God growing up so she was always a strong presence for us checking in and asking us what we believed and making sure that we had some level of exposure to faith. We always went to small churches and had good relationships with people and learned about the Bible. I remember getting baptized in my mom’s friends Jacuzzi in her backyard. I think I was seven or eight. I remember thinking this was cool and accepting God into my heart. Of course you don’t have a deep understanding of what it is to pick up the cross and follow Jesus. But as a kid I believed this is the truth and I want to follow God.
I did have that bit of rebellion where I believed in God and that the Bible was true but I wasn’t really delving into it or spending a lot of time with God because part of me, if I was honest with myself, didn’t want to be held accountable. I definitely encountered Christians who engaged in hypocritical behavior. I think everyone’s experienced some disappointment with fellow Christians which makes sense because we’re human and we’re sinful. If we expect someone to be perfect and never mess up it’s an unrealistic expectation.
J: I had two older brothers who were quite a bit older so it almost felt like we were kind of raised separately. It was really just my mom and I who went to church. She raised me Catholic until my Holy Communion. I was eight or nine and we pretty much stopped going after that.
With Christianity I was kind of hesitant at first. A lot of the kids who said they were Christian were some of the meanest girls in the high school and they were the ones who attended the Bible studies so I was pretty hesitant to do anything with the church because of that. I had to learn to get past people’s sin and selfishness. Get past the fact that it’s not about the people. You’re Christian because of God.
I chose to be baptized when I was nineteen and had to learn that lesson again because the pastor that baptized me ended up taking information that he got from our youth group and used it to hurt my family.
Andy and JoEllen were married at 22. They had their oldest son Nathan at 23 and Josh at 26. Between those years JoEllen was finishing up her degree. In 2010 Andy was laid off from his job with the city and they faced foreclosure with their home.
A: It was tough because at the time all the interviews I went to there were hundreds if not thousands of other applicants applying for one position. We ended up losing the house ultimately. In that stress it was really awesome because there was that moment where I went this is not what I planned but I do trust God and I trust that He has a plan.
Originally I thought about law enforcement but then I landed that job with the city so after being laid off I revisited that service interest. I applied to different academies and I was able to get into the academy in Fresno where my sister lived. She offered to let us stay with her so we had a roof over our heads and had resources to survive while I went through a six month academy. I had a little bit of retirement built up before I was laid off so I was able to use that to keep our head above water.
Andy graduated from the academy and had a couple of job offers. One was in California and one was in Wyoming.
A: In California law enforcement it takes about six months to go through the whole background and everything. Wyoming was much more expedited. I got the conditional offer here right away. I wasn’t expecting it so soon and I was nearing the end of the background phase in California.
After calling the lieutenant of the California job Andy learned the man had decided to rescind the job offer after learning about the Wyoming job. In that moment the decision was made.
A: The bad thing is I didn’t talk with my wife at all about any of this. When I did talk with her I said “Hey we’re moving to Wyoming!” That was a little abrupt for her. She was under the impression we were still working on the job in California.
J: We moved within the week of that phone call.
A: That’s kind of where my weaknesses are as far as being a biblical husband. When things come up now I sit back and ask myself how am I communicating or not communicating?
J: Josh was six weeks old when we moved out here. I was pretty mad at Andy for moving us a couple states away from everyone we knew. I didn’t know anyone and just had a baby. It was hard to meet people and there was a lot of loneliness and isolation. It took a lot of trusting God and prayer to build our marriage back to a biblical marriage and not have that anger and resentment anymore.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you future and a hope.”
JoEllen finished up her degree and ended up student teaching at Cody and teaching in Greybull and Powell before ultimately returning to Powell.
J: A lot of people ask if all of our kids are all ours together because there’s a big age gap. We just had a bout of unexplained infertility. They doctors didn’t know what to do. It was all very vague and unhelpful. We went through fertility treatments to try to get pregnant.
I remember praying because it was really rough on me. I wanted to expand and grow our family. So I was praying to God to take this desire out of my heart and make me not want this anymore if it’s not supposed to happen.
In my mind I saw very vividly a little girl who looked like Raegan and this feeling of reassurance just washed over me. I needed to trust God, trust His timing and it would happen when it’s supposed to happen. And sure enough, it did. No fertility treatments or anything.
Through all of this our kids have had different health things: Josh has had several surgeries for his ears. He has partial hearing loss and he also has seizures we are learning how to manage. Last year our daughter Raegan was diagnosed with autism. While trying to navigate all of this our big thing has been I trust you Lord and I know You have good planned for us. We just need to keep listening and keep following You.
In 2011 Andy started his new job with the sheriff’s office in the jail.
A: I didn’t actually know what position I was applying for I just knew there was an opening. When I started I said I’ll sweep outside I don’t care I’m just happy to be working; paying the bills after I’d been unemployed for a while.
Andy eventually ended up on patrol and after a couple years started working in the Cody district. Years later there was an opening for sergeant.
A: One day the previous sheriff talked to me about the under-sheriff job. I wasn’t expecting the job offer so I came back and talked to JoEllen because that’s a lot of responsibility. When I do a job I don’t want to go halfway I want to do a good job. It’s not just me thinking about myself out there. My other big worry is about prioritizing family. There’s definitely some days I fail at prioritizing that. But family should be important. With law enforcement or being a first responder people see tough stuff and have different trauma exposure and a lot of people get divorced. I thought if I can do this and do it well and balance everything I think it’s a good position to make a positive change. I just need to keep getting a little bit better every day and bring a positive attitude.
J: Andy and I watched my parents get divorced when I was in high school and we knew that’s not what we wanted for our lives or our family one day. We wanted a biblical marriage.
Andy and JoEllen started out at a different church. After a time their church began falling apart so when their friends began attending Outpost they began attending as well.
J: We started at Outpost and became members of a group to hold us accountable.
A: Yeah she really pushed for that. It was really good because all these things I was trying to be good at could be intimidating. I remember when she said, “I think we should be members,” and I was like wait that means I have to meet weekly. It was pretty selfish. I had that feeling of discomfort because you know good things come out of hard work and if faith is important to me I should be making it a priority.
J: It really comes down to what it important to you and what you prioritize because we’re all busy we all have full schedules no matter the different lives. It’s about prioritizing what’s truly important: God and family.
"For God didn’t give you a spirit of fear but of power, love and self-control.”
2 Timothy 1:7
Outpost Stories
Andy and JoEllen Varian: Trusting in God During Lean times and Plenty
Andy and JoEllen were high school sweethearts who made their relationship with each other a priority in their lives. Growing up with two different family dynamics left Andy with surface level faith and JoEllen with hesitation in regards to faith. Both struggled with the hypocritical attitudes of Christians in their lives which ultimately led to a stronger reliance on God. Dealing with job loss and fertility Andy and JoEllen relied on God’s timing and provision. Read their story to see how in each of these struggles the Varians kept their faith and trust in God.
Read the full story
In high school Andy’s father received a job transfer from Southern California to Central California where JoEllen lived. They were both part of JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) which is how they met.
Andy: I always joke that the first time I asked her out she told me no. I still hung around and she eventually accepted my persistence.
JoEllen: I told him no because I wasn’t allowed to date. We’ve been together since high school; no break ups or anything. We had other adults in our lives and other kids tell us “Relationships when you’re young never last you might as well let it go now.”
A: I have a lot of siblings and so did my dad and grandfather. I grew up with family being very important. All the men pretty much sought out and married their high school sweethearts. So when we met that was my mindset. I was looking for my wife in high school. I don’t blame people for telling us it wasn’t going to last because for the most part they were right. Often there wasn’t commitment.
My mom has always been strong in her faith. She really relied on God growing up so she was always a strong presence for us checking in and asking us what we believed and making sure that we had some level of exposure to faith. We always went to small churches and had good relationships with people and learned about the Bible. I remember getting baptized in my mom’s friends Jacuzzi in her backyard. I think I was seven or eight. I remember thinking this was cool and accepting God into my heart. Of course you don’t have a deep understanding of what it is to pick up the cross and follow Jesus. But as a kid I believed this is the truth and I want to follow God.
I did have that bit of rebellion where I believed in God and that the Bible was true but I wasn’t really delving into it or spending a lot of time with God because part of me, if I was honest with myself, didn’t want to be held accountable. I definitely encountered Christians who engaged in hypocritical behavior. I think everyone’s experienced some disappointment with fellow Christians which makes sense because we’re human and we’re sinful. If we expect someone to be perfect and never mess up it’s an unrealistic expectation.
J: I had two older brothers who were quite a bit older so it almost felt like we were kind of raised separately. It was really just my mom and I who went to church. She raised me Catholic until my Holy Communion. I was eight or nine and we pretty much stopped going after that.
With Christianity I was kind of hesitant at first. A lot of the kids who said they were Christian were some of the meanest girls in the high school and they were the ones who attended the Bible studies so I was pretty hesitant to do anything with the church because of that. I had to learn to get past people’s sin and selfishness. Get past the fact that it’s not about the people. You’re Christian because of God.
I chose to be baptized when I was nineteen and had to learn that lesson again because the pastor that baptized me ended up taking information that he got from our youth group and used it to hurt my family.
Andy and JoEllen were married at 22. They had their oldest son Nathan at 23 and Josh at 26. Between those years JoEllen was finishing up her degree. In 2010 Andy was laid off from his job with the city and they faced foreclosure with their home.
A: It was tough because at the time all the interviews I went to there were hundreds if not thousands of other applicants applying for one position. We ended up losing the house ultimately. In that stress it was really awesome because there was that moment where I went this is not what I planned but I do trust God and I trust that He has a plan.
Originally I thought about law enforcement but then I landed that job with the city so after being laid off I revisited that service interest. I applied to different academies and I was able to get into the academy in Fresno where my sister lived. She offered to let us stay with her so we had a roof over our heads and had resources to survive while I went through a six month academy. I had a little bit of retirement built up before I was laid off so I was able to use that to keep our head above water.
Andy graduated from the academy and had a couple of job offers. One was in California and one was in Wyoming.
A: In California law enforcement it takes about six months to go through the whole background and everything. Wyoming was much more expedited. I got the conditional offer here right away. I wasn’t expecting it so soon and I was nearing the end of the background phase in California.
After calling the lieutenant of the California job Andy learned the man had decided to rescind the job offer after learning about the Wyoming job. In that moment the decision was made.
A: The bad thing is I didn’t talk with my wife at all about any of this. When I did talk with her I said “Hey we’re moving to Wyoming!” That was a little abrupt for her. She was under the impression we were still working on the job in California.
J: We moved within the week of that phone call.
A: That’s kind of where my weaknesses are as far as being a biblical husband. When things come up now I sit back and ask myself how am I communicating or not communicating?
J: Josh was six weeks old when we moved out here. I was pretty mad at Andy for moving us a couple states away from everyone we knew. I didn’t know anyone and just had a baby. It was hard to meet people and there was a lot of loneliness and isolation. It took a lot of trusting God and prayer to build our marriage back to a biblical marriage and not have that anger and resentment anymore.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you future and a hope.”
JoEllen finished up her degree and ended up student teaching at Cody and teaching in Greybull and Powell before ultimately returning to Powell.
J: A lot of people ask if all of our kids are all ours together because there’s a big age gap. We just had a bout of unexplained infertility. They doctors didn’t know what to do. It was all very vague and unhelpful. We went through fertility treatments to try to get pregnant.
I remember praying because it was really rough on me. I wanted to expand and grow our family. So I was praying to God to take this desire out of my heart and make me not want this anymore if it’s not supposed to happen.
In my mind I saw very vividly a little girl who looked like Raegan and this feeling of reassurance just washed over me. I needed to trust God, trust His timing and it would happen when it’s supposed to happen. And sure enough, it did. No fertility treatments or anything.
Through all of this our kids have had different health things: Josh has had several surgeries for his ears. He has partial hearing loss and he also has seizures we are learning how to manage. Last year our daughter Raegan was diagnosed with autism. While trying to navigate all of this our big thing has been I trust you Lord and I know You have good planned for us. We just need to keep listening and keep following You.
In 2011 Andy started his new job with the sheriff’s office in the jail.
A: I didn’t actually know what position I was applying for I just knew there was an opening. When I started I said I’ll sweep outside I don’t care I’m just happy to be working; paying the bills after I’d been unemployed for a while.
Andy eventually ended up on patrol and after a couple years started working in the Cody district. Years later there was an opening for sergeant.
A: One day the previous sheriff talked to me about the under-sheriff job. I wasn’t expecting the job offer so I came back and talked to JoEllen because that’s a lot of responsibility. When I do a job I don’t want to go halfway I want to do a good job. It’s not just me thinking about myself out there. My other big worry is about prioritizing family. There’s definitely some days I fail at prioritizing that. But family should be important. With law enforcement or being a first responder people see tough stuff and have different trauma exposure and a lot of people get divorced. I thought if I can do this and do it well and balance everything I think it’s a good position to make a positive change. I just need to keep getting a little bit better every day and bring a positive attitude.
J: Andy and I watched my parents get divorced when I was in high school and we knew that’s not what we wanted for our lives or our family one day. We wanted a biblical marriage.
Andy and JoEllen started out at a different church. After a time their church began falling apart so when their friends began attending Outpost they began attending as well.
J: We started at Outpost and became members of a group to hold us accountable.
A: Yeah she really pushed for that. It was really good because all these things I was trying to be good at could be intimidating. I remember when she said, “I think we should be members,” and I was like wait that means I have to meet weekly. It was pretty selfish. I had that feeling of discomfort because you know good things come out of hard work and if faith is important to me I should be making it a priority.
J: It really comes down to what it important to you and what you prioritize because we’re all busy we all have full schedules no matter the different lives. It’s about prioritizing what’s truly important: God and family.
"For God didn’t give you a spirit of fear but of power, love and self-control.”
2 Timothy 1:7