Meet Elise and Steve

Elise and Steve, tell us about your family.

We have just recently become a family of four! My husband Steve and I have been married for five years. We have 2.5 year old called Archie and a three-month-old little girl called Olive. We love people, good food (especially those two things together), music, and sport! We currently live on my parents’ property in a little house next door to theirs. 

What does a typical week look like for you?

Elise is currently on maternity leave from her job as a midwife to look after our two kids. Elise’s week is made up of coffee, cooking, swimming lessons, Bible studies, park hangs, playgroups, and a lot of backyard ball sports of all kinds with Archie. Steve works as a financial planner. He works from home four days a week, and he’s in the city one day a week. We love having people over for dinner, so you won’t often find our dinner table with just the four of us around it. 

What do you enjoy doing together on a day off?

We love going out for breakfast and then heading to the park or hanging around at home after a slow morning making pancakes. We also love sport, so in the footy season, we enjoy going to games together. If we do get a free weekend, though, we love going to Avoca Beach. 

What are the things you appreciate the most about living in the Box Hill area? 

Elise: My favourite thing by far is Cornerstone, which sounds like a cheeky answer when they are the ones who have asked me this question, but it’s true!  We joined the launch team not long after moving back into the area, and this community has really helped us to settle in. We have made new friends really quickly, and it has made this area feel like home. I also love that there is so much opportunity to connect with new families, especially mums in the area. It can be quite isolating caring for little ones 24/7 with no one around, so there are such awesome opportunities to connect people into our community. Cornerstone has also really helped me on my journey as a Christian—I feel so encouraged and challenged after meeting on a Sunday. 

Steve: I echo Elise on Cornerstone, but I also do enjoy the quiet bush and the sound of nature. We moved out here from North Sydney, so it’s one of the first things I noticed.

How long have you been Christians, and who was it that first told you about Jesus?

Elise: I grew up in a Christian family, but it wasn’t until late high school and early uni when I started to take my faith seriously. My parents have not only taught me the gospel  from a young age, but demonstrated it in action to me my whole life. I’ve also been extremely encouraged by two woman in particular—Naomi and Susie—who both kept pointing me to Jesus when I had doubts. I’m so thankful to both of them. There have been highs and lows since I put my trust in Jesus. I’ve learnt that, through all seasons, God is a good God who loves and cares for me. He is also sovereign over all things and has a plan for me and my family, and I find a real comfort and peace knowing that truth.

Steve: I grew up having a works-based understanding of Christianity: thinking that I had to do the good things and avoid the bad things as much as I could. I came to the realisation that this was pointless as I always failed even though I tried hard—I was never going to come close to God’s standard. But once I understood grace when I was 16, I knew God’s love for me was beyond my comprehension. That he would love me so much that he would die for me in the way that he did. I am forever thankful, and I want to live a life of sacrifice and love for those around me. 

I had people tell me the gospel my whole life, but it did not sink in for a long time. I am thankful for a few key people such as Ian, Kurt, Kenno, and Doddsy. 

What has encouraged you from God’s word recently?

Elise: I’m currently running a Christianity Explored group for people to meet Jesus, and every week, I am encouraged by the love of God. I particularly love being reminded of his grace—that despite everything we’ve done or will do, God loves us and forgives us. God just wants to be in relationship with us and wants us to meet him where we are at. 

Steve: I have been looking at the gospel of John recently, and I am astounded at how Jesus communicated with people. He does not come down and whip us to be better people, but instead, he seeks our hearts and the deep mysteries of our souls. For example, in John 1, he asks ‘What are you seeking?’, and later on in Chapter 3, he says that ‘unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’. He wants us to think deeply about our lives and our purpose. He wants us to seek, find, and to truly delve into what he might be saying. To be born again is to be saved by Jesus blood and to live an ever transforming life with a new lens. 

What are your hopes for your family and your children?

Our greatest hope for our children is that they would be followers of Jesus, and we pray that God would use us as a family unit to bring other people to him too. This is not always easy to remember in the day to day of raising kids (especially a toddler),  but when we do reflect on this, it reminds us of where we want our priorities to be as parents and as a family. 

______