September 19 2015

September 19 2015 Greetings My Friend There has been a debate recently about a woman who will not issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. One of the arguments I heard is “this woman has been divorced 4 times what makes her so self righteous?” I am a woman who has been divorced and in our country for generations divorce has been viewed with a lot of skepticism. I came to a deep faith journey upon my divorce and prior to this time I can admit that I viewed others who were addicted, divorced, and a whole host of other things with disdain. My divorce taught me the great brokenness most of us feel at one point or another in our lives. Each of our sins are different but the brokenness is there. My faith journey is teaching me compassion for the broken not a condolence for what is tearing up their lives. I sometimes hear a statement that makes sense to me, “love the sinner, not the sin.” In ministry I meet broken people often. Some are wanting a way out of their rut and my goal is to love as Jesus loves us. At some point God will convict a heart and a life can be turned around. This is so true in my life and yes it was decades before I got the point. When Junior and I married our thinking was if this marriage did not turn out then we were not going to try again. Through the years I have met couples in a very stable and loving marriage who were divorced 3 times prior to this marriage. It took them a few tries to learn and change and grow. Junior and I attended classes on remarriages that helped us not fall into the traps many fall into. My heart goes out to homosexuals as well. I don’t hate them, I believe they need to be loved as my neighbor as well. I don’t believe that God created us to be in these relationships also. I do not support laws to insist we accept this lifestyle and at the same time I don’t think we have the right to not allow them to have jobs etc. They have the right to live alongside of us. I believe again that my job is to love as God loves and I see in the Bible that God calls sin, sin and eventually we pay a price for our sins, now or later but one day we will pay. If I look at an addict I see the destruction of sin on their lives. I also see healing when they give up the addiction and I am happy for them. In my own life I had anger issues. I learned it at the hands of an angry parent. My siblings felt the brunt of my anger more than I’d like to admit. I believe one of the good things that came out of my former marriage was I met my bully. He was stronger, angrier than I was and soon I found I did not like being the brunt of that type of anger. Today I do not relate with my fists or anger as I have in the past. It has been a huge learning process. Once I truly felt loved by God I was able to let the anger go. This again has been years in the making and I am thankful to be where I am now. I will keep changing and growing in God’s love. My goal is to love as God loves and let God do what He will for those whose ways I am not in agreement with. When I am made to change I will fight to prove I can’t be made to change. When I am loved to change I am open to changing directions. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet