Unequally Yoked

As I approach the two-year anniversary of the end of my marriage, I’m ready to tell my story – as I am convinced that God can use our testimonies more powerfully than we realize. Jesus was a storyteller and used stories to connect to those who may not understand otherwise. True stories let others in, to understand, to empathize, or to emulate.

After nineteen years of marriage, things ended suddenly from my perspective. While we were having challenges like any married couple – I wasn’t ready to give up. By God’s grace – no matter how we had ended the day before – I woke up in love with the man I had chosen to marry all those years ago. My best friend was still under my roof and helping raise our child.

I was surprised when my marriage ended – not just for me – but also for our little girl who had just turned 3 years old. Somehow…I stayed calm through the storm…I knew the promise of His word that “…all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NKJV) After all, it was the same promise that birthed my daughter only a few years before.

Within five days of hearing the declaration he was leaving – one of the prophets I follow through social media posted the following prophecy:

IT IS TIME TO MOVE FROM BEING STUCK TO MOMENTOUS MANIFESTATION!

4/23/2021

There are some doors and alignments that are being closed and severed by the hand of the Lord. Don’t try to figure out the ‘why’ know that the Lord knows what He is doing. Those doors and alignments that have come to a close was actually hindering the birthing of breakthrough of His promises.

As you let go, you are moving from being stuck to momentous manifestation. There are new doors and alignments that have now come that are about to open up for you that will be marked by His glory. The Lord is about fulfill what He has spoken to you and manifest unprecedented breakthrough of His promises. Things are about to accelerate so powerfully and take a sudden turn into manifestation.

Many are about to step into life-changing breakthrough that is connected to their destiny. The atmosphere has shifted to align with the plans of heaven and it is time to take your seat at the table that the Lord has prepared for you!

Lorilei Cooley

These words hit me to the core of my being. I knew instantly they applied to me and were my truth. I understood God was moving me into a new season through this momentous change – and that He wasn’t letting me take “misalignments” into this new season.

What does “misalignments” mean to me? Well, despite my best intentions of raising my daughter in the church – she was now 3 and we weren’t going. The pandemic was a good excuse for a while, but not wanting to go alone without my husband was the bigger reason.

If you know the story of my daughter’s birth, you know she was a gift from God, and that I believe He has big plans for her. Therefore, my mission was to “Train up a child in the way [she] should go, and when [she] is old [she] will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6 NKJV)

My ex told me on a Saturday he was leaving…so I woke up Sunday morning and took my daughter to church. A couple of weeks before, a neighbor had posted in our neighborhood Facebook group that she was the children’s minister at a local church and invited everyone to come join her. I chose that church to visit and walked in as boldly as I could muster with my daughter in tow. As I stood at the kid-check line – I heard someone say my daughter’s name behind us. At first, I thought that news of a first-time visitor traveled fast. Instead, it turns out my daughter’s pre-school teacher (whom I’d never met thanks to the pandemic) attended this same church and was standing behind us. But more than that, this teacher had a daughter the same age as my daughter – so we both immediately had a friend to welcome us!

About a year later, this same children’s minister from my neighborhood helped give my daughter a pastoral recommendation to get into our local Christian academy. My daughter is now well on her way towards learning of God’s amazing timing and grace.

Looking back on my failed marriage and the events of the past two years – I have resolved the testimony I am meant to carry forth – is to “…not be unequally yoked…”. (II Corinthians 6: 14 NKJV) It’s a farming reference to having two oxen that are generally equal in size and strength working the same plow – so one ox doesn’t slow the other one down. In marriage, it simply means to be comparable in spiritual beliefs and values so you can progress through marriage without being a burden to one another.

Raising a child in a Christian home is a difficult task these days with the amount of pop culture and world values flooding over them. Why make it more difficult with two parents that are not aligned on Christian principles, values and priorities?    

If I could coach young women on this topic – I would say to wait for him…wait for the man God intends you to be with, to raise children with. Wait on the Lord and He will send that man. Don’t settle for anything less than what God has planted in your heart.

I know there is more to the prophecy shared above. I don’t quite know yet what it means to “step into life-changing breakthrough that is connected to [my] destiny.” When I look back at the first blog I wrote in 2016 – I’m reminded I am on a journey – that I’m still learning, growing, and exploring every day. And my last entry from 2018 reminds me to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”  (Proverbs 3: 5-6 NKJV)

One step at a time!