“I was at LDM for a couple of years, attending the 2nd ICT school and working for Tracey in the tract dept. during the school. The rules they share about in that setting are not exaggerated and if anything, understated. I experienced first hand the dreaded conversation Tracey and Sharon refer to a number of times… and like Sharon and Martin, I was sent away, told not to talk to anybody, I was in sin, not a Christian etc… but ironically… it was Martin who was the one delivering the message!! The shock of this rocked me to my core… exiled from my friends, home, church, job and my faith… all in a 5 minute one way conversation!! Before I was literally sent away, I had to stand before the entire staff etc… and confess my sin… which ironically enough, was the very thing both Tracey and Sharon did in there own process around their engagement… I questioned myself! Yup, that’s it. I wasn’t sure I really loved and was attracted to the woman I was preparing to marry. The fundamental difference between my story and theirs, was that I brought my thoughts to my counselor. He took them immediately to Martin and within hours, I was ostracized and banned from the community. As I hear their stories, I realized I likely saved myself from so many of the experiences they lived out for years in their marriages. So in a very painful and sick way… Maybe…I was a lucky one? Thank you Sharon and Tracey for your vulnerability, courage and insights into something we experienced together, and for finding a way, where there wasn’t a path paved before you. In my journey I called it “leaping without a net”. Please keep the stories coming… Hugs to you both…”
Paul K 82-84 via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
05/26/23