Tis The Season

So Christmas is a few days away, then there's New Year's and then Valentines Day. I remember there was a time when I was single that I would hate Nov-Feb because I felt like it was a constant reminder that I didn't have a relationship. This is also a time of year when a lot of marriage proposals happen so I would avoid Facebook because I didn't want to feel jealous of others happiness because at that time I was not happy being single. Real talk.....I hated being single

A Heart to Give

In my 20's I was a complete mess! I would do any and everything under the sun. I worked at a new car dealership selling cars and I made a lot of money to be as young as I was. I blew through the money as fast as I earned it. I would have $5000 one day and $0 two days later. It's funny when you have money you have a lot of "friends" but when you are down and out they are nowhere to be found. I remember a lot of Sundays being so sick out of my mind from drinking so much over the weekend. On Sunday morning I would be broke and hungry. I could have gone to my parents but I was too ashamed. There was a woman named Ms. Evelyn who sold soul food plates from her home with her son and daughters. If you spent anytime in East Knoxville, you probably ate some of her cooking. Her food was awesome! Ms. Evelyn was an awesome Woman of God. I would end up at Ms. Evelyn's house when I was down and out and even though she cooked dinners to make money, she would always feed me. I never heard of her telling anyone of what she did for me and she never had anything harsh to say to me. I would always feel God's presence when I was at her house. 

The Holy Spirit reminded me of Ms. Evelyn and her giving heart the last few weeks.

Are You Really Living For Christ?

In the late 90’s I was in my late 20’s and with the help of my parents, I opened an auto dealership.  My business did very well and began to flourish. I felt like I was starting to get my life back on track. I stopped drinking alcohol, started going to church regularly, I became chairman of the board of trusties at my church, and lead the renovations of the church. Through all of these deeds, I thought I was so holy. It was a step in the right direction, but I was straddling the fence. There were still things in my life that did not line up with the word of God. It’s almost like some of the posts I see on social media. One day a person can be posting about how great God is and praising his name, quoting scriptures, posting about how God is blessing them, pictures of them going to church and how they are truly living for God and then the next post they’re cursing, talking about clubbing, gossiping, talking about sex and lust and everything that is against the word of God. It’s a double minded life (James 4:8) and the bible says that “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8).” When you address these issues, the first thing that comes out of people’s mouths is “you can’t judge me.”

I'm Free

Sexual soul ties are real!! 1 Corinthians 6:18 says "Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body." While we are teaching our youth to use condoms and birth control to protect against sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies, no one is telling them the dangers of soul ties. As someone who lost her virginity at 17 and was bound by sexual soul ties for 13 years, I needed to hear about soul ties and the bondage that it puts you in a long time ago.

A soul tie is an emotional bond or connection that unites you with someone else. You can become bound to a person through your soul. An unholy soul tie is formed when when two individuals have sex outside of marriage. It is the forming of one flesh. 1 Corinthians 6:12-16 (NLT) says "You say, I am allowed to do anything - but not everything is good for you. And even though "I am allowed to do anything", I must not become a slave to anything. You say, Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food. But you can't say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead. Don't you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don't you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the scriptures say, the two are united into one (NLT)." So every time you have sex outside of marriage you become One with that person. The soul tie formed through pre-marital sex can be just as strong and binding as those formed through the marriage covenant. Ever wondered

Who Are You Listening To?

Every part of the bible is amazing! As Christians it's our tool for life. The more you expose yourself to the Word of God, the more it will expose itself to you. I enjoy studying it and I always find new scripture that I never seen before or God gives me new revelation as I read scriptures that I've read several times. We often read some of the scriptures that are quoted a lot without reading the back story and the scriptures that are shown right before. We have to make sure we are studying the word of God and allowing the holy spirit to reveal God's word to us so we can apply it to our own lives. 

A very powerful scripture that I often refer to is Psalms 1:1 "Bless is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of the sinner, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." Do you have that family member, friend, boy friend/girlfriend etc. that talks about God and quotes scriptures but their life shows something different or they have no relationship with God at all. Then they'll always want to offer you advice and tell you how you should live your life and everything that they are telling you contradicts with the Word of God.

He Called Me Back To Him

Picture taken in 2011

By the end of 2011 I was a complete mess! I was turning 30 and my life was all over the place. I never felt so far away from God during that period of time. I was living a sinful lifestyle with little to no conviction.....talk about a dangerous place to be! I could no longer hear from Him because sin had separated me from the Father. Isaiah 59:2 says, "It's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore (NLT)"

Meet The Spears

We are so excited that the Holy Spirit led us to start this blog. When Essence Magazine featured our engagement pictures and a brief article on our story (Read Article Here) , we've received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback and so many people connected with our story. For those of you who aren't familiar with us, we just recently got married - July 20, 2014. We let God write our love story and courted for a year and 4 months and remained abstinent until our wedding night. Now neither one of us are virgins so we will definitely write about lust, fornication, and how we both were bound by soul ties from previous relationships. We are going to keep it all the way REAL and be as transparent with you as possible. We will write individual articles highlighting our individual stories and we will also co-write together on topics as the Lord leads us. Our story is a story of redemption and a testament to what can happen when you totally and fully surrender your life over to Christ and truly live for Him.

May the grace and peace of our Lord, and the love of God be with you now 

and forever more. 

- Shawn and Jennifer Spears

Prison Saved My Life

The last six years of my life have truly been an experience that has transformed me in ways I never imagined. In 2008, I felt like I wanted to die! I was a real estate investor and like most investors, I saw the real estate market starting to collapse in 2007. Even though I saw this and knew it was getting ready to happen, I didn't use wisdom and still continued to spend money and not prepare for it. In 2008, the house market crashed and my over $200,000 a year income dwindled down to nothing. The fear of losing it all overtook me  and I decided to take the wrong route and made a trip to Atlanta to buy drugs to sell. At the time, I felt this was the only way to keep up the lifestyle my family and I were living. I can remember 2 weeks before I took the trip to Atlanta, God told me not to go down that road, but I didn't listen. I got busted!! I made bond and was out for two and a half years. Going into court to be sentenced I thought my world was coming to an end. Little did I know, God had an amazing plan for my life and this period of time he needed to isolate me so he could restore me. While I was in prison, God started to do the work in me because there were no distractions and I needed God like never before.