20170707_131914Hi Ladies,

Options are always around us and as you follow the pathway of your life, there will be numerous choices to be made. After your decision to receive salvation by acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord, the most important choice before you will be that of deciding on your spouse. Remembering that this is a permanent selection, the decision you make will be critical to the joy and happiness of you, your husband and your family. Weigh all of your options with clear eyes, while trusting and following God’s Will.

The last two blogs shared the testimony of a young newlywed, BB, who married the husband of God’s choice after bearing three children out of wedlock in her search for love.

TESTIMONY CONTINUES

JP – Was this your second marriage?

BB – No, this was my first marriage. I feel I am a living testimony to every unwed mother, of what God can do in their lives if they just yield to Him. I have three children and had never been married. I wasn’t a Christian when I had my children. In fact, my last child was born two weeks before I became a Christian.

When I got involved with the church and ministry, the Lord gave me a peace about being single. I remember once, when I belonged to a different church, the pastor told a story about a woman who came up for prayer moaning, “I need a husband. I’ve got all these bills to pay. I need a husband.” The pastor told her, “Sweetheart, you don’t need a husband. You just need some money.” You have to be careful because the enemy will get you into that mindset of fantasizing about having two incomes and someone to help pay the bills. I think that’s the spirit of the world. It’s one of the worldly strongholds that we, as Christians, still have in our minds about relationships and marriage. But being married doesn’t change that – God is still our source.

JP – So how’s married life now?

BB – It’s great, but God has made a lot of changes in me to get me to this point. Marriage is not what I had it to be in my carnal mind. I’ve had to really yield to the Spirit and hear the Spirit in my marriage, because I had some incorrect ideas that were firmly set in my mind about how it should go. I have no doubt God put us together, but our marriage, as well as our love for God, has been tested. He may still have some attitude adjustments to make, but thankfully, the major ones have been taken care of. God has given us a glimpse of what He wants to do through us.

JP – Any parting thoughts to share? What about celibacy?

BB – I would advise women to yield to God. I was a committed Christian, filled with the Holy Spirit, and I had a plan for my life. But it wasn’t God’s plan. All the time, God was trying to keep me from hurting myself. With sex before marriage, you don’t even get to know each other. The first fruit of the Spirit is love and I believe God wants couples to build philia love first. Sex before marriage is out of order and brings all kinds of problems.

When I went ahead at one point, and entered into a sexual relationship with a man, it seemed like every demon in the spirit realm was loosened on me. I got caught up at a time when I was very vulnerable. I had just left the church I was in over hurts I had endured there, and Satan sent this guy right on in. I was strong-willed and self-willed. I had my heart focused on the man, not on God. God had to do surgery on my mind to get him out. That’s why God told the Israelites to marry within their tribe, because He didn’t want them serving strange gods. It took the Lord to deliver me.

BB’s insights continued about making choices and following God. But there are others to share. Until next week…Joy and Shalom!