"Right now, today, commit your life to Christ.
Right now, today, recommit your life to Christ.
Right now, today, strive to live a life of personal integrity and public morality.
It’s never too late for a new beginning."
Just read this in an article in the middle of the night at my kitchen island because of a headache that caused me to lie down much earlier than expected and now I'm up and around reading an article my husband, @mikemullens sent to me. Of course I clicked on another article by the same author and found this closing portion of an essay on 'New Beginnings.'
Mike is always sending me articles. Tweets, Telegram comments, bible verses. On the teensy little smoke breaks I steal between voluminous calls as I work from home he'll say gently, 'Angel...you gotta see this...' and my all too eager to rush into nicotine intake footsteps halt. And I listen. And I learn.
This is the line that got me: 'Right now, today, recommit your life to Christ.'
I can't imagine 'recommitting' my life to Christ. And that's because of Mike Mullens as well. If it were not for him I don't believe that my finding Christ as truly, securely, as diligently as I have, would have taken place. I know it wouldn't have. This has been a symbiotic relationship not of our making since before speaking. Months before. I have been held account by my husband in the moments where being in 'the world' was more important to me than being 'in the Word.' There have been faltered footsteps in my journey with Christ. Lessons. Discipline. Mike has never wavered from his tightrope knowingly. There are lots of people who will never get to know a man like him. He's almost superhuman in my mind. But Faith can transform a human being.
I didn't know Mike before God joined us. There has been plenty of regaling of his past so I have a firm grasp on who he used to be. His past deeds, indulgences. He says that he's a privileged witness to my transformation in Christ. The same is true on my end regarding his own. Before Mike I was never truly a 'We.' There was no shared money between myself and anyone I even lived with for years. Indulging in professing deep love wasn't quite reciprocated the way it is in this relationship. There was never quite 'enough' emotional connection. There certainly wasn't God at the center of my relationships. This time I invited the first morning after our initial conversation and was introduced to Christ less than 12 hours later in a way that knocked me on my ass. Mike's simple words did that, too.
Finding Jesus is practically indescribable because it's personal. It's of Spirit. How could I ever really detail what I cannot see but feel? How do you describe feeling lit up on the inside with light to someone who doesn't even know where to purchase the oil? Do I tell of all the mornings I woke up weeping for joy knowing I now had a redeemer for all the shit I did in my past? Or of every feather witnessed at critical moments in our first weeks together on facebook messenger because we were 16 hours apart while getting to know each other in a way unknown to me beforehand? Do I go into how verse affected us on levels? I don't think that I could.
Mike started growing out his hair in 2020. After 7 years of the same hairstyle so did I. Months before introduction. I don't think we know why. I'm not sure that's important. But it's a thing. Mike went from 'superstar' car salesman to investigative journalist and activist. He left jobs to get stories. To support others. To protect his life with God's guidance. He has deleted playlists, we've lost music we used to love because when you're full of Holy Spirit you just can't hear satan's drumbeats the same way you did when you were ignorant. I'm sure on some level if not many levels his kids think he's lost part if not all of his mind. His transformation was swift. They're missing out on what he regrets not teaching them as children that he is now brimming with. He understands that this is promised in the bible, so he doesn't let it bother him 'too' much, though it's difficult to watch.
Mike has held onto me in my moments of spiritual attack, and they've been memorable, don't underestimate them...when I knew I couldn't go back into the world but didn't know God replaces what you give up in order to properly repent. And there is a proper way. Sometimes we feel like the only 2 people on earth who have a semblance of understanding of God's instruction. This level of blessing...though on the outside or on paper we're not rich. We have a full fridge and I know how to cook. We have enough to get ice cream when we feel like it. I can still buy those cancer sticks I love so much. We have our health but we're not 25 anymore. We have this love that doesn't belong to us. And we understand the Word of God in ways that three years ago I wouldn't have even understood what that meant if someone took days explaining it to me. Concepts of concepts. We have each other. And I think we do because God knew what was coming for both of us. And God is merciful and kind. So He gave. Sometimes kicking and screaming we tried to tear it apart. That's never been successful. The things we were going through when we met and throughout this relationship, some people would have been hospitalized over 1 or 2 of them. We've flourished.
Mike will tell you he's 'just a guy' as he has told me since the first hour of our relationship.
And he IS just a guy. He's also my guy. God's guy. Jesus's brother. My hand to hold in the Valley. My 34.
And I thank him for being strong when I was not, wise when I was unlearned.
For holding on when I let go.
For watiting for the 'Power'.
For the guidance and wisdom shared, the measuring and feeding.
For endurance and perseverance in adversity.
Letting me behold the unwavering love he has for God and the faith he lives every day.
For the sharpening or my sword would be much duller.
Thank you for being my Brother in Christ always
'Big Day Today'
Thanks for sharing!