<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is the second post in my marriage series “Two Are Better Than One.” Remember, if you live in the U. S., every marriage post that you comment on through July 19th, you will receive an entry into a drawing for a $50 Brinker Restaurant gift card (can be used at Chili\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, On the Border, Macaroni Grill, or Maggiano\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s) and my book “You Can Have a Happy Family: Steps to Enjoying Your Marriage and Children<\/a>). Two winners will be announced. One on July 20th and the other on July 21st.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Monday<\/a>, I shared how God first drew my husband’s and my heart together. My dear friend, Kerry Johnson, and I have similar stories of when we first met our spouses. Today, she’s shares how God drew her heart away from an unequally yoked relationship, and drew her heart to the one God had chosen for her, Trevor Johnson.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

SCRAMBLED YOKE<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Kerry Johson<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can I break the egg?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0Chase was already\u00c2\u00a0pulling the kitchen chair toward the counter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s edge as\u00c2\u00a0I ripped open the brownie box.\u00c2\u00a0Of our two children, Chase is more interested in trying different foods and participating in the baking and cooking process. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not a particularly fancy cook, but our seven-year old enjoys\u00c2\u00a0assisting as I mix flour, eggs, sugar, oil, and anything else on the recipe card.<\/p>\n

He especially loves to break eggs.<\/p>\n

The recipe called for one large egg, and it\u00c2\u00a0lolled around the counter, drawing my younger son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes and hands in quick order.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I want to see the yellow part. What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s it called again?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The yolk.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

He smiled and repeated the word, his pink lips puckering up around the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and the hard consonant ending sound. Chase was born with an abundance of exuberance, and his hands\u00c2\u00a0shook as he cracked the shell and split it into the mixing bowl with the water and oil.<\/p>\n

Later, I thought about that funny-sounding word\u00c2\u00a0Chase had inquired about. Not the yellow, laid-by-a-chicken version, but the other spelling \u00e2\u20ac\u201c yoke<\/i>. The farming word that evokes images of two oxen plowing a field, their combined, identical strength accomplishing what two mismatched animals could not. As a verb, it means to be united together or joined with something else, in order to accomplish something.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Bible, the word \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcyoked\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is pointedly placed in Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second letter to the church in Corinth.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 2 Corinthians 6:14<\/i><\/p>\n

Paul received\u00c2\u00a0disheartening news\u00c2\u00a0about the church he had founded in the famously pagan city of Corinth. Believers were behaving irresponsibly and immaturely,\u00c2\u00a0and Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s letters were intended to pull them back to the gospel \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Jesus Christ\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s finished work on the Cross -\u00c2\u00a0and to God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best for their lives. Paul\u00c2\u00a0instructed the\u00c2\u00a0Corinthian Christians\u00c2\u00a0that they\u00c2\u00a0were not to\u00c2\u00a0take God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grace and run back to sin, reminding them, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (2 Corinthians 5:17).<\/p>\n

A few verses later, Paul reminds them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and us<\/em> -\u00c2\u00a0that\u00c2\u00a0Christians \u00e2\u20ac\u0153are the temple of the living God\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (6:16 & 17).<\/p>\n

The wisdom\u00c2\u00a0Paul shared with the\u00c2\u00a0sin-saturated Corinthian church \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and us –<\/em> \u00c2\u00a0wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0meant\u00c2\u00a0to give Christ-followers a\u00c2\u00a0superiority complex\u00c2\u00a0or to make our lives miserable. Instead, it was given for our protection and out of love, because our Creator knows what is best for us.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth repeating over and over\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6God knows what is best for us. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In my early 20s, I\u00c2\u00a0learned firsthand why Paul warned of this very thing. Testing the\u00c2\u00a0truth of 2 Corinthians 6:14, I\u00c2\u00a0stepped into a relationship with\u00c2\u00a0a non-believer.\u00c2\u00a0Trevor and I had dated\u00c2\u00a0during\u00c2\u00a0the latter part of our teenage years,\u00c2\u00a0but we were weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ready to get married, and at 21 we broke up. Shortly after I began walking a rebellious path, yoking myself\u00c2\u00a0to a person who didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t share my faith in Jesus Christ. He considered himself agnostic, and it took\u00c2\u00a0only a couple of months\u00c2\u00a0of dating before our foundational\u00c2\u00a0faith differences overflowed.<\/p>\n

We were sharing a scrambled yoke.<\/p>\n

The longer\u00c2\u00a0I\u00c2\u00a0dated him,\u00c2\u00a0the more stifling the burden became.\u00c2\u00a0He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand or appreciate the burden I carried for sharing my faith with him, which created a root of bitterness in me. There was a huge part of my heart that he would never identify with,\u00c2\u00a0and my soul\u00c2\u00a0struggled\u00c2\u00a0with\u00c2\u00a0his worldly leanings. Our earthly common ground was negated by the vast spiritual gulf between us. We were unbalanced \u00e2\u20ac\u201c mismatched in the yoke God intended only for two believers.<\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 6:14 is\u00c2\u00a0heavenly\u00c2\u00a0wisdom\u00c2\u00a0that sets boundaries\u00c2\u00a0intended to protect Christ-followers.\u00c2\u00a0A scrambled, unequal\u00c2\u00a0yoke will\u00c2\u00a0create cracks in\u00c2\u00a0the foundation of the family, which is\u00c2\u00a0His\u00c2\u00a0specific, loving\u00c2\u00a0design for His creation.\u00c2\u00a0Because\u00c2\u00a0the family \u00e2\u20ac\u201c built upon a marriage between one man and one woman \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best for\u00c2\u00a0His creation<\/em>.<\/p>\n

God knows what is best for\u00c2\u00a0us. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Eventually,\u00c2\u00a0the vast differences\u00c2\u00a0between this young man and\u00c2\u00a0I created enough dissension\u00c2\u00a0that the relationship dissolved.\u00c2\u00a0I pray for him and wish him well, and I learned\u00c2\u00a0that being unequally yoked with an unbeliever will lead\u00c2\u00a0me away from where I want to be in my relationship with Christ and bring only heartache and frustration. No amount of emotional love or sinful desire is worth that. <\/em><\/p>\n

I praise God for His grace and mercy during my wayward years, and that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m now equally yoked with my wonderful hubby.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/em><\/p>\n

~ 1 Corinthians 9:14<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Kerry Johnson lives in sunny Tampa Bay with her loud and very ticklish family. Patient hubby Trevor and their two boys, Cole and Chase, give the best hugs ever. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been published in Sanctified Together<\/i>, Granola Bar Devotionals<\/i>, and Tampa Bay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Overflow Magazine<\/i>, and her first novel semi-finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Genesis Contest in spring 2013. She has her Bachelor of Science in English Education and enjoyed seven blessed years as a stay-at-home wife and mom. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s passionate about her family, reading and writing, exercise and chocolate (not necessarily in that order), and especially sharing the love of Jesus through her writing at http:\/\/candidkerry.wordpress.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Remember to enter to win the gc and book by leaving a comment below. Share how God drew you and your spouse’s hearts together.<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

*To celebrate this marriage series, the ebook version of my book “You Can Have a Happy Family<\/a>” is free at Amazon today through Sunday (7\/5-7\/7).<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[subscribe2]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  This is the second post in my marriage series “Two Are Better Than One.” Remember, if you live in the U. S., every marriage post that you comment on through July 19th, you will receive an entry into a drawing for a $50 Brinker Restaurant gift card (can be used at Chili\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, On the Border, Macaroni Grill, or Maggiano\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s) and my book “You Can Have a Happy Family: Steps to Enjoying Your Marriage and Children). Two winners will be announced. One on July 20th and the other on July 21st. Monday, I shared how God first drew my husband’s and my heart together. My dear friend, Kerry Johnson, and I have similar stories of when we first met our spouses. Today, she’s shares how God drew her heart away from an unequally yoked relationship, and drew her heart to the one God had chosen for her, Trevor Johnson.     SCRAMBLED YOKE by Kerry Johson \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can I break the egg?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0Chase was already\u00c2\u00a0pulling the kitchen chair toward the counter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s edge as\u00c2\u00a0I ripped open the brownie box.\u00c2\u00a0Of our two children, Chase is more interested in trying different foods and participating in the baking and cooking process. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not a particularly fancy cook, but our seven-year old enjoys\u00c2\u00a0assisting as I mix flour, eggs, sugar, oil, and anything else on the recipe card. He especially loves to break eggs. The recipe called for one large egg, and it\u00c2\u00a0lolled around the counter, drawing my younger son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes and hands in quick order. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I want Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,210],"tags":[211,216,20,36,212,21,48,46,28,215,214,218,217,213,126],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}