Being A Single Young Divorced Parent (before I was a member of the church)

     Hi, I just wanted to share what's it's like to be a young single divorced parent at the age of twenty two. Yes, I know God is always on my side. That heavenly father loves me more than I know myself. I got married young, at nineteen figuring I knew everything that I could be a housewife ,and being taking care of that was so not the case it's not such a Cinderella story.   I still feel like I have lost the slipper that I was never swept away by my prince and possibly never will be. I was married in November pregnant by January

      It was a very hard that's for sure. My ex-husband wasn't exactly all together there. He was very emotionally abusive. When Scarlett turned five weeks old was when everything fell apart. He wasn't ready like I thought he was. Other than the abuse let me explain a little more. Not only did he leave at five weeks of age he decided to put a protection order against me for no reason, other than me on anxiety medicine for some things I was going through.   I didn't see my child for the whole month of October. How he could manage that I do not know. How a judge would let that happen I don't know. Why God would put me on this track I don't know. I was so lost and confused ,and very depressed. I couldn't go anywhere scared of running into him I didn't even go to church until our first court hearing.Then finally on Halloween go figure the judge decided to go to every other week switch offs. I would have Scarlett for a week then he would back and forth Switch offs at six in the afternoon. It was horrible it wasn't until July we got an Guardian Ad Litem, to figure out that I was a fit parent and that my ex husband was wrong for what he did. I got full custody finally after a year. That part was over with.

     The hardest part was to come being parent to Scarlett figuring out how to get a job and get into college. It was not until this year of April of 2014 that I was able to get a job that I love so much. I start college in September at Georgia Military College. I'm so glad that I'm a part of the church. I know for sure that Heavenly Father will not give us more than we can handle. My daughter is doing well and her dad gets her every visitation and pays child support. I'm very lucky. This situation has made me a stronger person all together. I want other married couples to know please don't ruin your divorce unless you have to especially if you have kids, Heavenly Father is there always please talk to your branch president and others in the church and get counseling. It's still hard being a single parent. It will be for the rest of Scarlett's life. It's her life we messed up. Not mine... not his... only hers in the end. I hope she can learn from me and Heavenly father more than anything and know it was not her fault at all. I'm trying to be a good parent the best I can be at twenty two. Thank God I have a wonderful family to support me ,or I wouldn't be able to do it at all. Well, this is it for now. -Sister Katie Guyton

The Only Sports Related Post You'll Ever Read

"Culpepper guns it!"

-The only Madden game I played...

Now, I love a good game of pigskin throwing, "You used the expression wrong." but unfortunately for me, I'm about as learned on the manly man world of the sports as a half of a PB&J sandwich. "I'm not even sure if you used that one right or wrong... Now that I think about it, if I had a dollar for every time you didn't make any sense, I'd be making a six figure income..." Hey! Just like a Football player! "I guess." So, for information about manly things, I had to defer to my wonderful and sports knowing companion, Elder Owen. "Did he pay you to say all that?" Hey Subway doesn't buy itself!

"That link? Click on it."
-Dan Marino

Now I don't know a lot about football, I know Dan Marino played for the Dolphins and he appeared on a Papa Johns commercial, and I like Papa Johns pizza so he must be great! "That's another dollar..." Hey! It makes sense! It's called the Associative property! If A=B and B=C, then A=C! "Nope, too late. Already wrote it." Fine... Do you take I.O.U's...? "We'll talk about that later, carry on." So as you may or not have known, Mr. Marino right over there played for none other than the Miami Dolphins, personally my all time favorite team in the NFL. "Name the Quarterback." Why must you make me look so bad on my own blog...? But anyway, so the Dolphins right now are, well, too put it bluntly, awful... They haven't been good since the 70's... "Subtlety isn't your forte is it?" Not at all. 

But! The Dolphins come with quite the legacy. They are the ONLY team in the NFL to have a perfect season! They went 14-0, winning the Super Bowl as well as a place in Football history, which quite frankly they need cause like I said, awful... So who here has felt like they hit their peak but due to some unforeseen problem or whatnot feels like they're dwindling? "You and I both know it's only me reading this..." Lights, Camera, Lopez! will rise again... But first it needs to peak, but that's neither here nor there. So sometimes we feel like we've done our absolute best, that we gave the world heck and can keep the ball rolling, and then, something happens. We realize, I can't keep this up! I'm on the downward slope! "Kind of like you're blog." Exactly like my blog! But again, neither here nor there. Now, there's something in the gospel known as Grace. Tell me my dear reader, what do you know about Grace? "It's Amazing?" How sweet the sound! "Yea, it saved a wretch like me." You once were lost? "Yea, but now I'm found." Was blind? "And now I see." Huh... Well anyway,

Grace is the help or strength given through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the grace of God, everyone who has lived will be resurrected—our spirits will be reunited with our bodies, never again to be separated. Through His grace, the Lord also enables those who live His gospel to repent and be forgiven.

So think of a cup full of water. We'll make water, umm... Ok got it! righteousness! So this Styrofoam cup of water represents us cause metaphors are Awesome! As we sin, this cup gets filled with holes and the water leaks out until before you know it, our water levels are under 9000! Through the Grace of God, we can continue to have our cup be

Why can't I do manly things...?
-Elder Lopez

filled with water. "Yea, but by the time you go to drink the water, it's already empty again." That! Is a wonderful point you've brought up. If our righteousness keeps leaking, whatever will we do? That's where the Atonement comes in! Because of the Atonement, we can have our sins wiped clean, those little holes? Gone. It's like putting gum on the cup to stop leaks! "That's gross... I don't want to drink from a cup that has chewed gum on it!" Fine... It's like putting a band-aid on the cup to stop leaks! Isn't that something? 

We can use this UH-MAZING gift to have our sins fixed through Grace, but there's a catch. "There usually is..." By Grace we are outdeed saved, and here's the ringer, after all we can do. It's not just simply, I believe Christ died for me and therefore, I'm saved. If you break a dish, just cause you say sorry doesn't mean everything's fine. You have to make reparations! Sorry only comes, AFTER ALL YOU CAN DO! "So what does this mean for the Dolphins?" Well dear reader, they're having a rough time now, but much like a cut currant bush, they will blossom forth, yielding much fruit and many more Super Bowl rings or whatever it is they give them in football. Or they'll continue to be awful, but that's where the principle of Hope comes in, I think there's already a post about that but if not, that's a post for another day...

This picture ALMOST makes it look like
they're good! Almost...