Weekly Meeting Blog

Learning and Growing

mlchamber — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:23:02 +0000

One of those sleepless nights…I was up grading some papers and thought I would take a break to share with you how things are going. For the first time my daughter suggested we do a study. It has always been me suggesting, with her willing to join me. Honestly, she wants to forget the past pain and our meetings remind her, so I think she knew she needed the studies, but she was not eager to have them. Now that we have moved to Prov. 31 I think the study is giving her hope and she is now much more eager to meet together.
This past study we looked at verses 16 – 19 and then we discussed her new business. It was fun for her to see that this is not just something that she is doing to fill her time, she is actually contributing to the household and that makes her a Proverbs 31 wife. We talked about initiative “She considers a field and buys it”, about investing “out of her earnings she plants a vineyard”, about enthusiasm “She sets about her work vigorously”, and about being prepared or trained “her arms are strong for her tasks”. Then I asked her if you saw that this job is a good match for her and that it can be profitable “She sees that her trading is profitable”, and she thought that you did. I challenged her to be organized and always looking to the future “her lamp does not go out at night”, so that the business can continue to grow. Of course, you can imagine that it was a fun study, but in the bigger picture the study gave her some personal value. She still struggles with whether she is of any value to you, and she wants to be valuable.
I think that God has certainly directed us to this chapter, it has been good as a challenge as well as an encouragement. Are you getting the same things over there? I pray that you find encouragement either in your own time with God and/or through what the chaplain has to offer. I also pray that you are growing. That aspect of being challenged and responding by growing spiritually is not always pleasant, but ALWAYS necessary. I believe that you (and I) are either slipping backwards or moving forwards in your spiritual growth. Think about taking a week off of working out – you lose just a little in your progress. Think about taking a month off…six months…a year. You would not be the same size anymore that is for sure. Well, I know that you have not had the support around you to grow spiritually, but what really makes the growth happen is how you respond to what you are facing. Whether it is with your wife, your men under you or over you, or your circumstances; as you bring each aspect to God in prayer and then look for answers in his word – you will continue to grow. My prayer is that you will end your time over there growing. That you go to God’s word and look for answers; that you take time to respond to the challenges and allow growth to happen. I want you to come home as big inside as you are outside – that will only happen with intense time with God.
You are a man of many great accomplishments. You do well where you succeed, but you remain hidden in areas where you don’t succeed. I only really know about your accomplishments, not your failures. I am sure you have had some of both over there. The key is – God knows them all and he wants to celebrate your accomplishments and push you to grow in the areas of your failures. Be a big enough man to admit the failures and your areas of needed growth to God and ask for his help – He is there for you!!!
I love you!!!

New Study

mlchamber — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:43:04 +0000

Well between family and my school work my daughter was conveniently avoid a meeting. We kept setting dates, but the meetings never seemed to happen. I asked her why and she said she is ready to move on and not keep revisiting the “issue”.
I thought that was a good idea so I prayed about what to study and God directed me to the Proverbs 31 woman. My daughter at first felt like she already knew it well, but God still has some lessons for us to learn.
We started with the first verse:
Vs. 10 “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies”
I asked her to define noble character and she said:
• Integrity (2)
• Self-controlled (2)
• Discerning (2)
• Wise (3)
Then I asked her to rate herself in each area out of 10 and the scores are written beside each one.
We had a long discussion concerning why she would rate herself so low. Of course some of it is related to the bad choices of the past, but overall it reflects her very low self-esteem. Remember when we talked at Christmas and I said that I think the core issue is my daughter’s insecurities. Well, to say that 80% of the population does better at having a noble character really shows how she views herself.
Next, I had her share with me times when she does demonstrate these four characteristics. She came up with integrity in the way she handled leaving the Plantation, Self-control with her sisters, Discerning and Wise with the youth at church. I encouraged her to start viewing herself differently.
Then I asked her how she could improve in the development of her noble character and she felt she needed to be more discerning in the way she prays for you and more faithful at reading the Proverbs in order to gain more wisdom.
I think that this study will be a good note for us to end her stay on. I don’t know what you are using in your devotional time right now – but maybe to read along with April in Proverbs might be a good idea. You two can share significant proverbs you find.
The cool thing is that when we went to pray my daughter asked God to help her to develop such a noble character that you would one day view her as “worth far more than rubies”!
You are in my prayers!!!!

New Years Resolution

mlchamber — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:20:11 +0000

My daughter and I are back to meeting. There is a somberness about her that I don’t like. She never smiles (except when she is watching America’s Funniest Home Videos). I hope this stage doesn’t last too long, but what she is recognizing is the intricate role you have in her life. She tells me she has the joy of the Lord, but she is missing you so much.

In our study we compared the habits of Saul and David.

I Samuel ch. 13 Saul was told by Samuel to wait until Samuel arrived and Samuel would offer the sacrifice. Saul took matters into his own hands, went through the religious act of offering the sacrifice himself, and incurred the wrath of God as a result.

Note: Saul did not “inquire” of the Lord to look for the Lord’s wisdom, he acted religiously and hoped for the best.

On the other hand, David was a man after God’s own heart (I Sam. 13:14) and when David began to go into battle he had an important habit in place. II Sam. 5:22 “So David inquired of the Lord”. You will see this phrase throughout the stories of David. David knew that he needed to stay close to God and to follow God’s lead in order to experience success.

The lesson: Well there are a number you can take from this story. But my daughter and I focused on the important habits to put in place. Saul did not inquire after the Lord and David did. Saul experienced failure and David success.

The principle: The habits you have in place will determine your destiny. So, we took a look at her habits a year ago and her habits now. We analyzed which habits were moving her towards a healthy marriage. When we looked at the present, we assessed which habits were already in place and which habits she still needed to work on. I will let her share with you those habits…and I will keep encouraging her to establish good godly habits because those habits will determine her’s and your destiny.

The challenge: Son-in-law I encourage you to consider the same application. Saul “looked religious” when he offered the sacrifice before going into battle, but his heart was not in the right place. God knows the difference.

With love!!!

Your mother-in-law

For your anniversary

mlchamber — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:41:11 +0000

Son-in-law,
With the occasion of your anniversary I asked God to give me a passage in the Bible that would challenge and encourage. I wanted the encouraging aspect because I eventually want you two to be able to really celebrate each anniversary God gives to you. So, God led me to Hosea. I am not sure if you are familiar with the story, but let me summarize by saying that Hosea was in love with a prostitute. God had chosen Hosea to be a mouth piece (1:2) for him to the people of Israel, so Go allowed Hosea to marry Gomer (a prostitute) (1:2-3). God was going to use their marriage as an illustration for the people of Israel. God compared Hosea and Gomer’s marriage relationship to His relationship with Israel (ch. 3). Hosea and God loved their wives, but the wives were adulterous and broke their husband’s hearts.
First, God speaks to the wives. In 2:2 God (speaking through Hosea) tells the adulterous wife to “remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts”. My daughter and I spent some time studying what would happen if that adulterous aspect was not completely removed. Here are the details we identified:
2:3 God will strip away everything from her and leave her without anything
God will make her unproductive like the dessert
God will give her a thirst for things that will never be satisfied
2:6 God will keep her from finding her way
2:9 God says, “I will take away”
2:10 God says, “I will expose her”
2:11 God says, “I will stop all her celebrations”
2:12 God says, “I will ruin her”
2:13 God says “I will punish her”
As we discussed these verses it was very clear that if the adulterous look remained that the adulterous’ life would be ruined.
Then we read the verses about what the husband is for the adulterous wife. We read 2:7b-8
“Then she will say, “I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now” She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold”
We discussed the good things God gave Israel, the salvation Hosea offered Gomer, and the great husband you are. My daughter shared with me all that she has because she is married to you and how blessed she is to have you as her husband. This was the challenging part to my daughter because she could see you as she saw God and Hosea. She could see herself like Israel and Gomer. This story gave her a bigger perspective.
Then we moved to the encouraging aspect and that is that both God and Hosea continued to love the “wife” that hurt them. Hosea makes a decision to “show [his] love to the one [he] called ‘Not my loved one’” (2:23). At one point Hosea looked at Gomer and cringed at the thought that another man had just been with her. Yet, God said to him “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods” (3:1).
I love how the husband’s role is described in chapter two, because it gives hope to the wife who is “removing the adulterous look from her face” (2:2). Hosea says, “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth” (2:14-15). Despite what the “wife” had done the “husband” allures her, speaks tenderly to her, gives her good gifts, and gives her hope. The result is that they return to the relationship they had in their youth, before any of the hurt took place. This is what Hosea did for Gomer and this is what God did for Israel. This story is really an amazing picture of hope, forgiveness, and restoration.
When I first heard of this story in the Bible I wondered at God including it in the Bible for us to read. Now, I am thrilled that God chose to dedicate a whole book to a marriage relationship that is wounded through adultery and the restoration that can take place if the wife is repentant and the husband is forgiving and loving. God is a great example for us, because I know in my life he continues to do for me what he did for Israel. There isn’t one Christian who can claim innocence. We all turn our backs on God and give our attentions to another. Sometimes it is only briefly, and other times we completely lose sight of God and betray our words of commitment to Him. It is amazing to me how forgiving and loving God has been in my life.
Son-in-law, God understands your broken heart. God understands what it is like to feel betrayed. Yet, God encourages the husband who has been betrayed to forgive and love as He did for the Israelites and as Hosea did for Gomer. My prayer is that you and my daughter will really celebrate your third anniversary, as you see the hope that God can give you both.
I love you!

Pride

mlchamber — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:54:12 +0000

Son-in-law,
God was percolating a thought in my head for a couple of days: My daughter seemed defensive to me regarding an appointment and her camera. I wondered at this persona that she seemed to deem necessary to establish with so many people – that she was in control, knew what she was doing, had the answers, and didn’t need advice. So, we did something called “peel the onion”. I asked questions and she kept going deeper until we found some answers. It started with her need to have the answers and impress. The more we “peeled the onion” the more she began to see that in order to cover up her inadequacies; she tries to appear like she is in control. She wants others to think she can handle the situation and she doesn’t need their help.
Here were some of the illustrations we came up with: She doesn’t ask for help with the camera, she wants to tell others what she knows. She doesn’t ask for help with decisions because she wants to communicate that she is wise enough to make the right decision. She doesn’t ask for advice regarding purchases, way she spends her time, people she hangs out with, etc. because she wants to appear smart in each of these areas.
The conclusion we reached is that as Proverbs says: Pride cometh before a fall; wise men seek godly counsel; God will lift up the humble. She needs to recognize this pattern and let go of the façade of looking like she knows it all or has it all under control. She needs to ask and seek and consider wise counsel. She got it, and wants me to help her see when and where she is doing this. Of course, if she had understood her weakness a couple of months ago she wouldn’t have got in the trouble she is in. A few months ago she communicated the persona that she was witnessing and influencing her friend for Christ, but the truth was the friend seemed to have more influence over her than my daughter had over the friend. Instead of my daughter defaulting to that façade, she now needs to recognize the value of being honest about her struggles when they first appear, and to seek wise counsel on how to handle the situations.
I will let you know how that is going!
Love…

Serious Look at Sin

mlchamber — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:18:40 +0000

Sorry- it has been a week since I met with my daughter. As I talked with you on the phone yesterday, I realized that I did not write a blog for our last meeting. I spent some time with God this morning, and now I want to share with you about our last meeting.
I was led to four stories in the Bible where the main characters shared similarities:
• They were all examples for others
• They were all tempted by something that was their own personal weakness
• Their sin angered God
• There was a high price to pay for their sin.

The purpose of the study was to help her understand that God is a righteous God and we might not view our sin as that ‘horrible’ but God is offended with all sin. [This was not about her specific sin, which she does view as horrible, but about all sin, some of which we might not see as horrible] Also, that God calls us to be an example to others, and when our sin taints God’s witness, then God will use discipline in a public way to make sure that his name is honored.

The stories:
1. Moses : Numbers 20: 7-12 = Moses sin was hitting the rock, but all the people were watching when he committed the sin. He should have trusted God and just spoke to the rock. It seems like a small sin, but he was to be an example; therefore, he had to pay a big price for his sin. So, he was not allowed to go into the Promised Land.
My thought: As an example for others, a simple sin like lack of trust is treated seriously by God.

2. Achan : Joshua 7 = Achan (vs 1) took some of the treasure that was to be destroyed. He thought it would be a secret sin, but the Lord knew and 36 men died because of it (vs. 5). Joshua called all the people together and through an elimination process discovered Achan’s sin (14-19). Achan confessed (20), but the price he had to pay was high – he and all his family were stoned (25).
My thought: Greed and selfishness impacts your family and community. 36 men in the community and all of Achan’s family died because he was greedy – God takes this sin seriously.

3. David: II Sam. 11 & 12 = David was suppose to be “off to war” (11:1) but he was being self indulgent and that landed him in the wrong place. He gave in to a selfish desire and ended up getting Bathsheba pregnant. Because of David’s sin, Uriah lost his life (11:24) and their first born son lost his life (12:14). David did not stop and think about the repercussions of his choice, he just acted on impulse, but the people in the palace knew what he did, and so did the officer who was told to kill Uriah. David was to have been an example, but he did not honor God.
My thought: When you allow yourself to be in the wrong place and give in to temptation, God will discipline and there will be a sense of real loss. You have paid a price because my daughter let herself be in the wrong place (first sin) and then to give into temptation (second sin). We all need to make sure we do not give into the first sin (hanging around in the wrong place) so that Satan cannot tempt us!

4. Ananias and Sapphira: Acts 5 = This couple chose to give a large donation to the church, but at the last minute they decided to lie about the donation and just give half of it (although they still wanted everyone to believe they had given the whole amount). Seems like a little “white lie”, but when they did it they both dropped dead (5 & 10). Seems harsh? If we try to appear like something we are not just to try to impress others, God doesn’t like it. For this couple, it cost them their lives.
My thought: We need to make sure that our inner lives match the testimony that we present to other people. God requires us to have inner integrity and not just a façade that is in place to impress others who are watching.

Our Conclusions: Some of these sins seem somewhat harmless – hitting a rock, a little white lie, greed, selfishness, hanging around the wrong place. Some seem more significant – stealing, adultery, murder. Yet, God treated each of these sins as serious. Why? Because his name was tarnished by the actions. Our sole purpose is to bring honor and glory to God and when we don’t do it there is a price to pay.

Week Three

mlchamber — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:33:18 +0000

Son-in-law,
She hates to meet, but appreciates the meetings. She doesn’t want to dig deep because she does not like what is there, but she is seeing Satan’s role and God’s power and I am encouraged. We had a special time of reflection on how sad she is over the missing pet, but with tears she shared with me how much sadder you must be because of what has happened. It is good for her to have that perspective.
We talked about patterns she is putting in place, about the horror of the reality, about her lack of wisdom, and basically what she is doing to try to change it.
There was a great verse in Proverbs 27:21 that we really discussed. The question is – what reaction does praise, or the lack of praise, have on you? When you think about it, the dynamic of praise really reveals your inner character. These are questions we asked: When we do something and don’t get praised, how does that affect us? When everyone else is praised around us, how does that affect us? When the wrong person praises us, the effect is? When the right person praises us we react with….? This verse reminds us that when something is “tested” the bad comes to the surface and if skimmed off then there is purity that remains. She needs praise, but she has been looking for it in the wrong places. She needs to be filled up with your praise and God’s praise. This situation has hopefully revealed the ‘ugly’ that needs to be removed so that the purity can remain.
It was a good study for me too! Something we all need to think about!

Week Two

mlchamber — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:20:32 +0000

Son-in-law,
The second week we met in our family room. We were alone and had a chance to open the Bible and see what God had to say about the situation. I wanted to help her see that Satan was being very strategic and that she need to open her eyes to Satan’s attack plan. The truth is Satan is being very strategic with you both, nothing would make him happier than destroying this marriage. At this point, Satan seems to have had the upper hand, but if we learn his ways and learn how to protect ourselves from his attack, then we have hope for the future.
A number of years ago I did a personal devotion concerning Satan as seen in scripture. I decided that I would read starting at I Corinthian and mark in my Bible every time there was a reference to Satan, demons, the kingdom of darkness, etc. I wrote KOD (for Kingdom of Darkness) in my margin every time there was a reference. She and I flipped through my Bible and every time we saw KOD we would pause and spend some time learning from the verses. I believe it was very helpful because her eyes were beginning to see the strategy Satan was using and that she cannot discount Satan’s ways when she goes about her daily activity. Here are some of the things we noted. . .
II Cor 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers
This is Satan’s specialty = to blind minds. That is why in Eph. 6:17 we are told to put on the
helmet of Salvation so that we protect our minds from Satan’s blinding efforts.
II Cor 10:3-4 …we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
You two are in battle and you have to wage war accordingly. Eph. 6:12 says “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against . . . the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground.” She did not have the full armor of God on and she did not stand her ground. I am now having her put on the armor every day. You are also under attack. If you miss that reality then Satan will have a hey-day with your heart and with your head. I encourage you to start every day by reading and praying through Eph. 6: 14-17. At one point, all three of my girls had these verses memorized so they could pray through it at any point during the day. I am having her get back into that habit and I would love for you to adopt that habit too!
The anger you have towards her sins must be overwhelming. Yet if your perspective stops with her, then you are missing the bigger picture. She was looking at the situation and her weaknesses and wondering how she could do things differently, but as any military man knows, you can’t win a war if all you are doing is looking at one or two battles and focusing only on those disasters. You both need to have a bigger picture of what is happening in the spirit world. Satan is very strategic and he is out to conquer. The territory he wants is your marriage. If we only focus on the two battles, he will have a good chance at winning the war. Arm yourself, step back and look at Satan’s strategy, and ask God to be the leader as you two head into battle to save your marriage.
With love,

Week one

mlchamber — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:16:43 +0000

Son-in-law,
Our first meeting together took place in the teachers’ lounge at ECSU. We were alone eating lunch and I could tell she was very anxious about the meeting. I started off by expressing my tremendous disappointment in her and yet my tremendous hope in my God.
Next, I took her to the book His Needs/Her Needs. She was quick to say that you two read that book before you got married. I told her that I wanted her to do a task. She was to pencil in by priority what she viewed as most important in your marriage. I gave her the list that contained all husband and wife aspects (which are mixed together). Here is the list with her scores:
__2__ Affection
__4__ Sexual Fulfillment
____ Conversation
__5__ Recreational Companionship
____ Honesty and Openness
__3__ Attractiveness of Spouse
____ Financial Support
____ Domestic Support
____ Family Commitment
__1__ Admiration
She didn’t know what I was doing, but after she finished writing in the numbers I showed her that four out of the five aspects were from the “male” side of the chart. Admiration, Attractiveness of Spouse, Sexual Fulfillment, and Recreational Companion are all the things that are “His Needs”. Why did I do this exercise with her? Well, once again I was up in the middle of the night praying about this and God led me to an insight – she is not a typical female. As I analyzed the list I noticed that she did not “need” the things that the author put on the list of “Her Needs”. Why is this important to recognize? I think there are a couple of answers for that. . .
First, in marriage you two are so comfortable because you are both wired the same way. Neither of you need a lot of deep conversation (actually you would probably like it more than she does, who is not very good at it), you both enjoy having sex (which honestly is the #1 biggest problem in marriage counseling because most women do not want to have sex once they get married), you both like to do things together [recreational companionship] rather than going your separate ways = you like to eat out, play video games, work out, watch movies…there is no fighting over these things because you are both wired the same way and are happy doing the same things together. You both value the attractiveness of your spouse, but that is okay because both of your work at being attractive and enjoy that activity together.
On the other hand, because she is not a typical female you have some challenges in your relationship. Deep conversation is not your strength because it is usually the female that drives that dynamic and she is not driving it. That is okay when you have your daily routine, but it is not good when you hit difficult times like this and neither of you are great at expressing what you are feeling on the inside. Because you don’t have those deep conversations, the honesty and openness does not happen as readily. You are great at having sex together, but the deep pillow talk that can happen before or after sex is probably not as frequent as Bob and me because I need that honest/open conversation and I push my husband to give that to me on a daily basis.
So, there are pro’s and con’s to the way she is wired. Here is what I think is the most important insight you need at this point…her sins from a year ago and then more recently were done from a man’s perspective not a woman’s perspective. This seemed strange to me when I first realized this, but when I look at her list, and the fact that you were gone during both incidents, I start to understand better that there was no “heart” involved in the act (of course that is certainly true regarding the most recent incident).
She needs to be admired and to experience affection and sexual fulfillment while having fun.
There that is the basic summation of her. This works well when her attractive spouse is around because you fulfill all her needs. But when you are gone and she is not right with God, then Satan sees the opportunity and temps her with alternative ways to have those needs met.
Our first meeting together was meant to help her see better who she really is. She needs to understand her weaknesses so that she can be more aware of how Satan will attack her. I knew we needed to deal with Satan’s attack and how she needs to guard herself (we began that week two), but for starters I wanted her to see that she needed to take some steps that would move her in a God honoring direction.
Her homework was to journal regarding some of the issues we discussed during the meeting. She was also to read Proverbs every day and look for ways in which she can develop her wisdom. By the way, Proverbs was written from a father (King Solomon) to his son, and so I have asked April to read it from a “man’s” perspective because she will be tempted with many of the same things the “son” would have been tempted. She was also to have a couple of meaningful conversations a week about any topic(you or I not included because she was already talking to us meaningfully) in order to learn how to pursue that kind of conversation – she is still working on that!
This is just a start, but I am finding that I have the freedom to say some really hard things to her because she is willing to hear the very hard things. She is broken and afraid. She doesn’t really know herself, and so she is frightened that Satan will take advantage of that. My husband and I have put VERY tight boundaries around her right now (and thank God she is letting us do that). Between the two of us we are calling her a lot and checking up on what she is doing. We are keeping her busy with us, and when she is not with us, she is checking in a lot. I have told her she can only drink alcohol around the family (and she is okay with that). Now that we are aware of the reality of your situation, my husband and I are trying to be very proactive in protecting her (and as a result you) from the plan Satan has of destroying the good gift God has given you – your marriage.
I know this is a lot of reading, so digest it at your own pace. Feel free to ask questions or make comments. You can comment on this blog and then I will know it is about this information. Or you can publish your own blog and then I will comment on it. I hope this system works for us. I love you so much and you have no idea how often I pray for you throughout each day. Please stay close to God and find godly people over there to give you advice!!
Love,

Hello

mlchamber — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:13:49 +0000

Son-in-law,
It is 3:00 in the morning and I couldn’t sleep. She told me you would be willing to Blog with me and I am grateful for that. You need to know that my husband and I are sick about this terrible situation. We never dreamed we would have to counsel one of our own daughters through this, but the truth is we have counseled many couples through similar situations, and we have watched the pain diminish, God’s strength take over, and lives and hearts change. The amazing thing about being on pastoral staff is that we come to church each Sunday and we know the personal stories of so many people. I can look over the congregation and see couples who have journeyed through similar situations and they are now enjoying amazing marriages that are based in a love they never dreamed possible.
Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
The purpose of our time on this blog is for me to share with you what I am saying to her in our weekly meetings. You are welcome just to read, or to comment however you choose. You can write your own blog by creating a new blog or you can click on comment and post a comment about what I wrote. Yet, it is important for you to know that there are no expectations on you. I will not hold anything against you. You are free to say what is on your heart or not to say anything at all. My hope and prayer is that this blog site will be useful to you in the healing process.
My husband and I are absolutely convinced that you and she are chosen by God to be married for the rest of your lives. This marriage has been designed by God. Like every marriage there are some flaws and sins that must be dealt with. This particular sin is the most difficult, but I firmly believe that if you both allow the process to continue, God will build character, deepen faith, and draw you together in ways you never dreamed possible – I can say this with confidence because I have seen it happen with a number of couples who have chosen to do the “hard stuff” and are madly in love today because of it.
With a broken heart, yet with a heart that has hope . . . I begin our blogging time together.