At around the young age of 3 or 4 years old, I told my mother that I did NOT want to go to hell, and that I wanted to become a Christian and go to heaven when I die.
My mother was the one who led me to Christ that day.
At around 5 years, I 'attempted' to get baptized, but since it was under a bridge somewhere in Michigan and the water was PRETTY SCARY....I TOTALLY chickened out!
I was eventually baptized at the age of 8 or 9 (I'm not 100% on the age, but my parents still have the baptism certificate) at a church in Winnipeg.
Now, to push things up a 'few' years....
I and my husband Jason live on an acreage with 2 horses and several other small animals.
God has seen fit to bless us with our twin daughters (now 5) and a single little princess.(now 2)
We are attending a non-denominational church and are VERY blessed with pastors that love and serve God. I have been able to become a part of one of the worship teams there, and am using my music abilities to serve and worship in the church.
Something that I had realized several years ago, before I had my youngest....was how I would, on occasion, worry about my twins and all the 'what ifs' that I'm sure alot of other mothers out there experience.
It was as if the Holy Spirit slammed my chest as I was driving home from work one afternoon.
How could I....be so bold as to even ASSUME that I could protect my children ALONE?!?!
I was forced to acknowledge, that it was GOD that had blessed me with these little ones, and I needed to allow and trust HIM to protect and shield them.
Do I need to be sloppy? NO!!!
I just need to leave my worry at Jesus' feet and continue to raise my Beautifuls to love their God and serve only Him.
I just needed to realize, that there are things that are WAY out of our control and that EVERYTHING is in HIS ultimate and amazing hands!
Something else that I have noticed, is that I have a MUCH closer bond to my daughters that I probably would not have had I not gone thru such hard times in my past.
There has yet to be a day, where I don't hear the sweet words " I love you." from my three little ones.
Those three words are SO precious to me.
Now, don't get me wrong...I TOTALLY realize that there are days coming, where I will hear less 'friendly' words coming from them, but I hope that I am able to continue talking and keeping ALL subjects open with them.
Just the other day, my little 2 year old said as I was putting her down for her nap, "God is in heaven, and He's in our hearts....He saves ALLLLL the people and is our Saviour!"
Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
I don't know what else to say, other than..... GOD IS GOOD!
This post is such a blessing to me Laura! Your girls are so sweet - keeping all topics open and building a strong foundation of trust is so vital.
ReplyDeleteYou're an excellent mother!
wow, that's so amazing how your little 2 year old acknowledges that God is in heaven and in our hearts :) Praise God, for he IS good! thanks for sharing, it greatly blessed me.
ReplyDeleteWhat a blessing! Thank you for this encouragement. So very proud of you.
ReplyDeleteThat is just so adorable!!! Love hearing your story, God bless!
ReplyDeleteRebecca Harder
Happy Valentines to you and your family. May all of our hearts be tender towards God and whom ever we come in contact with. Let's all blog in a mindful
ReplyDeleteway. Phil. 4:13
Praise the Lord you have godly parents who taught you Biblical principles from a young age that you have a foundation to lean on now for your family.
ReplyDeleteJust remember that exactly what you are explaining is what your parents are going through.
Praying for you always.
XOXO,
An old friend
well laura, what can we say except "PRAISE THE LORD" there is nothing in this world that can replace the joy a mother feels when she knows her children know the Lord. children are so innocent but thats exactly how WE as adults are to look at Christ, as children! you and your husband obviously are training your girls up in the way they should go. love ya laura
ReplyDeleteWhat you are talking about is just what you are putting your mother and father through! Think about that when you are looking at your girls!
ReplyDeleteI have NO capacity to understand a Grandma (and Grandpa) who wouldn’t come running at the birth of such wonderful blessings ... and twin princesses at that! WOW! HOW SPECIAL! Even one at a time is SUCH a MIRACLE, and I would never want to miss out on being the Grandma that God created me to be!
ReplyDeleteAnd if I was so convinced that my daughter had rebelled against me at her time of leaving home, so what!! I think it’s time to LET GO of that and give it to God. We must recognize that the process of leaving home and growing into independence is a bumpier process for some young people than for others. As parents we must let go of the grudges, giving our grown children over into God’s hands. He can do a MUCH better job than we can. Having done that, we can come alongside them, and be there for them in a supportive and friendship role. AND ... we can enjoy the role of grandparenting! What a joy and blessing to us, AND to the grandchildren!
If Mr. Sullivant is too caught up in his 4o+ church hours, I would surely urge Mrs. Sullivant to get over it already, and become the Mom and Grandma that God has created her to be!
M.E.
Yeah, the poor parents. Come on!! They could apologize for their less-than-lovely behavior and make their relationship right with Laura. Or I guess they could just have a funeral for her or pray for her death. I'm sure that'll make things right.
ReplyDeleteIt sure is interesting which comments you put on Laura
ReplyDeleteEnough of bashing the Sullivants. Laura is telling the blessings of her children now. Everyone hashed out the bashings on the other posts. Enough already. People are telling the parents to let it go, well, it's time for everyone else to LET IT go too and stop the bashing from all sides. This post was an encouragement to me as a mother and how Jesus can take my worries about my children. It was not a post where she's asking for more bashing of her family. That is for her to work through without the help of all the other harsh comments from others.
ReplyDeleteTo M.E. You don't know your Bible very well do you!! Pastor and Mrs Sullivant did what they did according to the Bible. When the way word son left in sin did his father go after him? No!!! Once his son was having a feast with the pigs he repented of his sin and came back home. Pastor and Mrs Sullivant will take laura back with open arms!!
ReplyDeleteWhat is the purpose of this blog? To smear your Dad and Mom? To try and get members to leave a church? To cast doubt on the work the Lord is doing? To have a place were people you have never met, and really dont care about you(not all) but can come to your blog and attack one church and the pastor the Lord has allowed to be there? Last time I checked the powers that be are ordained by God. Obviously your parents dont hate you,how many times did they try and bring you back home? I would not want all of my family issues put on a blog,unless I was out for revenge on someone. That is what you have allowed to happen here(revenge)no matter what you say. If this was only about your life unchained why let people slam your family that you say you love dearly. Have you phoned your Dad or Mom yet to see what can be done? My understanding is that you are the one that left of your own choice. From my observation your parents tried to protect you and you ran away from that love. I am pretty sure their phone number is still the same if you are serious about reconciliation. Do you really want all the facts to come out? I will be pleasantly surprised if you post this being that it does not fully support your side and hopefully cause an argument. And for Jason wouldn't it be easier to go to the deacons of that church and ask some that are there for the facts before you call them yes men, and wouldn't it be easier selling cars than to have people speak all manner of evil against you, could it be that he could have truth on his side? Why don't you phone the deacon and his wife and ask them what they really prayed for? Please Post!!!
ReplyDeleteI too grew up in the Pembina Valley region, and had the angry version of God shoved down my throat as a child and teen, scaring me away from spirituality for years.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to me that I grew up in such a 'religious' community, but couldn't find the real God there. I now am happy to know a God that is loving and accepting to all, not like the one I was shown by example in the Winkler community who judges, shuns, and gossips(wow, the gossip!).
I am so thankful that I left.
Anonymous February 15, 2011 8:08 PM and concerned adult, there are so many things fundamentally wrong with your posts... should I take the time to point them out?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous first: Laura is not the prodigal son, she did not want to go live a life of sin separated from God. God's will is not for any of us to be controlled and live in fear of man. Laura is living a good life with her husband and children and serves the Lord = not prodigal at all.
Concerned adult: you mentioned revenge, as quoted from a much wiser person "It doesn't come close to "revenge".
Revenge, and retribution would be a lawsuit for punitive damages for kidnapping and death threats and mental duress/anguish, grand theft auto, defamation of character, etc."
If PMS had truth on his side, why lie? ie. "she failed a lie detector test" (quote from a person he told personally). Families have already started leaving because they've questioned him and he's lied straight to their faces.
this blog is her telling her story, giving her a place to do so, we all know he's told his, this is only fair.
I'm sure the prodigal son never intended to become just that nor did he leave his family and home to "go and live a life of sin separated from God." The son did not just up and leave, there was more to it. First he asked for his inheritance (while his father was still alive). Then a few days later he gathered his things and took off. He may never have intended to leave home, but it is amazing what a little bit of rebellion will do, and rebellion is "An act or a show of defiance toward an authority." The son was rebellious, not because he left home, but because he showed defiance toward his father by wanting his money while he was yet alive. That rebellion led him to leave, and that led him to squander his inheritance, and that led him to eventually eat with the pigs.
ReplyDeleteSure, Laura is not the prodigal son. But did she rebel against her God-given authority? Yes, she did. And the whole moral of the story is not about the son leaving, it is about the son realizing that what he did was wrong and coming to the end of himself and seeking forgiveness and restoration from his father, who was willing and waiting. Laura, I am sure that when you first chose to go against your parents, you did not dream that it would take you this far. But let me ask you this. Would you admit that you rebelled against your parents who were looking out for your good? Who loved you and were seeking to protect you? When we want our own way we are often blinded by it, like the son who only wanted his money that was one day his anyway. 1 Samuel 15:23 "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king." Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft not because they are alike in practice, but because they are alike in that they creep into your life. Witchcraft starts with a heart of rebellion and works by focusing on a distracter, a lie. Witchcraft is a desire to be a spiritual free agent without submission to God or regard for His word. Be careful when you base your entire story on "wanting to be free". Think about it.
Is an adult still under the authority of a parent? by every means Laura was an adult. I've discussed this before on this exact blog, Mary (mother of Jesus) was treated as an adult by an the angel, did not even mention her parents, she was not married at the time either.
ReplyDeleteBiblically we are to follow human law as long as we are not disobeying God's law. Canadian dictates that at the age of 18 a woman or man is capable of making their own decisions.
so biblically and legally Laura had every right to leave. When someone tells you that God will first tell them his will for you life, I would question that to the core.
Rebellion and Freedom are 2 totally different things.
you can only have it one way, either Laura is in rebellion and by that same rule so is PMS. or they are grown adults who can make their own decisions and live with the consequences of them.
So when one turns 18 it instantly becomes magically impossible to rebel. There's a concept.
ReplyDeleteTruth for Today
ReplyDeleteIf there are some of you out there that think that they can handle the truth,why don,t you get in touch with PMS,s parents,not hard to do.Thing is you don,t want to face the truth.
if the christian life were "textbook" like certain people are trying to make it.......such as "if you do this then you are that" and if there is an "age" appropriate rule God did not put it in the bible that i have ever found. we are all as individual as the Lord made us. we personally at "NO" time have heard one issue of rebellion in Lauras statements. she was and is trying to be obedient to God Himself. by biblical standards if she was "rebellious" then God could not be blessing her the way He has, He is and obviously will continue to. It is IMPOSSIBLE to be rebellious to man when you are being obedient to God.
ReplyDeleteagain, rebellion against God can happen at any time in someones life. This was not the issue here.
ReplyDeleteStill bashing the Sullivants. Well, so much for hope that grown, supposedly mature people would stop.
ReplyDeleteWhy do most of you focus so much on her "rebellion" (negative) and deem it such? Her story seems to indicate taking a step of "freedom" (positive). And why do you comment as if you know the ins and outs of her heart, declaring her to be rebellious, etc. I guess that's what it looks like from the outside to you, but only God knows what really went on in her heart.
ReplyDeleteI know it is pretty easy to tell when some people rebel, turning to drugs, alcohol, total selfish living, etc. but what exactly was Laura's "rebellion"? Basically it was her having her own ideas and opinions about life.
And why is that so much worse than what we all have done? I don't think it is. Basically we're all in the same boat as her. With some of us, it's more obvious, showing on the outward and with some it's inward rebellion. I just don't understand why people are so against her rebellion when we all have the exact same issues in our own lives. Unless I"m majorly missing something here. It's so easy to point fingers, when we ALL struggle with rebellion.
It is also my opinion that there is alot more to her story than what she has recorded here. And if that's all she wants to share, then that's fine (especially with so many attackers out there! yikes!) but I just think there's more to it and not everyone think they know it all (unless you were there and have some inside info to share?) -R
(To Feb. 15, 8:08):
ReplyDeleteWould Mr. & Mrs. Sullivant really welcome her with open arms UNCONDITIONALLY? Praise God if that were the case! Interpreting most of the comments from PMS/PVBC adherents, I see that Laura still has only 2 choices. And they are STILL the original two: obey Daddy fully, or admit to living in rebellion. You KNOW she can’t do that. God has given her the wisdom to see the futility of making the first move.
It has nothing to do with obeying "Daddy fully". It is about telling the truth and apologizing about lying. That is it.
ReplyDelete9:18 pm:
ReplyDeleteThat's the only reason there is a rift between her and her parents? You've got to be kidding! People sin against each other all the time (lying, deceiving, being rude, direspectful, cheating, etc) ...and is there ALWAYS an apology and everything made right between them? Rarely! but that doesn't mean we need to shun them from our life and hold their sin against them, especially family! Where is forgiveness, love and grace in that?
So have ALL the other people involved in this situation told the truth and apologized for lying (and all the other sins they've committed)? Laura is the only one "holding out on making the right choices"? Highly doubtful.
Saying you have to obey such and such rules in order to be accepted is legalism, not love and grace.
what do you think this blog is about? its the truth coming out! here is something to think about:
ReplyDelete"God has a prior claim on everyone, even children. When Jesus was 12-years-old, we find him troubling his mother and Joseph by his prior commitment to his heavenly Father. Though he was subject to them, he gave them to understand that his Heavenly Father came first.
A young man of 18 tells how his parents wanted him to be a commercial artist. They sent him to college to prepare. In his first semester, he learned that he would be drawing from nude models in the second semester. The immorality of the school was shocking to him, and being a young man of virtue, he knew that he could not continue in that environment. When he told his father that he was giving up his art career for studies in theology at a nearby Bible Institute of no reputation, his father demanded that he stay in art school. He wanted to honor his father, but not at the cost of his own honor, so when appeal and reason failed, he announced that he was leaving the art school and going to Bible College. His Christian father, a man of high principles and old-fashioned ideals, told his son to leave home if he was going to disobey. The young man packed up his bags and left. When his father saw his success in the ministry, he forgave his son, but the son, then a minister, never doubted that he did the right thing. There was a man going about his Father’s business."
Perhaps the reason Laura supposedly has trouble telling the truth is because the apple doesn't fall far. I wish I was perfect enough to demand perfection from everyone else. Must be nice.
ReplyDeleteI'm no expert, but I think what it comes right down to is pride. The Sullivants made a demand long ago, and even if they themselves have since realized that they too are sinners and their methods may have been a "little" harsh, such a royal stink has been made about it, it would make them look silly to back off and open their arms to her now. I can't imagine how wickedly awful my child would have to be before I'd ban them from my life. Liking the wrong boy and not wanting to go to Africa probably wouldn't be enough.
ReplyDeleteBut trying to bring down her fathers entire ministry and claiming he's abusive might be.
ReplyDeleteYes it becomes a problem when we see it as a mans ministry,as opposed to Gods Ministry.
ReplyDeleteFinally a true admission...it's God's ministry. Treat it as one. There's ways to respect a church, and God's leadership. And that is not just baptist talking. I wouldn't go run a blog on the sommerfeld church or any other church in town, out of respect, love, and forgiveness. Learn some church polity people.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is... this blog wasn't originally about the Baptist Church. It's a story of a daughter leaving a strongly dictatorial home and finding some healing.
ReplyDeleteEVERYONE ELSE has made it about the church. (including the baptists).
Now, lets say for example a daughter from one of the other churches in town started a blog and talked about her relationship with her father (lets even say the relationship wasn't a good one like this one). Do you think it would be BLOWN up like this has? No.. why? Because the Baptist Church, and the Pastor there has a reputation in this community (obviously it's not a good reputation).
Hey all Ye Spineless, and of poor faith > Stop With the guilt Trips and Tactics they are not the ways of the "One and True God ! " Lest ye be condemned for your wicked ways ,who are ye to judge ? Dedicated in defense of a Good mother. FR: A Modern Day Zealot
ReplyDelete