Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I realize more and more how God is blessing me!

It's true... God is blessing me left and right lately. And I'm just waiting for satan to rear his ugly head because I know that because of my place right now with God that I'm extremely vulnerable to satan's attack! I pray for strength :-))) And I pray for discretion!! Strength, wisdom, peace... I love how I feel right now.

You might think, "WOW! What made Amanda so positive today?" It wouldn't happen to be that SHE COMPLETELY ACED HER REHAB CHECKOUT, WOULD IT?! lol. No, it's not totally that. But I did :-D And it helps to give me the confidence to put my mind to studying and not to goofing off. The closer I get to the end (THE END being graduation, board exams, buying a house!!), the more I realize how IMPORTANT the next several months are to me. In September, I will be able to breathe more easily. Once I pass those boards. I graduate in May (that means no school ever again, hopefully), I start my 12-week summer clinicals just a few days later, and in August/September I sit for my boards. Nervous? UH YEAH! Of course!!! But I have faith that I got this far because I know what I'm doing. And that I can do it!

Am I a straight A student? Well - no... I have had a fair mixture of A's and B's, and I claim one C for second semester and one C for third semester. And I'll take it! Considering I'm in school full-time, I am a single mother with a 4½ year old daughter who is with me almost every waking (and slumbering) moment that I'm not in school, I have hobbies (my hunting and my archery take up a lot of time), and I have friends... Through my life, I have learned to balance my obligations and my sanity. I have to release my "obligations" every once and a while to pay attention to myself, therefore sparing my sanity for one more day. It's the only way I can do things now :-) I do for myself, I do for Cora, and that's the end of it.

I have my Lifegroup tomorrow night. An e-mail was sent out saying that we are starting our new series tomorrow night. We are having guests come in and speak each week. This week, I think, is a married couple. Our Lifechurch (Sunday) message for the next 4 weeks is "Once Upon A Marriage: Valuable lessons from Biblical couples.."

"There’s nothing quite like a juicy love story...the romance, the intrigue, and maybe a little scandal. We’re digging in to some of the greatest biblical marriages to see what we can learn. Travel back in time with us for Once Upon a Marriage."

I really enjoyed Sunday's message, based on the ideas of "The Controlling Wife" and the "Passive Husband". Everyone can think of someone that applies to that stereotype, of course. I was married from the age of 18 to the age of 22. Young marriage is nothing I ever encourage, but at the time I "knew what I was doing". I look back now and think, "WHAT in the WORLD were you thinking?!?!" My marriage could have seriously benefited from Lifechurch.tv. But maybe we were too far past help. I know that this message is going to bless a lot of marriages.

I was listening to KFAQ Talk Radio 1170AM the other day (I am an avid listener when driving, and I drive a lot) and they were discussing a new bill that makes it harder to get a divorce. State Representative Mark McCullough debates that the government needs to get involved and make it more difficult to get married. I have formed an opinion about this amongst the debates surrounding this bill.

"House Bill 2279 says a court shall not grant a divorce on the grounds of incompatibility if there are living minor children in the marriage, the parties have been married 10 years or longer, or if either party files a written objection to the divorce."

"McCullough's measure would require all marriage license applicants to receive at least eight hours of counseling and for parents of minor children to attend counseling before getting a divorce.

"I don't think it's unreasonable for couples to spend one day preparing for the most important decision of their lives," McCullough said.

McCullough's bill also includes a covenant marriage component. Covenant marriage, now legal in Louisiana, Arkansas and Arizona, involves extensive prenuptial counseling and limits grounds for divorce.

Kern's bill would bar divorces on grounds of incompatibility for couples married 10 years or more, that have minor children or if either party objects."

As a Child Of Divorce (my parents split when I was about 12) and a young-adult divorcee, I of course have strong opinions. My parents were married for nearly 17 years and the relationship deteriorated for the last 5-7 years of the marriage and ended in infidelity. My marriage lasted for 4 years and ended due to a mixture of things, I think. The lifestyle I had as a married woman was not the one that I desired for myself, or for my daughter. My ex and his family drank and partied a lot, and with my family history of alcoholism, I knew that environment was not the best for me. I didn't get married for love; I got married for opportunity (I realized this after falling in love for the first time more than a year after I left my ex-husband). The future I was destined to have when I was married was that of a very low-income, unmotivated, ambition-free life. My core, my soul, the ME trapped deep inside me, screamed out to me, crying to be free. Our dissolution of marriage was based on the grounds of "Incompatibility". We attended a lot of Christian marriage counseling which, yes, unearthed some of the deep issues, but I felt only made things worse. Could the marriage have been saved? Maybe -- I never put anything past God. But it was a long shot. And I believe, without a shadow of a doubt, that God has given me a second chance in life. That I have my real shot now.

TO GET BACK ON TRACK: Yes!!! I support the bill to make it harder to get married. My ex and I sat through about an hour or two of Christian PRE-marriage counseling (the stuff you're supposed to take if you want your marriage license to be cheaper) if I remember correctly. (I don't remember a second of it) I don't think we really took it seriously because "we knew what we were doing". WRONG! If the government would have had more strings attached to the process of getting a marriage license, such as proof of many hours of counseling, classes, etc., it may have changed my situation. It may have prevented me from getting married at the young age of 18 to a man whom was 7 years older than I and whom I'd only MET 12 months earlier! Would I change it now? NO WAY! The lessons I have learned are INVALUABLE. And the beautiful princess daughter I have is my reason for waking up and breathing every day. But I know there are lots of others in the shoes I used to wear, that are in much harder situations. And I think marriage is just not the answer.

OMGoodness!! Sorry for the spiel... I get passionate sometimes. It's very unpredictable :-)

I'm going to watch a movie.....

1 comment:

  1. I think that you and I have a lot of the same views. and at least 1 hobby in common. I think that you're a little more skilled in archery than I am though. I haven't gotten to do it in so long. Anyways, just wanted to say hi.

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