Meet the Women of NAOBC – Tori Hurley

On Mondays, we’ll take time to meet the women of NAOBC. Five questions followed by how you can connect with the NAOBC women on social media. Today’s interview is with Tori Hurley.

Q: Tell us about yourself

A. Logan and I are looking forward to our third anniversary this May! Our family is still small, but we have a little Cavapoo named Mr. Rochester who’s an expert cuddler. I work at JCTC in the Grants & Contracts department. Normally, my office is downtown, but since last March, I’ve been home with Logan and the pup. It’s gonna be hard to go back to being away from them!

Q: Tell us about your time at NAOBC

A: I moved to Louisville as soon as Logan proposed in the fall of 2017, and I immediately began attending NAOBC, which I’d visited a few times. I came from a slightly toxic church environment, and joining NAOBC was like a breath of fresh air. I loved the focus on outreach and pressing in to each other. Dr. Cook balanced dedication to Biblical truths and grace for others in a way I hadn’t seen from a pastor. Then Logan and I joined YC7 accidentally. We were trying to visit all young couples’ BFGs, and we’d already visited YC7. They moved to a new room, and we went to that room thinking it was a different BFG. By the time we sat down, we realized it was the same one we’d visited a week before. Since we liked them anyway, we decided we’d pick this one! And how providential that was! We have been so loved by YC7 and so thankful to serve with them. And since our youth minister is in the same BFG, I spoke with him in 2019 about serving in the youth group. Since then, I’ve gotten to meet the best middle school girls in any church. I’m impressed by them every time we do C-Groups together.

Q: What is a fun fact that most people wouldn’t know about you?

A: No one can beat me at Tetris.

Q: What woman has made the most impact in your life?

A: Her name is Laura Atkins, and she lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. We’ve been friends since 2010, and I’ve been blessed to visit her four times. I didn’t see a healthy model of marriage growing up so it’s been helpful to get to know Laura and her husband Scott. She’s the most selfless, serving wife, and takes care of her husband who suffers from autism to a point he’s often home-bound. Yet she doesn’t complain or act put-out. She has nothing but kind things to say about others, and she genuinely loves to listen to others and learn from them. She’s taught me how to boldly be myself, serve my husband, and be fair in the way I talk about others.

Q: What is something the Lord has taught you in the last year?

A: It’s simple, but I’m learning that God loves me. Last summer, I was in a wallow of depression and questioning if God loved me. I was struggling with infertility (still am), fatherlessness, and a recent diagnosis of fibromyalgia. You can have all your theological ducks in a row, but when trials hit you one after another, they won’t stand up straight if you don’t believe God truly loves you down to your heart. I was wrestling with this question. I reached out to a few ladies in my BFG and let them in on where my heart was at. Quickly afterwards, one of them bought me a copy of “Gentle and Lowly” by Dane Ortlund. The book directly addressed my doubts and changed a lot in how I viewed God’s heart towards me. It’s so hard to articulate, especially when it’s something we can get so used to hearing that it becomes white noise. Yet it’s the most essential truth to internalize. We can love because He first loved us, and I think we can love better the more we internalize that.

You can follow Tori on Instagram @torilyndy