Day 26 -- Describe a dark/turbulent moment in your life

I have been dreading this blog for the entire month. I know exactly what time period I am going to write about, I just am not sure "how" to write it. How much detail to go in to? Whether I should go into detail at all. Its been a battle. I still don't know the answer to it, but I am going to start writing right now and see where it leads me.

I will start with a tiny back story. I was a "Christian" by name only for many years. Sure, I would go to church, and even bible study. But I never really gave my life over to God for real until after 2009/2010. And this was during/right after I hit the lowest low of my life. I was previously married to my high school boyfriend. And our entire marriage was tainted by infidelity, lies, insecurities, control and lots of other evil. This gave Satan the perfect foothold into my life to finish the evil he started. Now don't get me wrong, I am not "blame shifting" here, I accept full responsiblity of my actions. I just know that in my weakness and distraction, I gave Satan the perfect opportunity to plant seeds in my life.

 In 2008 he deployed to Iraq and our marriage was in a rough spot as it was. The day he left, neither of us knew how that deployment would affect us. Neither of us were mentally ready face such a challenge. For a couple of months though, things turned around, and I was trying to turn back to God and do good. He was trying to help as well.

But then Satan grabbed a hold of me, and refused to let go....and I didn't fight it much. From the months of November 2008 until May 2009 I was Satan's puppet. I was the perfect definition of a "hypocritical christian". If it was wrong, I did it. I lied. I cheated. I stole. I ruined lives/families.

I lived two lives.  One life that my Christian friends and my ex-husband knew about. The one where I went to work, came home, vegged out with TV Series. And then there was other life. The one that only those apart of knew about.

During this time, I had blinders on. If I would have looked at my actions I would have known what I was doing was ungodly, it was so ungodly, that the ungodly even knew it was wrong. But I refused to look. I just kept going. I did what I wanted and was totally OK living this lie.

That is, until I was caught. (Isn't that always how it is...) God set it up where I would get caught no matter how well I thought I "covered my tracks". Once I was caught, those blinders came flying off, and I was mortified. I could not believe the things I was doing with no guilt, no shame, and no care. I just could not believe it. I still can not believe it.

 I looked in the mirror and was disgusted. I became the person I swore I would never be. I did things that I swore I would never do. I was just mortified. I made decisions during this time that were unchangable. And when I was faced with that realization, I realized that I was drowning. I lost my way and I needed help.

Praise the Lord though that when you hit the ground, you have no where to turn but up. And Jesus is always there to grab your hand and help you back to your feet....and that blog is for tomorrow. I will tell you all about how I truly found the Lord and how much it has helped me.

Day 22 -- In this past month, what have you learned

It seems that this has been a month of "give it a try". We are trying vegetarian, I am trying this blog challenge, the crickets are trying to invade my house (oh its bad in central texas right now...those crickets out number us by ALOT). Therefore, I have learned alot this month.

I have learned eating no meat saves money. I have learned that I like sweet potatoes, eggplant, and alot of other veggies. And you don't need meat for it to be yummy food.


I have learned that I just love being in the precense of God's people. I love the support, the love, the closeness, I just love people who love God.



I have learned that every single stage with my son is my new favorite stage. He's growing up so fast, and just getting so much more fun and cute. I absolutely love being a mom.



I have learned that the possibility of adopting a second child would cost a good deal of money. Charlie and I have toss the idea around a little bit. Tons of children with no parents, tons of moms that don't want there children. I did a tiny bit of research today and learned it could cost anywhere from $200-$30,000. Thats a lot of money to help someone out. Kinda makes me sad.





I have (re)learned that water is God's relief in the Texas heat. As we are experiencing our first week of 100 degree days all I can think about is getting in the pool or staying inside. It's hot out there.


I have learned how grateful I am to my friends and their families. In the last month 3 of my super close friends have been reunited with their husbands after being away during a deployment. Each of these wonderful ladies have very small children too. They are insanely strong, and I am so thankful for them, and that their families are reunited.





I am sure that I have learned much more, but for now, that is all I can think of. How has your month been informative for you? Have you learned any useful tidbits?