marriage – Blessed is She

The Ugly, The Messy and The Beautiful!

Are you at a messy place right now and your mind wonders if God really does redeem our stories? Not just when we enter our heavenly home but here and now, this side of heaven?

Maybe you have found yourself on a detour that you never saw coming. Maybe this very moment you are facing some unwanted, ugly, painful and unintended parts of your story that have left you wailing on the carpet desperate for God’s intervention.

Friend, can I encourage you to pause for a moment? Please. Hit the hold button. Take a break from your tears, your questions, your doubts and simply let these words take a hold of your heart.

Our. God. Is. Faithful. Always.

Even now! Yes, even in THIS season, THIS heartbreak, THIS loss, THIS pain.

How can I proclaim this so boldly and confidently? Because I have walked through unwanted chapters in my own life and am now reaping the beauty that God brings as the pages turn.

I am cheering YOU forward. You are not alone!

God has not only redeemed my story but abundantly given me more than I could ask or imagine. Did I say it’s been easy? NO! Did I say the struggles are gone? Absolutely NOT! What I AM saying is that God has brought beauty from the ashes and the brokenness that this messy girl had lived with for so long.

I don’t say this out of pride or arrogance or with a “look at me now” mentality….I am sharing this to give YOU a shot of hope. Because not so long ago, I was on the carpet completely shattered and struggling, just like YOU!

Broken, wounded, stressed to the hilt, and ever so desperate. It wasn’t just one hard thing but many painful things that left me with uncontrollable eye twitches and itchy stress rashes. Yes, there is such a thing, ugh!

I will not go into details. After all, I know what you would do. You would do the the same thing that most of us do. Your kneejerk reaction would entice you to compare your story to mine and then you would miss the whole point.

What I can tell you is that the above picture represents so much more than a wedding day…but a rescue; A day when God boldly declared to my heart that He is well able to redeem and take what the enemy meant to destroy me and my family and make it into something more precious than I could have ever imagined.

It represents the answer to countless prayers prayed by many that I did not even know were praying for me and my family at the time. You see, it wasn’t just my victory in Jesus but other’s victory and testimony, too! Those who God divinely surrounded us with who stood in the gap. Those who loved me, supported me, believed in me and more importantly those with faith-filled hearts who believed that God had GOOD plans for us in spite of how it looked then. My heart is so thankful.

This is why I am here, to tell YOU that GOD is not finished with YOUR story!

God DOES redeem, my friend! He takes the messy, the ugly, and the broken parts of our stories and creates beauty from the all the ashes.

Remember this; whatever chapter you are in, whatever your life looks like this very moment will soon pass. It is only for a season. Life will not always be this hard, nor this painful.

You are on the pathway, detours and all, to greater joy and intimacy with Christ than you have ever known.

It’s okay if you can’t see that right now because God sees it! His plans for YOU are good! When you can’t see clearly and everything around you is falling apart remember, your God IS faithful. That is ALL you need to know. That’s enough. Jesus is enough.

Stay on the carpet until your knees burn and ugly cry your way through but don’t EVER stop the wrestling.

With God, your waiting time is NOT wasted time…He is creating room in you for the beauty that is yet to come!

Friend, stubbornly hold on to your faith as you hold on to your God. Follow hard after him…stay obedient no matter what your feelings tell you. Expect God to move!

One day, you will see clearly that He never left you even in your darkest moments. He was cutting away the lies from the past to make room for a NEW season, a NEW beginning that could not compare to anything you have experienced before.

Believe it!

Hebrews 10:23 (ESV) “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful”.

Live Loved

live+loved

Live Loved……….

I am still trying to wrap my mind around this as I type. I will try to explain. Each year I pray and seek God regarding my “word” for the year. This seems to be a trendy thing to do now days but I can testify to how richly and hugely God has used this in my life in recent years. It’s a powerful thing! I have found it to be so much MORE than just claiming a “word” for the year. It helps to keep my easily distracted brain focused and gives me an anchor to hold onto, especially in the difficult and challenging moments. You see, I don’t just look at it as a word but I also gather scripture references that magnify what God desires for me to embrace in whatever season I may be facing. However, this year I truly struggled with what my “word” should be. I had a list that I brainstormed but none of those words seemed to jump out at me like times past.

On a side note, one of the changes that I had been praying for in 2020 was that I would experience complete freedom from my past. How many of you know that God, in His great mercy, can and at times, does rescue us physically AND relationally. However, we have to prayerfully and intentionally not allow ourselves to remain bound mentally and emotionally? Right? Easier said than done! In my case, I have triggers that rise their ugly heads from my past that I am having to confront. SO many triggers that seem incredibly silly, nevertheless, they are real for me. I can tell you, our past can indiscriminately effect our today and tomorrows if we don’t get a grip. It is altogether ridiculous when you take a step back and see them for what they are. Even though they are real and my experience with them includes automatic panic with a knee-jerk racing heart beat and lump in my throat (PTSD?) …they are dumb! Yes that’s my word for them…ha!! God in His AMAZING GRACE and MERCY rescued me….took me OUT of the pit that I had lived in for years and yet here I am STILL dealing with the aftermath of what was..ugh! Dumb! I believe it’s the enemy’s way to keep us in the yuck that God has freed us from! I have been adamantly praying that in 2020 that I would have wisdom and insight as to how to handle them more victoriously as they come. You see, obviously before I was remarried, these recent triggers lay dormant as I was not in such a relationship. The truth is, some healing can only come as we are forced to face our emotional hangups. Getting remarried has been my force. It’s been abundantly beautiful in some ways and extremely hard in others. I have, most assuredly, had many growth opportunities that I did not even realize I needed, ha! Some progress can seem slow and get downright frustrating. This messy girl is thankful that God has blessed me with a sweet husband who understands grace because he has experienced it in abundance for himself. He is patient and graciously helps me face and walk through these triggers in a safe space. The thing about triggers is they can come at any moment, out of now where, and trip me up. TO say I dislike them is an understatement, but my dislike for them does not make them go away, by no means. However, my obedience to Christ in my messy moments, CAN! Maybe this is resonating somehow with you and if so, please hang with me. We can all have things from our past that distracts and seeks to destroy the very freedom that Christ has already given to us.

Back to my “word” for 2020. My husband and I chose to take a week to pray and fast to start off our new year. I was anticipating that one of the things that God would reveal was that special “word”. A we ended our fast, I still had no clue. Though I was feeling disappointed, I continued to believe it would come. That was on a Friday night…fast forward to Sunday morning. I was waiting to leave for church and it hit me….YES!!! Thank you, Jesus! AND it makes SO much sense though I can’t fully comprehend the magnitude of it at this moment.

Live loved…..

I understand about living loved by God and what it looks like to walk that out. Such a precious and life-giving, life-changing revelation. That Divine knowledge has been my lifeline and saving grace throughout (okay, maybe I haven’t fully comprehended ALL that entails in my human mind as I still get tripped up at times, but I have understood it enough for His amazing love and grace to be a difference maker in my life!) However, it is living loved within marriage, by my spouse, that gets me tripped up and entangled in all kinds of anxiety and insecurities. As I have mentioned before, love to me within marriage meant pain. It meant that my heart was never safe with my spouse. It meant that after a heart-breaking reveal, it would be just a matter of time before my heart was broken again. I was taught by my wounds that things weren’t always as they seemed and that there were always secrets lurking in the darkness. It meant there was no trust. It meant half truths, if any truth at all. Subsequently, I never fully experienced the love that God ordained to be shared between husband and wife. How do I know this? Because of what God has allowed me to experience now! Like wow!! My NEW normal has been a huge beautiful adjustment and my heart, at times, is still trying to catch up and walk in it’s Truths. THAT, my friend is why this is extremely exiting to me!

Sweet friends, God doesn’t miss a thing! This challenge to “live loved” has touched my heart in ways that words can’t express. I do NOT have to live less than loved any longer by my spouse. It’s like God is revealing to me that it’s okay. My heart is now safe. It’s a NEW season, a NEW day and God is doing a NEW thing! No more toxicity. No more betrayal. I am free! I can breathe. I can relax. I can let go of marital fears and doubts, suspicious thinking and ENJOY this life that God has so blessed me with. AND peace, such sweet peace. I can “live loved” as I am abundantly loved by God AND deeply and affectionately loved by my husband. It’s going to take work on my part. New thinking, aggressively taking thoughts captive that are attached to the past, and embracing every sweet and beautiful thing about living in freedom.

My husband, since I met him, has declared over and over that he wants to be beautiful for me. Honestly, when he first shared that with me, I thought it sounded strange and I did not quite understand what he was trying to say. But now, I get it! He has certainly taught me and continues to teach me what it looks like AND feels like too experience love, God’s way! God is so good, ya’ll!

I am striving to embrace this “LIVE LOVED” life as I detach from toxic mindsets. Maybe you need freedom, too? Maybe your story is different from mine but you still have ugly, messy “stuff” from the past that is battling to keep you bound. Can I encourage you today? Don’t give up! Keep pushing through….keep wrestling! A trigger moment does not make you are a failure or any less spiritual. God understands why you are the way you are! However, His love for you will not leave you that way nor abandon you to battle alone. Maybe you need some outside intervention. Maybe you need a mentor to come along side of you. Maybe YOU need a “word”, an anchor of sorts to hold you steady with scriptures to combat your triggers. Maybe YOU need a divine and/or renewed revelation of how very much GOD loves YOU!! Sweet friend, pray and seek God and wait for His answer. He knows what lies ahead of you and He will graciously equip you to rise above all that desires to hold you captive. LIVE LOVED and know that greater is HE that is in YOU than all the yuck, the lies, the deceit, the wounds, the losses, the betrayals and the disappointments of your past! Rise up, sweet sister!! God has amazing plans for YOU!!! You are extravagantly and completely loved! Now go and live like you believe it! By God’s amazing grace and power, we CAN do this!!

1 John 4:16: “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

Psalm 143:8: “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.”

Song of Solomon 4:9: “You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.”

Proverbs 30:18-19: “There are three things that amaze me—no, four things that I don’t understand: how an eagle glides through the sky, how a snake slithers on a rock, how a ship navigates the ocean, how a man loves a woman.”

Freedom in Knowing and Embracing Truth

Friend, I don’t know about you, but as the longevity of my walk with Jesus increases day by day, my heart is becoming more aware of the lies that I had previously believed and embraced over the years.

Time and time again the enemy whispered in my ear. He told me I was not good enough and that my life would always consist of pain and brokenness, that there was no way out. After-all, I was a Christian and Christians endure the unthinkable. They never give up on a relationship. They sacrifice for the sake of others, just like Jesus. They embrace brokenness and heartache as a good soldier of Christ.

When you begin to believe the lie that your heart does not matter and that God has called you to live a life full of brokenness for the sake of another – friend, that is called enabling. Last time I checked, enabling another to continue in their repetitive sin and hurt those who love them only brings disrespect towards you and in no way do those actions bring honor to God. I used to very much dislike that word. That very word was penned to wives who found themselves in similar situations like mine. How could I possibly be “enabling” sinful behavior when it was the very thing that broke me time and time again? All I wanted was to be the kind of wife who helped, supported, and encouraged my husband. However, this is where the problem was. I wanted it MORE than my (then) husband wanted it and therefore, I was blinded by my own skin in the game.

Read the Bible more carefully! What did Jesus do? How did he respond to those who chose to continue in their sin? Don’t fool yourself, please! Don’t think that what you are doing by loving without boundaries and allowing yourself to be wounded by the same kinds of betrayal over and over and over again is honorable. I have come to learn that we can live sacrificially in a way that brings honor to God but we can also live sacrificially and nothing about our sacrifice is God-honoring. This kind of sacrifice does not at all help the person who is held in bondage. We may color it pretty with all the right “Christianeese” wording, but this will only work for so long. A high cost is being paid for you to continue to stay in the pit with your betrayer….something needs to change and it starts with YOU!

I recently read a quote by author Gary Thomas which said, “It’s not a failure to know when it’s time to walk away; it’s a gift.” I agree! The key is KNOWING. Until you know, you wait. Until you know that you know…there will more than likely be MORE heartbreak but the treasure of KNOWING is worth the waiting. Be patient. Knowing is a process. It is NOT a quick fix nor an easy way out. It is NOT a decision to be made based on emotions. It’s attained by much waiting, prayer, fasting, wrestling, seeking God, and counsel. To know is powerful. Knowing will NOT leave behind a heart of regret. Knowing will give you the courage and confidence to move forward with strength and dignity as your God-given shield to combat the unknown and possibly difficult season ahead. But remember, unlike what you are used to, it will only be a SEASON; not a life-style of messiness and brokenness! Big difference!

I know this sounds harsh and somewhat bold but these are things that I wish someone would have shared with me. And maybe they did, but my heart wasn’t ready to listen.

I remember in my early days of my (then) marriage reading the book “You Can Be the Wife of a Happy Husband”. I marked it up, I hung onto every word. I highlighted most pages and rewrote quotes in my journal. I tried my best to live out the advice from this sister in Christ regarding how a wife who loves Jesus lived to make her man happy and above all to please Christ. It seemed to be on point with my understanding of marriage at the time. Somehow I came to believe that if I did all the right things, checked them off my list of “what Godly wives do” my (then) husband would forever love me and his commitment would never waver. Unfortunately, as time went on, I learned from actions and my repeated brokenness I couldn’t trust this person. So, what did I do? I determined in my heart if I couldn’t trust him, I would just trust Jesus and I penned this as victoriously living. This is how I lived – for 30+ years. Yet, it was far from victorious. There was a constant wrestling full of battles I could never win. You know why? Because this is NOT how God intended marriage to be. Marriage should be a safe place to land not one of continued betrayal.

In hindsight, I had some really skewed thinking when it came to forgiveness. Actually, I had the forgiveness part down…but my mercy was way out of balance. In my thinking, if someone says they are sorry then as a Christian I need to forgive 70 times 7, which is true, right? You CAN (and should) forgive… it’s a process that we have to work through with much prayer and surrender. Forgiveness is about YOU, not the betrayer. Forgiveness sets YOUR heart free from the bitterness that brokenness can cause. However, we get this so messed up. Forgiveness is totally separate from reconciliation….it takes only ONE to forgive but TWO to reconcile. You CAN and SHOULD forgive without giving the repeated offender, the proven untrustworthy person, access to your heart again. Don’t do it!! Did you notice that I said, “proven untrustworthy person”? I am not talking about a stand-alone moment or event that hurt you; rather, I am talking about a lifestyle or pattern of behavior – repeated consistently with no repentance – which has proven unsafe for your heart.

And Boundaries? Hmmmm. What were those anyway? This term should be reserved for markings on a softball field or lines on a basketball court, right? Once you are married – in my happily ever-after girl mentality – I would have never thought you even needed them. I. was. so. wrong.

All I knew was I had waited all my life to be married; to have babies and be the best wife and mom I could be with a husband who loved me as much as I loved him. I was stubbornly determined to make it work even if it meant living life as a broken girl. Was it pride? Maybe! Was it fear? I am sure it was! Was it about my children? Of course! Was it the desire not to disappoint others, including God? Yes, that too. I adamantly held on trusting that God would fix it and would take care of what I couldn’t as long as I worked on making myself a better wife, kept the faith and kept believing.

Yet, there I was. Depressed, lonely, and crying buckets of tears behind closed doors nobody knew about. I was so broken. Suicidal thoughts? Yep, nothing serious, but nonetheless…my heart was full of regret. There were times I wrestled with feeling hopeless, stuck, and trapped. This was not what I had signed up for. I didn’t know love could hurt so deeply and so often. However, I began to think it was normal. After all, every couple has problems and are told to work through them, stick it out, work on changing yourself and let God take care of the rest. So this is what I struggled to do over and over and over again, but somehow, I always fell short and my (then) marriage and broken heart proved it.

I poured my soul onto tear stained pages of pretty covered journals during those long ago seasons. It was therapy for me. A means of letting out what my heart so deeply felt but I couldn’t dare tell anyone. Recently, I read back through some of those journals and literately cried for the girl that was. She was young and gullible and so wanted to get it right that her stubborn resolve resulted in a toxic mindset of jumping through hoops of religious “good enough’s” and enduring relational pain that was destroying her from the inside out. What was once done out of love for her Savior soon turned into acts done with selfish motivation in hopes to save herself from being hurt again and to save her family. With each new heartbreaking discovery came words out of anger that led her to feelings of guilt and shame. It was a vicious cycle. Feeling as though if she just tried harder….prayed more, read her Bible more, etc. things would change and her heart could finally have a chance to heal. She was a broken, trapped young wife who didn’t understand why this was the life she was called to live. She had done all she knew to do and yet, her life was marked by a brokenness that only Jesus could understand.

I saw a quote which said, “Marriage is like having a sleepover with your best friend every night of the week.” Sounds so sweet, right? Thanks be to Jesus, I now can say a big “Amen!” to that! But back then, not even close! Secrets and betrayal do NOT nurture this kind of relationship; they only destroy it. I finally realized, after many years, what I thought was cut and dry as a “Christian” wife didn’t quite work like I had believed to my core to be true. Yes, God hears and answers prayers! Yes, God is a way-maker! Yes, God heals broken marriages everyday. Mine was just not going to be one of those and today I am okay with this. I have not only survived, but I have felt peace and freedom of my soul like I have not remembered knowing before. My kids have survived and thrived and I can honestly say we are all stronger and closer as a family than ever before! God is truly restoring the “years the locusts have eaten” and He can do the same for YOU!

Here is the truth…..marriage was created by God to be a mirror of His extravagant and sacrificial love for the church. However, it takes TWO in a marriage, humbly submitting to Him, then to each other for it to be a true reflection of how God designed marriage to be. When both are living as God designed, it is beautiful. Not perfect, but beautiful, nonetheless. Grace in action – knowing the other never intentionally seeks to hurt, betray, dishonor, or destroy the heart of the other.

Let’s be honest…life can be messy and break our hearts. Yes, especially in marriage. However, even when there has been an incident of betrayal (not a lifestyle), there are many testimonies where there was true repentance and the couple was able to restore their relationship and come out on the other side stronger and with a story that helps others for the glory of God. Subsequently, this is not always the case. Sometimes the betrayal never stops. My lessons learned do not come from a one-time, backsliding season but from a lifetime of lies, deceit and betrayal over and over again. Just like everything else God created, Satan seeks to tarnish it and ultimately destroy it. He may have won the battle and left a heart full of scars. BUT God!

The lies I believed were exposed and I have now have a greater appreciation for God’s abundant grace. Everything I have today is all because of His amazing, extravagant grace. Yes, there has been a divorce; hearts of have been broken and lives have forever been changed. Does this mean I am headed for hell? Does this mean God’s grace isn’t enough for all the messy brokenness that has affected so many? Is divorce the unpardonable sin? Is divorce even a sin? All of these questions can only be answered in truth by God himself. Who are we to put marriage on such a pedestal in the Christian community and think that only those who are married and have been able to stay married are more holy than those who have walked through the devastation of such terrible destruction and still have their faith intact? I know my Jesus. I know his heart for me and my children is nothing but love and healing of our broken hearts. I know that while I was a divorced single mom, I was still accepted by God and He was STILL very much ordering my steps with His wisdom while pouring out blessings in the midst of the pain and challenges. I have stories that involve “only God” moments! Nobody can ever tell me differently. I have walked through it and I have experienced His faithfulness in abundance time and time again. The religious haters of our day who call me and others who have been divorced and remarried adulterers and bombard us with Scriptures about God hating divorce are focusing on the wrong thing. Shame off us and shame on them! We ALL are in need of the extravagant grace of God; not to habitually take part in sin, but to overcome it and rise above the trials and tribulations that come from living in a broken world.

To my divorced sisters who love Jesus and never thought their story would include the “D” word…..I would say, you are the bravest and gutsiest girls I know. It takes BRAVERY to finally stand up to toxicity. It takes GUTS to open your eyes to truth and quit justifying, downplaying, and hoping your life away while taking responsibility for someone else’s unhealthy and hurtful choices. It takes a HOLY RESOLVE to STOP the insanity of doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different outcome. It takes DIVINE STRENGTH to rise up and realize you are valued and worthy to be treated as such. It takes DETERMINATION to walk through the darkness of divorce with your dignity intact. It takes COURAGE to fight for what is right and not allow compromise and rules to be broken because of scare tactics and threats. YOU are chosen; YOU are loved; You are called; and YOU are the beloved daughter of a God whose grace and mercy trumps divorce and all the bad accolades that come with it. He, my friend, is your Healer. He did not cause your divorce but He is the ONE who can bring redemption to your broken heart and beauty for your ashes. None of us would have chosen this. Life happens and we cannot control how others choose to walk it out, but we CAN choose to grab on to the hand of Jesus as we step out of the sinking boat and walk with Him towards a future that is full of His abundant grace and sweet beauty.

As I am writing this, I am profusely in awe of my God. Back then, I would have never imagined I would be where I am today. Instead of tears of pain on the pages of my new pretty covered journals there are tears of joy and thankfulness. The really amazing thing is when I look back I don’t see as much of the yuck as I see of God’s love in every page of my story – even the worst parts! No doubt, I am where I am today because because I serve a God who redeems and makes all things NEW for HIS glory! The pages that are now being written are full of life I have never experienced before and it is altogether beautiful and lovely.

Our God is writing your story, too, my friend. You may be in the midst of the most horrific chapters this very moment but it’s NOT the end of your story. New chapters are already in the works. Don’t get stuck on one page, one period, and certainly not on one drama-filled event or even the heartbreaks and wounds that never seem to heal. Pause if you need to; catch your breath and determinedly hit the carpet surrendering your messiness and heartbreak to your Savior. Be Brave, sweet sister! Pray, wait, seek counsel then follow through in obedience to what God shows you to do. Anticipate His goodness. He is NOT finished writing YOUR story! Keep turning those pages. Keep your focus on HIM knowing that the best is yet to come. Your heart will NOT always hurt as bad as it does today. Because you are in the midst of…in the middle of….in the trenches of…. you may be wondering where God is. You may feel as though your prayers are hitting the ceiling. Keep praying. He hears you, my friend. He sees you. In His timing, He will reveal what you need to know. As your story continues to be written and revealed….. God’s fingerprints of faithfulness from the front cover to the back will be undeniably evident! True story! Believe it!