I am confident:
He, who began a good work in you,
WILL carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6

As the verse yesterday said:

• I can be confident. You can be confident.
• He – who began a good work in you. who began a good work in me.
• WILL carry [the good work] to completion in you. WILL carry [the good work] to completion in me.
• then,
• you will be complete in Christ Jesus. I will be complete in Christ Jesus.

While I wouldn’t wish some of my life experiences on anyone – I can also be thankful for them.

We spent about two and a half years in Portland, Oregon. They were not good years, but the Lord provided everything my soul needed. My gracious Heavenly Father provided a friendship with an amazing & beautiful woman. She was my safe person thru the ups and downs. She helped me save face so many times in the worst of times. She was the one who told me I was pregnant. Life was in such an upheaval, I didn’t realize what was going on in my own body. She saw me. She cared about me at a time when I was uncertain if I even wanted life to go on. She coaxed me through the birth of my son. Six months later we drove back to Alaska. To this day, she remains my dearest sister-friend; twenty years of friendship and we’ve spent no more than two weeks total time in the same room. She has known both extreme happiness & extreme pain in life. She has known hardship. She is beautiful inside and out. I aspire to learn from her faith. her trust in God and in people.

The hardship of living in an abusive marriage provided me an opportunity to strengthen a closer relationship with Jesus and my Heavenly Father, and I have two wonderful children. Children I would never, ever, in a million years trade for a different marriage. Don’t get me wrong, if I could have the same children with a different marriage – then, yes please! I would like to think I could have learned many of the life lessons I’ve learned in a different way :-)…but, I do believe my Heavenly Father does know best what is for His Glory.

He, who began a good work in me is working it through to completion in Christ Jesus. Some chapters of my story I wouldn’t mind if they’d been edited out – but not at the expense of the lessons I learned.

I am God’s masterpiece.
He created me new in Christ Jesus.
He created me so I could do the good things He planned.
Specific good things He planned long ago. Just for me.
Ephesians 2:10

The stories of my life have not taken my Heavenly Father by surprise. In fact, He created me just for this story.

I can’t say if the move back to Alaska is what saved us from his poor choices, or if they intensified his poor choices. Life was far from easy. May I suggest, if you have a family member who doesn’t seem like themselves and you think there are marriage problems – without prying and controlling, try to learn more. Don’t decide what you know based on what you think you see. When we moved back I was in full-on survival mode. I was also a first time mom of a six month old who had been mobile since four months, and started walking at seven months. It was what I knew in my marriage relationship. My family did not understand the change, nor did they imagine the source of the changes in me. I came across as paranoid, irrational, and controlling. So, my behavior is what was pointed out.

Once again: Please, if you or someone you know needs help – if you don’t have a church family you can go to – contact Focus on the Family. It is important to get Godly counsel. Make sure the help you get is actually going to help, aligning Biblically with what is in Scripture. Each situation is unique.