The birth of "Renewed Vision"

I can't believe I'm actually here! This journey has taken an incredibly long time it seems like, but at the same time the last 5 years have gone incredibly fast. Tonight is the birth of "Renewed Vision", which will one day soon be my life and marriage coaching business and ministry. The paperwork is being done to register the name, the website and domain name are ok'd and the blog is ready to go live. When I started college at Liberty five years ago I had no idea what I wanted to study or what God had planned for my life. All I knew was that I was supposed to start. After changing my major 3 times I finally settled on Psychology and Biblical Counseling. I wanted to be a marriage and family therapist. However, the more I got into the Psych classes and counseling classes the more I realized traditional therapy was not for me. 1 year ago God gave me the vision of coaching. Now today I am 10 hours out from my certification as a Christian Life Coach through AACC (American Assocation of Christian Counselors) and one semester from graduating with my BS in Psychology and Biblical Counseling. Amazing!

The decision to focus on the niche of Marriage Coaching came very recently...like this morning! I have been trying to pinpoint a specific area I wanted to specialize in and was coming up with areas that were too narrow or not practical. What I didn't realize was all the training I've received through AACC and Liberty have focused on Women and Marriage. It was such an obvious answer! The reason I went into counseling was because of a need I had in my life and marriage to find someone who had been through the storm and lived to tell about it. A few years ago my husband and I went through a time in our lives that left us broken and heading for divorce court. We tried to reach out to other couples in our church and lives but all around us were couples who were dealing with the same issues and brokenness. I couldn't see anyone who had survived the horrors we had in our relationship and was now thriving. It was heartbreaking and filled me with dread. Maybe God wasn't big enough to work through this, maybe we were stupid to get married so young, maybe we should admit failure and get out now before children came along. Lies, lies, lies! While we never found a couple, a pastor, or a therapist, who could counsel, coach, and mentor us, I am so grateful for those who stood along side us and refused to let us quit. These wonderful saints brought us and our marriage before the throne of Christ when we could not bring ourselves.

Today we are a living example of God's amazing grace. The things we have overcome in our marriage and the places we are in our lives can only be brought about by God. Now, we still have issues we deal with and problems to work out, we still foget how to communicate with each other and hurt one another. I am not perfect and our marriage is not perfect, but we serve a perfect Savior who loves us and loves our marriage and our family. I am his servant and if my story and my training can help another couples who feels hopeless and without passion or vision, than I am willing to do that. God this is your vision and your dream...I'll go, send me.