Hi! My name is...

[NaomiStar]

Hi Aida, thank you for the welcome.
This is the third time I try to write this post I'm using my iPad and whenever I opened another window in my browser to get a link for you I would completely loose the post. Weird. That does not happened in the other forum I've joined.

Anyways, third times a charm. Right?!

What kind of books has your daughter written?

My daughter writes fiction. In her own words "I want to share Father's love without being "preachy"". She is a moderator for a forum in a website called Holy Worlds, where she joined 2 years ago. Both my girls have "rebelled" against religion since they were little ones. It used to freak me out, but now I understand. I used to tell them, "I know you don't want to use churchy words, but please while you are talking to me do use them so I can understand you." Oh, it seems so weird now that I look back. With my eyes I could see Father in them, I could see the relationship they have with Him, but with my head I would rethink it and freak out. Does that make any sense? The other day I had another revelation, you know, one more scale coming off... And when I shared it with them, they said " Mommy, we have never seen God that way. It never crossed our minds He was a mean God."
I said, " Really?! Wow, you guys are truly free. That's so cool that you never felt that way about God"
My oldest said, "But you are the one who taught us that relationship with Him!"

Oh, just telling you about it makes me wanna do cart wheels. While Jim and I were preaching some lies and misconceptions during their childhood, we were living the truth of Father's love all along the way, and they caught up on that! So amazing.

Here is the link to an article interview she had with our local newspaper:
http://www.newbernsj.com/articles/writi ... faith.html

Here is a link to her blog, she also uses tumbler and twitter. She's told me her tumbler writings are more "spiritual":
http://bethanyfaithwrites.wordpress.com/

Here is a link to Amazon, where her books are sold:
http://www.amazon.com/What-Lies-In-The- ... hany+faith

[AidaC]

That's wonderful! I'm reminded of the quote attributed to Francis of Assisi. “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” It sounds like that's what you did with your girls. His life and his truth just flowed out of your heart.

Your daughter definitely has a gift. Thanks for sharing those links.

[Warangel]

Hello everyone! My name is James (screen name Warangel) and NaomiStar's husband. I am truly blessed to be married to an awesome, beautiful, inteligent, sexy woman of God. Father has truly shown His love to me through her.
As mi reina de mi corazon mentioned before, we have two lovely, inteligent (nearly grown) daughters. The fact they have learned Father's love in a non-IC from us proves God can use anybody!
My background is the Assemblies of God (Darin, I can hear you sigh) and a pastor's kid to boot (more sighing). While I won't get into the nitty gritty of my past, let me just say it was bad enough for Father to step in and seperate me from my parents. Yeah, that bad!
For several years now my wife and I have not attended the IC but have had home church. (Man, those homeschoolers want to do everything at home!)
Even when I was deployed by my company to Okinawa a year and a half ago, we have continued to have "church" on the IM. We speak twice a day and talk alot about how the scales are coming off.
I don't want to take too much time. This is new to me, so I will be brief.
I look forward to reading more posts and thoughfully responding.
Love in Christ
James

[AidaC]

James, I have fallen in love with your wife. Ella es de verdad una mujer muy amada de dios y de mi tambien.

I’m so glad you’ve decided to join us too. We don’t have any other husband and wife team that post here so I’ll enjoy hearing about your individual journeys that you’re taking together. I’d love to hear more about your story so feel free to post as much as you want. Being a PK must have its own set of difficulties as a free believer. Also, I’m sure your experiences raising your children outside of a religious institution will be helpful to others who are concerned about their children.

I’m looking forward to getting to know you. If you have any questions or need help navigating the forum, just ask. We have a great group of regulars here who will be more than happy to help you so . . .

Welcome to our forum!!!

[NaomiStar]

Aida, tu hablas español muy bien. ¿Donde aprendiste?
My husband is a very patriotic marine and yet sometimes I think I am Salvdorian from birth and American by heart and he is American from birth and Salvadorian by heart. We are so right for each other. I am one year older than him, so I've been known to say, "My Father looked everywhere to find someone fitting for (deserving of) me, but He found no one. So he created someone just for me". And that is true. No one else could had been able to put up with my hard-head, perfectionistic, controlling, judgmental self. And no one else would had seen thru that and find the faithful, loyal, giving, gentle (should I go on? ) loving person that I am.
Have you ever heard Darlene Zschech' s song, "Everything About You"? I am inspired to paste and copy it here because it sounds like she was talking about Jim and I when she described her own relationship with her husband.

You chased me
I caught you
so glad we found each other
We whispered forever
to share our lives together
to watch our dreams unfold

*Chorus
And I love everything about you
everything you are
You'd catch a falling star
if I asked you
And I couldn't live a single day without you
You hold me in your arms
and once again, I know
that I'm the only one for you

The way you laugh, the way we dance
the way you hold my hand
the way you give, the way you kiss
the way you look at me
you make life beautiful

*Repeat chorus

*bridge
Oh, I love the light that shines in your eyes
when you talk about our girls
and love the way you smile when they walk
into a room
Oh, I love how you care about brokenness
how injustice moves your heart enough
to make a change
You give all you are
everyday

*Repeat chorus

I love everything about you
You hold me in your arms
and once again I know
that I'm the only one for you
the only one for you
the love of my life

[AidaC]

Aida, tu hablas español muy bien. ¿Donde aprendiste?

Mis padres nacieron en Puerto Rico pero yo nacio en Nueva York. Ellos hablaron expanol en la casa pero nosotros ninos hablamos ingles. Por lo tanto no hablo espanol muy bien pero queiero aprender a hablar mas major.

I’ve never heard that song before but your relationship with Jim is beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[Warangel]

Aida, Thank-you for welcoming me. My lovely wife has had nothing but good things to say about you. We both look forward to commenting in the forum and uplifing our brothers and sisters. Thank-you all for such a warm welcome. Gracias por todo.
My beautiful Esther, thank-you for the kind words. I don't know where I would be had our Father not brought you into my life. I am the man today because of His love flowing through you, restoring and healing my hurts, and lifting me up to become truly a son of God.
Yo te amo, mi reina de mi corazon.

[AidaC]

Thank you, James. I’ve fallen in love con la reina de su corazon. I sense a kindred spirit in her that I’m enjoying. You’ve both already been a great encouragement to me and I’m glad you’re both enjoying the forum. Please keep sharing as you’ve been doing. I’m enjoying the conversations.

Also, you two get to be my guinea pigs as I practice my putrid Spanish on you.

[NaomiStar]

My beautiful Esther, thank-you for the kind words. I don't know where I would be had our Father not brought you into my life. I am the man today because of His love flowing through you, restoring and healing my hurts, and lifting me up to become truly a son of God.
Yo te amo, mi reina de mi corazon.

Jimmy, you are making me cry in public I love you too. (where is the kissing smilies. )

Thank you, James. I’ve fallen in love con la reina de su corazon. I sense a kindred spirit in her that I’m enjoying. You’ve both already been a great encouragement to me and I’m glad you’re both enjoying the forum. Please keep sharing as you’ve been doing. I’m enjoying the conversations.

Gracias Aida. Yo también siento lo mismo por ti. Nuestro Papa de seguro se esta riendo con una sonrisa traviesa, porque El nos ha traído juntas en su plan perfecto. El ya sabia que nos caeríamos bien

Thank you Aida, I feel the same way about you. Papa is probably smiling a mischievous smile, because he has brought us together in His perfect plan. He knew we would get along just fine

[AidaC]

(where is the kissing smilies. )

We have some extra emoticons that I enjoy using. One of our members, onyx, has gathered them up and has made them available for our use. If you’re interested, here’s the thread where the link is given. It also includes instructions for posting them.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=504&start=0#p4136

He certainly did and I love how he’s building his church and connecting his people into a beautiful tapestry of uniqueness.

[NaomiStar]

Thanks for the link Aida. I'll use it whenever I am in my computer, or I'll have to learn the BBCodes; because most of the time I'm using my iPad and the link says to use Firefox

[Pappa]

I am thrilled to find you lot. I am at the stage of the journey where I know I have been sold the dump, have wondered if I am alone in my imaginings, wondered if I am a heratic, and have started to find that I am not alone even down here is deepest darkest Australia

[AidaC]

Hi Pappa. I think you'll find many here who can relate to your journey and I hope you find encouragement here. I'm always curious. How did you find us?

Welcome to the forum!

[NaomiStar]

Welcome to the forum Pappa! So glad you are here
I can relate to how you feel. My husband and I have often questioned our exodus from the IC, but over and over again God has brought confirmation to our hearts (one way or another). We left the IC over four years ago and we just found FBN after reading "So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore" , "The Shack" and "The Misunderstood God".
I look forward to getting to know you and learn more about your journey.

[Pappa]

Hi Aidac
In Brisbane we have started to a small gathering of the disenfranchised. We meet over food, wine and reality. One of our lot has been observing your network for some time and passed on the good oil.