A Look Back on 2017

If someone would have told me this year would hold all it did, I wouldn't have believed them.  I had no idea what my phrase at the beginning of this year would really mean.  My phrase was, "Let It Go and Embrace the New!"  It is amazing to re-read the post I wrote at the beginning of the year that I received in prayer and look at how well it fits the past year.

There were so many things that my family and I let go of and so many new things we embraced as new.  We truly experienced a powerful newness to our life.

God told my husband to go a different route with our life and we did and God really has been showing us we have a future doing a work for Him.  There is no longer a ceiling above us saying we can't do anything, if anything, God is finally unlimited in what He can do.  Do whatever God tells you to do, follow His Voice and you will find He opens doors, provides and does all manner of miracles as you walk in faith!

We also had some challenges this year, one was my husband losing his job due to company cuts.  However, my husband said, that is ok, God will open another door and put applications in and was going to a lot of interviews.  Then, he finds out management at his job, along with other top people that knew him, said they can't let him go.  They got a lawyer involved and found a workaround with the union to keep my husband's job.  Not only that but he got moved to a new position and making more.

At the beginning of this year, I was finally able to face my fear and sing in front of people thanks to our previous Pastor here.  He helped me in more ways than any Pastor I ever had by putting confidence in me.  I'm forever grateful for what he did for me.  The first song that I sang was, "I'm no Longer a Slave to Fear."  It was powerful and I wasn't even nervous!  It was a major victory for me to break through my insecurities and just be who I am.

We also traveled a lot, putting about 20K miles on our car this year.  We made new friends, went to revivals, youth events for our daughter and visited family.

We have experienced a lot of growth this year in our faith in God, standing in God and becoming aware of our destiny in God.  It was truly a year of letting go and embracing the new.  What a year!

I will leave you with the song that started my freedom in January, I sang this version of it:


Marriage 101 - Divorce and Remarriage

I'm not going to get into a war of the scriptures on this topic, as I believe, as with all things, there are some things that are the exception to the rule.  I also believe that God can allow whatever He will when He sees fit for each circumstance.  No one knows what goes on in a marriage, save the ones in it and God.  You have to be VERY careful when you make blanket judgements in this area.  I for one, believe it is solely between the individuals involved (husband and wife) and GOD - no one else.

Some possible exceptions:

  • Abuse from spouse - if the women (or man in rare cases) is being abused by the husband, I do not believe God would force this women to stay married to such a man, nor do I think she is doomed to a life of singleness if she leaves him.
  • Abuse of children - if the spouse is abusing the children, the other spouse should take the children away and protect them.  You can't tell me that God would make a woman stay with a man that is molesting his/her child!  You have to be pretty sick to believe that.
  • Arranged Marriages - this isn't common in our country but I do know people who were coerced into marrying someone they didn't want to.  I personally don't feel that the marriage is valid.  Things like this can happen in religious cults of all kinds or certain cultures.  I definitely do not feel that a child being "married" to an older man against her will (or even because she isn't old enough to understand what she is doing) is valid either.  These type of marriages are made out of control, manipulation or force.  How can they be valid?
  • Desertion - this is where a spouse leaves you or abandons you.  This could possibly include other things as well that indicate a spouse has deserted you.  There are those that you can not live peaceably with and it can cause you to even die emotionally, spiritually and shows up in the physical body.  I've heard from some Pastors that you can be "deserted" in these ways by a spouse.
  • Fornication/Adultery - most people believe you are free from your vow of marriage if the other commits sexual sin against you.  However, this also includes the mere thoughts as well, as Jesus Himself let the self-righteous Pharisees realize that lustful thoughts are also adultery. (Matt. 5:28)  Pornography is adultery (as well as covetousness and idolatry), as is lusting after someone who isn't your spouse.  There wouldn't be so many condemners of adultery and divorce if the self-righteous Pharisees realized their "private" adulterous thoughts are also guilty of the same.  I've found the men most vehement about those who commit adultery, are the very ones guilty of it in their minds.  Jesus realized that as well!  Who can really cast the stone!? (John 8:7)

What it all comes down to is that if it is a "sin" to divorce or even a "sin" to remarry - it is a good thing that God is in the business of forgiving sin!  There is only one sin that is unforgivable and that is the blaspheming of the Holy Ghost.  (Mark 3:29)

Why is it ok and "better to marry than to burn" when you are single but if you are divorced, you must burn away till you die?  No wonder people commit fornication. (1 Cor. 7:9)


YOU must stand before God and give account for YOUR life
.  Your marriage, divorce and/or remarriage is between you and God, and you and God only.

Don't take other's condemnation to be the judge of your life and also don't even take other's acceptance to be the judge - judge yourself.

* Each spouse has a duty to the other and gross neglect could be considered a break in the vow. Love and forgiveness can keep couples together but when the other spouse isn't willing to change after knowing what they are doing is abusive or not fulfilling their duty, we enter new territory which the Bible doesn't include - that, along with numerous other exceptions to other topics, are not included in the Bible because if it was, it would be over 10,000 pages long!