fear Archives – Facets of Faith

Who Am I, if I Am Not Me?

09.15.2020 by Megan Abbott //

Happy Tuesday! Oh friends it has felt like a whirlwind lately, but I am so happy to have landed here today. This month we are each taking a look into whether or not it is “safe to be really me.” If you are anything like me, it has taken most of my lifetime to feel comfortable really being myself around people, including friends. I pray that as you read through the posts this month from each Facet, and our guest, that God will speak to you about the freedom that can be found in vulnerability and authenticity, even when it is scary. Take a look back at Jen’s post last week, and keep looking out for Tracy’s post and the guest post later this month.

I pray that as you read through this there will never be felt a sense of judgement either for the choices younger me made, or choices you (and I) may be making now. I pray that you see God’s grace in how He revealed the importance of vulnerability to me, and that He is somehow able to encourage you through this story as well.

It is Too Scary

I have spent a lot of my life fearing how I would be received by others. If I spoke how I truly felt about a topic, or dressed how I wanted, or liked what I liked, how would I be received? What if I was truly, wholly myself, all the good and the bad, and my friends just walked away? Would I ever recover from the rejection? I always want to believe I can get along with anyone, so part of me feels like rejection is one of the worst things that could ever happen.

Through my teens and twenties this fear of rejection led me to metering my vulnerability. I would open up to whatever level I thought would be safely received by the person on the other side. With some friends, I would get into deep conversations about likes, dislikes, spiritual struggles, but not the really deep and messy things. I matched other people’s levels of vulnerability, but only to a “safe” level. Never the truly hard things to manage on my own – the struggles, the addictions, the hurts. If I really opened up about everything going on in my mind, and heart, I just knew that I couldn’t be seen the same again. There was no way I would be loved the same. I would be too exposed. The risk of being hurt was just too much.

Reinforcing the False

My friends loved me. Well they loved what they knew of me, and my brain kept reinforcing the boundaries to my vulnerability: “that mess is too messy, stay where you are safe.” I assumed I would be loved less if anyone really knew all of me. Assumed… My heart mourns not trusting some of my closest friends to be who I knew them to be. What if one of my friends could have loved me like God loves me? What if they were able to show me the grace and compassion that He shows me? A wall may have crumbled. It may have been transformational.

I think, kind of like everything else in life, vulnerability takes growing into. The further I got into my 20s, the more people I met who were really comfortable in their skin. They were more open with “flaws”, “successes”, and “failures”. At some point in time, the Spirit in me realized I had to trust the Spirit in my friends. Maybe not all of them to the same degree, but I had to start somewhere. If I ever really wanted to be loved, I would have to stop labeling myself as unlovable. I would like to say that I immediately ran to a friend and developed a lifelong, perfect, deeply honest friendship where we never struggled, that everyone loved everything about me, I never experienced rejection, and all was rainbows, but the reality is I chose a path closer to “okay, maybe someday.”

Who Am I?

I have this journal that I started sometime around 2013. I had started opening up to a dear friend about some of my struggles to really feel like I could love myself, and believe I was lovable. Not really because I wanted to be vulnerable, but she had modeled it well to me, and I was desperate to feel different. I had spent so long allowing friends to love only the shell of me, that I believe only the shell of me was lovable. All I wrote in this journal were scriptures that described me from God’s perspective. Things like Isaiah 64:8:

But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

Psalm 139:13:

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”

Or Genesis 2:7:

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

There were so many. Pages upon pages of intentionality, and truth. I knew most of them already, but the neat thing about the living word is that each time you read it, the Spirit highlights something else for you. There was something that happened when I read that scripture from Genesis this time. God breathed life into me. I could picture the breath going into my lungs, filling every crevice, flowing through my bloodstream. Nothing was untouched. Nothing was outside of His touch.

So what does this have to do with being really me? Learning to love myself, was integrally tied to allowing myself to be loved by others, and allowing myself to be loved by others was impossible without being willing to risk vulnerability. Every time I assumed someone would respond poorly, I was reinforcing in myself the lie that part of me was broken. It was like I believed there was a part of me that was untouchable by God’s grace.

Who Am I if I’m not Me?

This is the question I feel like the Spirit presses into me anytime I am struggling with vulnerability. “Who am I if I am not me?” God created me. He saw fit for there to be a “me”. If I am being anyone but me, then I am really trying to fit a mold God never intended for me to fit inside. I am assuming I know what those around me need more than He does. I am not Tracy, or Jen. I am Megan. The more I am willing to accept who God created me to be, the more satisfied I am with who I am. There has been so much freedom for me in this.

I don’t want to downplay the fear I had as I learned to open up to my dearest friends, the pain I have felt when I have been misunderstood or rejected, or the fear I still feel having just moved to a new city knowing I have a lot of “getting to know you” days ahead of me. That fear is real. The pain of rejection is real. But so is the loneliness and pain of never really being known or loved for who you are.

If this is something you are still struggling with, I pray that the Spirit will reveal itself to you in those around you, and that the Spirit in you will find the Spirit in them, and realize there is safety in that moment to try out being really you. If you are on the other side, and you are feeling somewhat comfortable in your skin, or maybe just a little brave, I pray that you will be the one to create safe space, dismantle the fear, and model vulnerability for your friends.

Freedom on the Road to Calling

07.10.2020 by Tracy Stella //

Welcome friends! We’re so glad you’re here! This month we’re talking about freedom and calling, two things Jesus is very concerned about for us and others. We hope you’ll check in each week to see what He’s placed on our hearts. We trust this message is His message, and He has freedom planned and purposed for each of us as we engage with Him. For those of us walking free, we pray a deeper level of freedom. For those of us still captive, we pray He sets us free through our calling.

Christ has paid the price of our admission to enter through freedom’s gates. Let’s walk through every gate He opens.

What is a calling? According to Merriam Webster, it is a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of divine influence.1

As God’s children guided by divine influence, we have a high calling on our lives. Each of us is placed where we are with whom we are for a reason. Our location and vocation are not accidental; they are providentional. If God establishes our steps (and He does), each paver we walk upon is there for purpose. Sometimes, the steps He has us take lead to freedom for ourselves. Other times, those steps are intended to liberate someone else. Captives are set free along the way in God’s efficient nature─a bit of me, you, we all at once.

Recently, I had a client unexpectedly pass away. It was like a spiritual slap in the face, a wake-up call. The volume of my tears was large, and I was in absolute shock. As I processed my feelings, I thought to myself, “I need to pray with more intention.” I always pray for my clients, but this kind man’s passing made me realize I need to pray more and more specifically for them in light of eternity. Maybe the person we encounter and pray for never comes to know Jesus. But maybe they do. What if God brought them to me for that specific purpose? What if He’s put someone in your path for that divine reason too? I don’t want to miss that high calling.

Faith is a personal choice. As believers we need to respect where others are on their faith journey. Force feeding someone Jesus is likely to have the reverse effect. Like a baby being coerced to eat smashed squash, they could spit Christ out because we didn’t let them taste and see His goodness for themselves. But that doesn’t mean we can’t pray for those God has placed in our path, nor does it mean we can’t try to walk out our own lives in such a way as to create curiosity in others. Side note: Jesus gave us free will because He wants us to choose Him. Let’s stay out of God’s way and give others the choice to choose Him. Pray and stay out of God’s way. He’ll let us know if and when we need to take action.

I meet a lot of people doing what I do. I’m a REALTOR®. To say buying and selling a home is an emotional process is a bit of an understatement. The stakes are high and even if the person’s home sale or purchase is for a happy reason, it can be a bit of a roller coaster ride. Often my job is helping level out the peaks and valleys. I love getting to celebrate with clients as I’m let into a very treasured life event. It’s sweet and special much of the time. Tears of joy, laughter, and happy dancing, they’re all part of the calling. (Who said calling had to be all work and no play?)

What I’d never given thought to before becoming a REALTOR® is the amount of ministry opportunities within this career path God has placed me on. Honestly, until something impacts us (or at least me) we can be oblivious. As I got into things, I realized people die and their estate needs to handle the selling of their loved one’s home. Hard! So hard! Those folks need a compassionate person to sit with them in their grief. They likely need someone to help them make decisions, because they’ve already had to make some pretty difficult ones that weigh heavy on the heart. They need someone who can help them navigate dark waters, with many people often involved who are all dealing with the loss of their loved one in different ways. Sometimes, we just have conversation human to human. We can leave the home sale talk for later if need be. Maybe what’s called for in that moment is a shoulder to cry on or ears that can hear their favorite memory of their loved one. It’s a sacred space.

What sacred space is God calling you to enter?

God gives me women who have had to navigate divorce and need help finding a home. I’ve made a personal choice I will not proactively market to women or men getting a divorce, because it feels contradictory to the calling God has placed on my life to help married couples work on their marriage and stay together. But before I was a believer I did get divorced, and so I can certainly understand many of the emotions my clients experience. It’s another very hard season that needs to be grieved, even if we don’t realize it. I try to point them to hope. Hope helps! I remember one time I was talking with a client in a vacant home for so long Sam got worried for my safety and came to check on me. I was okay, but the one God had placed before me wasn’t. She needed to be heard and God wanted me to listen. When He uses bits from our bio, His desire is for us to connect. Those “me too” moments can make all the difference in the world to someone going through something God already helped us through.

What “me too” moment is God calling you to share with someone in need of hope?

There are joyous occasions, newlyweds in need of a home, excited about what the future holds. It’s so much fun to help them dream and envision building their life together. Sometimes, they need advice, occasionally it’s about real estate. (Wink, Wink) Helping people buy homes, in particular, creates a close connection. You get the opportunity to know someone exceptionally well through the process. Along the way in the course of natural conversation, people tell you things, personal things. I have had the best time getting to know people’s stories. Isn’t that something Jesus would want us to do? Whatever you do for a living, maybe God is leading you to ask someone to share their story (even if that feels far outside your comfort zone). You learn some pretty amazing things about people. Entering others’ story changes ours jobs from a career to a calling.

How is God nudging you to shift your mindset from career to calling?

God once placed it on my heart to do something kind for a person who had been a bit difficult. Okay. A lot difficult. I’m glad I listened to that still, small voice. He knew what that person had been through in life. I had no idea. Clueless with a capital C. So, I did this thing God asked me to and it caught the person off guard. Unexpected kindness created an opportunity for another human being to feel safe enough to open up. A lot. Hearing that person’s story softened my heart faster than melting ice cream on a 90 degree day. I’d say, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” But perhaps we should in that if there is difficulty dealing with so and so, there must be a reason. If the outside reads hard, the inside is probably hurt. Life’s tribulations can lead to prickly people, because they’re just about protecting themselves at this point. That’s what God showed me. This person was in deep pain. From that point on, I had a completely different thought process about this person. They hadn’t changed, but I had.

Who is God calling you to see from a different perspective? What act of kindness can you engage in on their behalf?

If you like to be in control of things, don’t become a REALTOR®. This job has sanctified me about 1000 times over! I have control over my actions (on a good day), but I have no control over anyone else’s. If you play poker but only have half the hand and have no idea what the other player’s cards are, that’s real estate. I know things to look out for. I know what SHOULD happen. But I only get to see my client’s piece of the transaction. I try to have order and process for the things within my control, but there are a lot of players in this real estate game: buyer, seller, 2 agents, 2 attorneys, home inspector, appraiser, sometimes extra family members, and occassionally interfering neighbors. (Oh, the stories I could tell.) All those other people and their actions, I can’t control one little bit.

God has brought me (and continues to bring me) freedom in this job. Freedom from letting my emotions boss me around. Most of the time I do a pretty good job of that now. Occasionally, I need God’s grace to rush back in and point me back on the path of freedom. This job has helped me to trust God on a whole new level. We do what we can and give the rest to God. The things that I know to do, I do them. The things I can’t “make happen” make me pray even more fervently. Sometimes, I get inspiration and direction on how to proceed. Sometimes, I’m called to sit a spell and let God do what only He can do. It is a gift (and a relief) to know and believe in my heart that God’s the One in charge of the outcome.

What’s something within your control God is asking you to take action on? What is at least one area of your calling God is asking you to relinquish control of and trust Him with the outcome?

Just this week I had a moment where I let fear creep into my calling. It wasn’t good. I was concerned that this or that wouldn’t happen. And then if that didn’t happen, then this, and this, and this might happen. My momentary setback was a good reminder that as much as I want to be like Jesus, sometimes I’m like the leper and need some healing along the way myself.

How does God desire to bring healing to you through your calling?

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” (Emphasis added)

Luke 17:11-19 NIV

My prayer is that more times than not you and I will look a little more like Jesus. As we travel along the way walking out the calling God has on our lives that we will never be too busy to pause and “take pity” on someone. We don’t want someone to have to stand from afar off shouting for attention. Like Jesus, He’d want us to be attentive to the ones He places before us.

What if others are “cleansed” because they encountered the love of Jesus through us? Maybe that means salvation. Maybe that means healing (or the beginning of that journey for them). Shouldn’t we stop? Jesus was busy, but not too busy to stop for lepers like you and me.

What will we do if we help a lot of people and we don’t always feel appreciated? Remember, the scripture above. Ten were cleansed, but only one came back to thank Jesus. I’ll speak for myself in this, but I wonder how many times Jesus has done things for me that I never bothered to say “thank you” for. I thank Him, but do I thank Him for everything? No.

So another person’s gratitude can’t be our motivator if we are Christ’s children. We need to stop because Jesus stops. He stopped for each of us (and He still stops for us when we need to catch up to Him).

What if in that process we are like the leper ourselves? As we go about our calling and connecting with people along the way, what if He leads us to someone intended to help bring healing to us? Wouldn’t we hope someone would stop?

As we are going, let’s not forget our high calling to STOP for others.

———————-

Consider spending time with God processing the questions in this piece. Grab a notebook, pray, write the question, and journal a response. I pray God will reveal His heart for you and others during that set aside time.

Join the conversation here or on our Facebook page. (INSERT LINK)

1 “Calling.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calling.

What Lessons Has Life Taught Me?

09.04.2018 by Tracy Stella //

What lessons has life taught me? Just a small question, small like the climbing of Mt Everest. Since we are always in the process of being transformed by the renewal of our mind (Romans 12:2), change is ever under way. Change means lessons learned always, if we’re listening, if we take heed.

Rather than become overwhelmed by the question, I thought I’d focus on one area of life. Still, it feels big, looming like the ocean when you set sail on a cruise and find yourself far from shore. Looking out, all you see upon the horizon is where water kisses sky, waves reaching upward. Vast. That’s how big marriage feels and the lessons God has, and is, using it to teach me.

This month FACETS thought we’d approach the question in a timeline fashion: “Where I’ve been, where I am, and where I’m going”. Our hope and prayer is that God meets you as we share our hearts and what God is doing in our lives. We pray God uses our writing to help us and you remember where we were, but more importantly where we are going. With that in mind, back to my life lessons as it relates to marriage.

Where I’ve Been

At 28 I got married. I thought I waited long enough to know what I wanted, to know who I was. I thought I knew things, more things than I really did – especially when it came to marriage!

I thought I’d married my Prince Charming. The shoe seemed to fit perfectly. Glass slipper turned into shattered hearts, mine, and I imagine his too. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We started off well enough. In love. We thought that would keep us afloat. It didn’t. Sometimes, the water gets choppy and you need more than love, the way most people think of love. Marriage takes sacrificial love. It takes dying to self. It takes setting aside pride and seeking to understand. I knew none of these things.

I’d read a lot of Cinderella and virtually nothing of the Bible.

Neither my ex nor I knew the Lord, but we had each other. Us against the world. We eloped secretly to Jamaica and its sandy shores. Ocean, sky, salty air and us. We didn’t see the impending doom upon the horizon. It would take over a decade to implode.

So what happened?

How does love get lost?

How do things turn from ocean, sky and salty air to just, well, salty (before forgiveness sets in)?

For me, one of the reasons things turned so far off course had to do with fear. I feared marriages where fighting was part of the dynamic. I didn’t want volatility, so I avoided conflict like the plague. I didn’t want to argue, so often I would stuff things down. What I didn’t talk about wouldn’t become real, never mind when one little problem, upon one little problem, upon another isn’t dealt with in a healthy fashion. Life can get sucked out of any love relationship.

If we’re not being real about what we want and need and how we feel, we’re not loved for who we are. We’re projecting what we want things to be or what we think the other person wants them to be─codependence at its finest─rather than what they really are, which ends up in shipwreck. After all, we’re made to be truly known, seen and loved. God gives us marriage as a picture (and tool) of His love for us. Man and woman, not to be separated once joined. (Matthew 19:6)

It’s gut wrenching when they are ripped apart. I know. Perhaps you do too.

I denied any issues by not looking at them. I was too naïve sometimes. I was too afraid others. I was lost, in a big world and, like Christopher Columbus, had one version of how things should look and was wrong.

A marriage devoid of fighting isn’t necessarily good. Perhaps, a marriage devoid of fighting means people aren’t communicating enough.

Fear told me fighting was bad. My faith now says, dealing with conflict in a healthy fashion with Jesus at the center is desirable.

I denied his problems. I denied mine. If I had it to do all over again, I’d deal with my junk. Junk leads to sin, shame and sorrow. Unhealthy people inflict pain. Those who get hurt most? The ones closest.

After a big wrestle with all that was wrong, my pride said “divorce him”. Others affirmed my choice. I had no Jesus. (He was there, I just didn’t know Him.) I obviously had no faith. I had nothing solid to stand on, and because the ship was sinking, I jumped off the side. I imagine the impact of a plane crash landing in the ocean. It hurt that much! Maybe more.

The pain didn’t set in right away. I was too busy running. I ran to Hawaii. I ran to the Caribbean. No matter where I ran to, I couldn’t outrun the pain of my broken heart. Who knew? I WAS invincible. I didn’t have the intellectual aptitude to deal with all the emotion threatening to take me away, like the tide carrying debris off the shore into the inky ocean.

There was danger lurking too. I encountered even worse relationships after my divorce. Wounded women are easy targets. I might as well have put a big bulls’ eye on my back.

And then I met a gentleman. He changed things dramatically!

Where I Am

How did I meet this gentleman? What was his name? What does our love story look like?

This Gentleman’s name is Jesus. He saved me! He saved me from harmful relationships. He saved me from harming myself to escape a sea of shame, sin, and pain. His love invaded and consumed me, and my life has never been the same.

His love reached into my heart and spoke all the words I’d longed to hear my whole life. I felt seen. I felt known. I felt understood – for the first time. Miraculously, my pride collapsed, and I knew I didn’t know everything (or pretty much anything). I didn’t need to. I knew, and know, the One who does.

He tenderly loved me back to life. I was limp, left for dead. The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10). That almost happened. But God. The truest, most real, Prince Charming swept away His bride. His love left me breathless. It still does.

When we really let God’s love invade us, we are never the same. It’s His love that leads to life transforming change. It’s only when we deeply experience God’s love that we can convey love in a meaningful fashion to others.

If your relationships are amiss, explore whether you are fully abiding in God’s love. In Jesus’ words:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” ─John 15:9 NIV

If love relationships start to slip, go back to the above. Repeat until things are set right once again.

If we are unable to give and receive love to others, sit with God. Experience His love. Experience Him. Don’t move into a love relationship before you know as you know the love of God. It’s reckless. It’s consuming. It’s the sweetest, most precious gift He gives us. His love, it’s really beyond explanation. As much as I have experienced it, I desire to experience it more. Because when I do, I am a kinder, better version of me. His love helps us become the best version of ourselves.

God’s love gives us confidence. His grace and mercy tangible evidence of His love.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.─Hebrews 4:16 NIV

His love is perfect, and it casts out all fear.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. ─1 John 4:18 NIV

What I’ve found about myself, and others for that matter, is when we react badly to each other, the real reason often is rooted in fear. We’re afraid of getting taken advantage of. We’re afraid of getting hurt. We’re afraid we won’t get what we want, or we won’t get our way. We’re afraid of – fill in the blank, because there is no shortage of things we can fear.

But God’s love casts out fear. God’s love gives us confidence. God’s love helps us to trust in His goodness, which leads us to trust others too.

Trusting God led me to first kneel at His altar, to humbly seek Him, and to listen to what He has to say. Certainly, I try to anyhow. And even in those very early baby years of my Christian faith, I grew to know I could trust our sweet Jesus. Because of His love, I believed Him when He asked me to “trust Him”.

God asked me to “trust Him” to get married to my current husband Sam. As terrified as I was, God’s perfect love cast that fear aside in my heart. I was consumed with the truth that I did trust God and I would obey what felt like walking on a plank that could send me plunging into an inky abyss. I would never have taken the risk it takes to be vulnerable in marriage a second time had God not fostered in me first a loving, trusting relationship with Him.

Out of God’s perfect love that casts out ALL FEAR, I was able to love another human being again.

I met Sam at church, saved only 2 weeks before we met. Skittish and scared, I embarked upon dating my first Christian at age 40. A lot different than my other dating experiences, for sure. I remember being so afraid I was going to mess things all up. I remember not even wanting the relationship at times, not because Sam wasn’t good and kind, sweet and loving, but because of the aroma of fear that God kept fanning away.

I believe the enemy knew how strong Sam and I would be together, how through the love God gave us and poured into us and our marriage, we were going to be a hindrance to the kingdom of darkness. Guess what, marriages forged in the strength, power and love of Christ are a force to be reckoned with!

Make no mistake, the enemy LOVES to attack marriage. When things are going wonky, we always need to look for evidence of the crafty serpent slithering away. He doesn’t want love and relationships to exist. The enemy’s plans are to destroy, to rip apart what God joined together.

God’s plans are that no one separate what God has joined.

So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate. ─Matthew 19:6 NIV

I pray God forges all of our marriages, current – or if you are single, future – in the strength, power and love of Christ. I pray God covers us and our marriages under His protective wing.

Communication is critical to healthy relationships. We can’t make assumptions. We need to clear the air. We need to convey how we feel.

Recently, I shared with my husband how I was feeling about a scenario. He is a kind and good man, but sometimes he doesn’t readily entertain what I’m saying. Like all of us, we can start to plead our case before hearing the other side. What’s different about this is that I don’t let that response silence me nor do I typically let it create World War III.

Sam will encourage me to “believe the best”. I try, but sometimes I question it (generally if my feelings have been hurt in some way).

I’ve learned to express myself, to appropriately “stand up” for myself with words something like this…

“No. It’s okay for me to express how I feel. I heard such and such when you said so and so.”

It’s important to ask questions and clarify what was said and the intention behind the words (or actions).

Sweeping my feelings under the rug is a lousy idea. It’s better to acknowledge them in a healthy fashion.

Admittedly, I don’t always understand them. The best advice I have for myself and you is to seek God in those moments. When we set pride aside and inquire of God about how we are feeling and why, He is faithful to share the root. I might not always get an instant answer, but He is faithful to reveal truth to me in a loving fashion. God’s heart is always to heal us, and He uses our marriages to do that. It’s part of the purpose of marriage.

I am blessed in my marriage, but it’s because we have Christ at the center. Beyond that, keeping communication open and being intentional about spending time with one another, investing in our marriage helps us to stay the course.

I am not naïve enough to think that a healthy marriage will be a guaranteed outcome without additional investment on both our part. What we don’t pay attention to withers. We need to be intentional with each other. We can’t take each other or our love for granted.

Where I’m Going

In my case, I feel like the above should read “Where We’re Going”.

Recently, Sam and I were asked to help launch a marriage ministry at our church. The first study we plan to do is called The Meaning of Marriage. I don’t know how God will use that study in our marriage and in the marriages of those He calls to it, but I DO trust God will show up in the midst of it all.

We don’t have all the answers to the meaning of marriage. We don’t have a perfect marriage, but we have one vulnerable enough to share with others the lessons God has taught and is teaching us along the way.

We do know the One who possesses perfect love that casts out all fear.

If you live in the area, consider attending. It starts the end of October. And if you feel you have a solid, Christ-centered marriage and have a heart to help others see Christ at work in their marriage, we’d love to connect with you.

We are praying in advance for you and your marriages, even as we ask that those reading this pray for us, our marriage, and the marriages God is calling us to serve. In Jesus’ name.

Join the conversation here or on our Facebook page.