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FIGHT FOR THE FAMILY
(Married to a Pharisee part 2) “What covenants and responsibilities did I take on in the pre-mortal life that I have forgotten?“ In today’s culture families just do not exist according to how God intended for them to be. No one lives by each other—everyone is spread out, children believe what they want, and family worship and traditions are built upon man’s definitions, not God’s. No one is standing up for each other at all. However, for me, I thought this was how families were running until I begin to see a family in operation patterned after scriptures and inspired leaders that changed my view forever. For my husband and…
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MARRIED TO A PHARISEE (Part 1)
“God had a plan—using a farm and a family to show me how to apply His gospel to my very own marriage, and how to turn it around!” For many years there was an ongoing, never-ending conversation between Brad and me. As we battled the ups and downs—the cycles of Brad’s pornography addiction—a war-like dialogue crept into our lives. This was not a conversation where one was willing to “fight” for someone, go to the “ends of the earth” or “suffer with one another.” No, this conversation was nothing short of selfishness that stemmed from broken laws, hurt, resentment, and anger. It would go something like this . . .…
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BREAKING THE CHAINS OF PORNOGRAPHY (PART 3) “I WILL GIVE YOU A NEW HEART”
The sun was low in the sky, just minutes away from setting, and another day was coming to an end. A part of me wished this day had never begun as I sat there in the car overlooking the city, listening to my husband tell how his addiction to pornography had taken a turn for the worse. Not only had it cycled again, but this time it had plunged into an area no spouse ever wants to hear. As I sat there watching the last flaming rays of color fade into the heavens while listening to my husband’s sorrows and weighing the consequences that lay ahead—I felt an overwhelming sense…
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PUNISHMENT BY DEATH
A few months ago I had a powerful dream. In this dream, I was looking at a dead tree, with other similar-looking trees in the background reaching for miles. Death was everywhere and there was no sound to break up the eeriness that lay in the red valley. This tree I stood in front of was no taller than I was, as it had no chance to reach its potential. It was brown with not a single leaf to it, and all its branches were barren and had perished with no evidence of any form of life that had taken shelter from it for a very long time. This tree…
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BREAKING THE CHAINS OF PORNOGRAPHY (PART 2) “THE BURDEN WAS HEAVY”
Sometimes simply carrying one’s burdens may be the very thing that saves the soul of another. My husband, and friend, of almost 30 years has been suffering with an addiction to pornography for most of his life after being exposed to it at the home of a friend during his junior high years. Since that first exposure, pornography has kept my husband bound in heavy chains, as—with most addictions—his addiction has increased over the years. I personally have experienced almost every possible negative emotion throughout our marriage due to this hideous vice that has wreaked chaos throughout our home. Mostly, I have felt defeated when programs have not worked and…
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BREAKING THE CHAINS OF PORNOGRAPHY (Part I) “LET MY PEOPLE GO”
A strong theme ‘heard’ throughout the story of the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt is oppression. God sent Moses to Pharaoh repeatedly to carry the divine message: Let My people go! But each time, Pharaoh refused. And each time, the Israelites would pray to God for freedom, and petition for liberation. This too, was my song as the psaltery hymn played repetitively in my mind for the previous 27 years of my marriage. Captivity I have identified with—not because I had turned my back on God like ancient Israel, but because I am married to someone who had, following a different God than my God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This…