Response to "Anonymous"

Anonymous, I'm not sure what your response to me really is. Is it a mixture of disagreement with what I've done, how I did it, what I'm blogging about, me personally and the pain I have caused others? You are kind of jumping from one thing to another, that is, if most of the Anonymous' are the same person. You said in your first post that God gave me a gift in my first spouse, but in this last post you said that no one disagreed with WHY I left, just HOW. Sounds like opposite thoughts to me. It doesn't really matter though. I like to read others thoughts and weigh them and see if they have substance. You said that "hate" comes through - I don't see that, but maybe there is a blind spot there. What I think comes through is pain. I do have pain, and by responding to my own pain, have caused pain in others. It isn't fun or comfortable, but it happened. I am not asking for approval from you or anyone else, all I am asking for is love and mercy. The Bible says that before his own master a servant stands or falls, so I stand before God, not man. Here is a question I must and do ask myself regularly "Is this done in Love?" You may not agree with the answer, but yes, this was done in love. Love for my well-being, for my own soul. I was dying inside, I was "mostly dead". A dead person can't love their family or friends. I was just going through life, walking in what I thought was faith, but really was death. Here is what I fear about my staying in my marriage as long as I did. Did I teach my daughter that her husband can cheat and lie to her and she must stay? Did I teach my son that he can lie, cheat and treat his wife with dishonor and it is fine. I hope not, I hope that God in his mercy has covered my stupidity. Here is an excerpt from a friend's blog. This was asked to her husband by her pastor.

“What if one day you asked your wife to go jogging with you. While you were jogging you tripped her and broke her leg. You said, ‘I’m so sorry’ and she said, ‘I forgive you; however, my leg is broken and it needs time to mend. After it mended, you asked her to go jogging again and again tripped her and broke her leg. Again, you profusely apologized. She said, ‘I forgive you; however, it will take longer for my leg to heal. Then, when she was healed you asked her to go jogging a third time and again you tripped her and broke her leg. You, again, profusely apologize. She says, ‘I forgive you; however, my leg has been broken too many times and I can no longer jog with you.” Then he looked at me and said, “What if we lived in a land that had a law stating you MUST jog every day? What if you went to the law-giver of this land and stated, ‘My leg has been broken too many times, I can no longer jog.’ The law says you must jog…but Grace says, ‘your leg has been broken too many times, of course you cannot jog.”

I feel that I had been expected and expected myself and others to keep jogging. Put this way it sounds ludicrous doesn't it? The comment that "God designed marriage to make us holy, not just to make us happy." sounds so good and right, but what does it really mean? Do you think that if I just "kept jogging" somehow it would make me holy? No, I am holy because of Jesus. If I "kept Jogging" I would be crippled, not "holy". Is that what God wants? Would you want that for your children? As far as the remark about "What you are "preaching" is MORAL RELATIVISM"...for those of you who don't know what the heck that means, here is a definition:

Moral relativism is the view that ethical standards, morality, and positions of right or wrong are culturally based and therefore subject to a person's individual choice. We can all decide what is right for ourselves. You decide what's right for you, and I'll decide what's right for me. Moral relativism says, "It's true for me, if I believe it."

Sounds scary and wrong! The fact is that we all practice some form of moral relativism. Examples:

Prov. 23:20 says, "Do not mix with winebibbers, [Or] with gluttonous eaters of meat"

. How often do we overeat or over drink and make excuses for it, saying "It's ok, it's my birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, St. Paddy's day, Thursday, well you get my drift.

Rom. 13:1 - "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God"

Do you exceed the speed limit? How about your taxes, do you declare everything? How about overtime or unemployment compensation you get but don't qualify for?

Rom. 13:8 - "Let no debt remain outstanding..."

Do you have outstanding debt? I know I do! I can hear some of you say "That's the least of her sins!" Do you speak against authority? The Bible tells us not to. Do you criticize and talk bad about others? What does the Bible say about that? The point I am trying to make is, we all condone behavior in ourselves that the Bible doesn't, or others wouldn't if they knew. So stop with the pointing fingers already! It is all about Love! God's love! We must stop being Job's friends who knew all about God and who He was (they thought!). God summarily chastised them for there religious sayings.

Job 42:7 & 8 - "And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me [what is] right, as My servant Job [has]. Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you [according to your] folly; because you have not spoken of Me [what is] right, as My servant Job [has]."

If you know anything about Jobs friends, what they had to say is eerily like what we hear from the pulpit or from my own mouth! Kinda scary!

I've made the decision to live in Love. Much simpler than judging.

1 Cor. 13:13 - And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.