Guest Editorial, Melanie Coyle

God never said we would have it easy. But He does carry us through. As a young woman, I was a single mother with a chip on my shoulder. I was controlling and felt I had to control everything and everyone in order to make sure my life was in order. My husband and I were married and we thought we had built our marriage on the right foundation. Within three years we had a total of four children and a ton of responsibilities, and instead of turning toward each other, we turned apart and my husband would say he checked out. My controlling nature and lack of humility turned him away from our marriage and out to the world. It was at this time Lisa, a disciple in the Orlando International Christian Church, shared her faith with me. She was eager to meet with me and study the Bible and helped me to gain a faith and a hope that could not be shaken. I met with the women of the church and in the middle of a failing marriage I was baptized into Christ, and put my hope in God!

After I was baptized, God gave me the strength to deal with what was happening in my marriage. Again God never said it would be easy…but he did say in John 16:33 to take heart, because He has overcome the world. He had already fought these battles for me and I needed to persevere, trust Him and stay close to my sisters in Christ, who showed me hope and unconditional love. My marriage did not magically get better once I became a disciple. I was separated from my husband and came to realize that God has to be enough for me.

I became a broken woman who had to realize that the only way I could live an abundant life, like Jesus came to give me, was by surrendering to God, no matter what his plan for me was. I am grateful to God because as I drew close to Him, he took care of me. God gave me the strength to go back to school and take courses while raising my children and walking through a painful separation. God became my rock and the center of my life. As I drew near to Jesus and the women of this church, God has helped me to change my character and take responsibility for my own sin. I saw that I needed to repent of not relying on God. I would rely on food for comfort and was still trying to control my life and the people around me instead of letting God take control. As I focused on changing myself, enjoying my life no matter what, and repenting of my sin, God was working on my husband’s heart as the men in the church got with him and helped him by using God’s word.

My husband has changed completely and radically repented and we are reunited. God has used the men in the church to help my husband to make amazing changes and he is now an incredible husband to me and an incredible father to our children. Our marriage is better than it has ever been before – now built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ! God also gave me the strength to begin to lose weight, work out regularly, and curb my addiction to food and emotional eating. God is teaching me that I am not in control and cannot control my life or those in it. I have learned to trust that God is taking care of me and I need to just hang on to Him and enjoy the ride. In II Timothy 1:7 it says that God did not give us a spirit of timidity. He gave us a spirit of love, power and self-discipline. It is by clinging to this love, power and self-discipline that I have been regularly working out and losing weight since the birth of my 5^th child in October, 2010!

Additionally, God has blessed me with the victory of recently graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Anthropology and also becoming the Web Deaconness for OICC!  It is with honor and humility that I accept this position and pray that everyone who sees our website will be inspired and encouraged. I want to also encourage everyone that GOD IS FAITHFUL. He doesn’t promise that our lives will be easy. But He DOES take care of us.

Being close to God and a part of His awesome church has changed my life, my husband’s life, my marriage and my children’s destiny. My most recent joy is the excitement of studying the Bible with my mother, training to be Shepherds in the church and helping others in their marriages! God has a plan for all of us! I will be eternally grateful to God and his church for giving me hope and a future! Jeremiah 29:11-13 says “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring you back form captivity.