Philip Ganzfried was and will always be the LOVE of my life. He was my true prince, a protector, a provider, a comforter, a source of laughter, and my best friend.
I am sitting here in his favorite spot, one month after he tragically passed away in his sleep without warning. My heart is heavy with grief, but I want to share with you the man he was and the impact he will have for eternity. He finished this book just weeks before he passed away, and he was so excited to hold his author copies. He had talked about writing these things down for our entire eight years of marriage. He joked about how ironic it was that God was using him to write a book.
You see, he hated to read books, and he was open about that. He loved learning and growing, but he would do that through reading articles, videos, and listening to audio lessons while he was driving. He knew God was up to something big when he was inspired to write a book! You see, he didn’t just write words on mere paper—he lived and breathed what he wrote about in this book. Everything in this book was from his heart, and he wrote it because God told him to share it with others. He truly was a man after God’s own heart, and I got to witness it at the deepest level over the last nine years.
My prince walked the walk and lived a transparent life of integrity. Now, don’t get me wrong, he would be the first person to tell you that in no way was he perfect. He knew that he was a flawed, sinful man who was saved by God’s grace. He was chosen and forgiven by his Lord, and he strived daily to live his life honoring his Heavenly Father.
Did he make mistakes? Yes, but he humbled himself and would own up to them. He took responsibility for his actions. He always shared openly about his struggle with pride. He was a brilliant man and even made it into Mensa. He would jokingly say, “I am more humble than you are!” He knew that his mind and abilities were God given, and he wanted to keep his mind and pride in check on a daily basis.
He could do the Rubik’s cube in less than two minutes, despite the fact that he was color blind, and just for kicks, he would finish it behind his back to show off! A few of his flaws included a hate for exercise (ironically, he married a personal trainer and athlete), never eating his vegetables (he would physically gag), loving sweets a little too much, and being tone deaf. But even that didn’t stop him from singing out loud to his Lord! Philip also really had no fashion sense.
I am telling you about these flaws not to tear him down but to tell you that he didn’t focus on the negative effects of these flaws—instead he strived to improve on his weaknesses. I was always amazed how in our marriage he was the first to ask for forgiveness. He wouldn’t allow his emotions to overtake him, even if he was hurt or in pain.
In eight years of marriage and almost nine years of knowing him, we never went to bed angry. He made sure that no matter what, we always talked things out, prayed together, and that anger and resentment was never left to fester. The glue that bonded us from the first day that we started dating was the fact that we made it an absolute priority to pray together every single night, and we only missed a handful of nights in nine years. You truly get to know someone when you hear them pouring out their praises, fears, concerns, and desires to their God.
My love was a strong-willed go-getter who went after what he wanted, especially if it was something he knew God was laying on his heart. Our love story is a testament to that. I will share more details in the future on our website, but Philip and I both held strongly to our God-given convictions throughout our teen and college years, and we both waited for each other. I never wanted to settle for any guy. I wanted a man of God, someone who put God first in his life. We both looked for someone who was spiritually wise and who had the qualities that we wanted in our future spouse. We prayed and waited for each other for twenty-five years.
Once he came into my life, we both knew that our years of praying, sacrificing, and waiting had finally paid off. God knew exactly the man that I needed; he created Philip for me. We had a lot of smaller differences, but we were on the same page on the big things in life. After waiting so long to find each other, we decided to save our first kiss for the wedding altar. You grow emotionally and spiritually very close to someone when you are dating them and you save sex for the marriage bed. Our marriage wasn’t perfect, it was not a fairytale, but it was a God-honoring marriage where two flawed people came together to pursue God and to walk through life’s ups and downs together with an unwavering commitment to each other.
My protector was always a big, strong guy. And yet, he was tender and caring, and he gave the best hugs. He had a smile and eyes that would light up a room. He was the best father to our two young kids, who are two and four years old. He could swaddle a baby like a champ. He was so good with babies; I was so impressed. Whenever I was sleep-deprived and moody the past five years, he showed me so much grace and always helped me whenever he was able. He sacrificed so much of his own sleep and time for our family.
As the kids got older in the past few years, he would spend hours playing with them, building things and exploring. As a kid he loved LEGOs, robots, video games, and anything techy, and he was excited to pass those passions on to our kids! We would welcome him home from work, and he would get on their level and love on them, then play. He would read them Bible stories before bed. He would sing goodnight songs and pray over them every night. He showered them with love and grace. He was the most patient daddy, and he inspired me with how he could remain calm during life’s crazy chaotic days and weeks.
He was always teaching them how to use gadgets and how to make and improve things, He wanted them to know how much he loved and cherished them. He truly adored his role as father, and he wanted them to know that his family was his top priority. He took this role very seriously. He was our provider and protector, and he would do whatever it took to honor his commitments and carry out his God-given role.
Our provider loved to invent and make things more efficient. His end goal of all his jobs was to streamline and make things more efficient. He had hundreds of inventive ideas throughout our marriage, the majority stayed in his mind, but he had a few that he was seriously passionate about, and he was diligently working on to make them happen.
He bought a 3D printer a few months ago and was creating prototypes for one invention. I will try to make those ideas happen in the future. He was wise financially, content in life, and didn’t need much to be happy. Giving was a top priority in his life. He always made sure we gave tithes and offerings first. He had what he called a “God fund,” where we put money away to randomly bless people with when God showed us who and when.
It was so exciting to be married to such a wise giver! He flipped his first house right after we got married, and we have bought and sold three other homes in eight years. We followed the Dave Ramsey financial plan to work hard and get out of debt so that we could live and give like no one else. He loved working, and he always brought humor and fun to his jobs. He worked incredibly hard, but he also knew how to throw in a joke at the perfect time to make anyone from the janitor to the CEO laugh. At his last three jobs, he even convinced the top dogs to allow his office to have Nerf gun wars! He loved running around the office shooting his co-workers, having random battles with his co-workers to lighten the stress load.
Philip worked smart and was succeeding in all that he set out to accomplish. This past June, he hit five years at his current job, and he felt a strong peace that his time there was coming to an end. It was an undeniable peace that he kept talking about all summer. He was so excited about what God had in store for him.
On September 3rd, 2019, he interviewed for an amazing job at Dave Ramsey’s headquarters. We felt God’s presence, and we thought we would be moving to Tennessee this fall. Two days later, when we returned home, he passed away in his sleep. His time working on earth had come to an end abruptly, but his greatest life was just starting.
Philip’s thirty-two years of life had one theme and mission. He knew from an early age that he was a child of God, saved by Grace, and that his purpose and mission on earth was to bring glory and honor to his Heavenly Father with his talents and abilities. He was wise beyond his years. His favorite place and where he felt the most alive was when he was worshiping his God up near the front row in church. He didn’t care what anyone thought—his heart was praising his creator. He would raise his hands, go on his knees, and just worship his God. He was in awe of God’s greatness.
He was always so thankful for the amazing earthly parents that God had given him. He lived to honor, respect, and love them. Tom (Dad) and Maria (Mom) poured out their lives to teach and demonstrate God’s love and grace to their four kids. He made his love and respect known to them whenever he had a chance. His father was one of his best friends, and his mother had his heart for life! Philip was an amazing big brother to his three younger sisters. He truly loved them, protected them, and enjoyed all his years being their big brother. He was so proud to watch them grow into amazing women of God who were serving and fulfilling their unique purposes in life.
He was a true friend to those who were able to know him. He would give his time to help anyone who asked for tech help, or he would stop and pray for anyone if they needed it. Philip fit perfectly in with my family from the moment they met him. It was a seamless transition having him in our lives. He was one of a kind. Philip knew that you can never outgive God in life and that if God laid it on your heart to give something away, it would rock your world to obey! In high school, he created this mission statement, and he kept it on a card in his wallet.
Philip Ganzfried’s MISSION STATEMENT:
“I will be a man of God whose heart is always bigger than my wallet—no matter how big my wallet gets—because my purpose in life is to advance the Kingdom of God by financially supporting the men and women that passionately pursue Jesus Christ and take his life-giving message to the ends of the earth!”
Philip didn’t know that his earthly life would end so quickly. None of us expected this, and it is so shocking and painful to lose such an amazing man so abruptly. But know this: We have hope in the God who created Philip, the God who knows all, and who is using Philip’s life even now to carry out His divine purpose. Philip is now in his happy place, worshiping his Lord, hands held high for eternity. He would want you to really look at your life and ask God to show Himself to you.
You were created for a purpose. You are unique, and you have a lot to offer the world, but you have to choose daily to take the steps to become the man or woman that God created you to be. Will it be challenging? Absolutely. But it will be worth the effort! I ask that in honor of Philip, you take a leap of faith and ask God to show Himself to you today. Philip prayed for you as he was writing this book, and it is by no coincidence that you are reading this. You are the one that he prayed God would use his words to impact.
We look forward to hearing about your journey and will continue to share Philip’s life and legacy.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Ganzfried
