I wanna share this video God led me to this morning. It has very little to do with marriage, but everything to do with the REAL and AWESOME power of our LIVING God.

In 2012 God’s ultimate mercy rebooted my life. Ever since then, I have wanted my life to declare the glory of God, to never again profane or shame His name. Right now God is working in mine and my husband’s life to be used to reach people everyday: those who are hurting, in physical pain, and dying in this world of sin and selfishness. We don’t know what He has planned, but we will accept whatever it is gladly and willingly to be used to tell His story. He deserves no less than our lives and so much more than we can ever give!

Father, let our lives be living epistles which all men read and give YOU glory!

2 Corinthians 3:2-4 (NET) You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts. Now we have such confidence in God through Christ.

Nehemiah 8:10 (NKJV) Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.“

The Lord just reminded me of a testimony of mine from 2012. I want to share it to help or encourage others who might go through the same thing.

Before 2012 I had been on antidepressants for a couple of years. But in 2012 when my husband left and God told me to stand for my marriage, He also told me to get off those meds. I knew He wanted me off the antidepressants, because He kept telling me I didn’t need them. I didn’t argue with God, but I told Him fearfully that of all the times in my life to get off antidepressants this was THE WORST time to do so…my husband had just left me! But I told Him that since He was telling me to do so, I’d do it.

I’ve never taken another antidepressant since then. He became my antidepressant 🙂 His joy really became my strength that day and everyday after…

There’s a Christian movie I like called, “Marriage Retreat.” There’s a poignant scene at the end that changed my way of thinking. In it, the husband tells his wife that he knows when he messes up. He doesn’t need her to keep telling him. When she does, it just makes him feel bad about himself!

In 2012, I learned that I am no one’s Holy Spirit, especially my husband’s. I can’t reveal truth to people. I can share truth, but it is only the Holy Spirit that opens peoples’ hearts to receive it. So, I learned to “zip my lips” as Charlyne Steinkamp says. For anyone who knows my-very-opinionated self, this was hard!  But you know how God made it easier for me to swallow? He revealed that what God does lasts forever. I can’t do that. What I do just falls apart and becomes a mess even with good intentions. I wanted God to do it. I wanted His changes in my life, in my husband’s life, and in our marriage to last forever! So I learned then, it’s best to give it to Him. Nothing is impossible for Him. 

I realized watching that scene from the movie that I didn’t want anyone reminding (or nagging) me about my faults/sins/mistakes. I, too, know when I make them. Why on earth should I do that to another?

1 Peter 3:1-4 (NKJV) Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward–arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel–rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.