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This is a podcast episode of "Anchored in Truth and Wisdom," a community for women seeking hope, healing, and a deeper relationship with God. The host, Maricely Martez, interviews her co-host, Sharon, who shares her story of overcoming the emotional and spiritual challenges she faced after a 24-year marriage ended in divorce. Sharon discusses her beliefs about marriage, her decision to stay despite her husband's infidelity, and how the experience affected her self-esteem and identity. The conversation also touches on the role of the church and community support during this time. Hello and welcome to another episode of Anchored in Truth and Wisdom, a community for women, a podcast dedicated to women seeking hope, healing, and deeper relationship with God. I am your host, Maricely Martez, and I am glad that you are joining us today. Whether you're listening in the comfort of your home or on the go, we hope this time is a blessing to you. In each episode, we share inspiring stories of faith, explore practical strategies for navigating life's challenges, and provide spiritual encouragement to help you stay anchored in Christ. Today, we have a special conversation with my co-host, Sharon Anit. Sharon has walked a journey of immense strength and resilience, facing the heartbreak of divorce after 24 years of marriage. She'll be sharing her story of overcoming the emotional and spiritual challenges she faced, her healing process, and the beautiful restoration that followed. It is a story of hope that I am sure will touch your heart. So, let's dive in and hear from Sharon. Yeah, we're back. So, how are you doing? Good, all right. Everyone, welcome to the Anchored in Truth and Wisdom, a community for women seeking renewal, faith, and emotional healing. I am your host, Maricely Martez, and here today I have my co-host, Sharon. Yes, yes. So, how are you? I'm good. Awesome, awesome. You ready? Are you ready for today? So, today's episode, we're going to be sharing, or I'm not going to be sharing, I'll be asking the questions, but Sharon is going to be sharing. Oh, Lord. Yeah, yeah, it's going to be sharing her testimony today. So, that's going to be, I'm guessing it's going to be an emotional for you. I'm not sure how that's going to be. In some moments, it might be a textional. But it's an emotional, right? Yeah, yeah. So, how was life after we did the first episode? It was so good. You guys gave us some great feedback. Yes, you know, we're excited. We got the one microphone, we're getting the other one. Yes, definitely. We're listening to the feedback, but yeah, it's moving on. We're moving up in the world. We're upgrading, you know. You've been promoted. So, we definitely will slowly, yes. Because it is, this is like a whole learning thing. You got to sit down and listen and learn, you know. Like right here, we got to do the microphone, do the Zoom, then do whatever it is that we got to say. It's a lot of stuff. And like I said, she's doing all this stuff. So, today, I know you're going to be sharing some of the overviews of your marriage, the circumstances that led to the divorce, I'm assuming, and of course, the initial reaction to what happened in your life, and some of the key obstacles as the major hurdles that you encountered during this time, you know, and who you had as a community around you, you know. Who was your support system, I'm assuming, is your family, friends, and I'm not sure if the community, you know, the church community was there for you, but I know that it's going to be interesting today. So, I'll be doing the questionnaires, and you know that I'm all prepared here. Good. She's ready. Ah, so, Sharon. I'm sure with the flow. Yeah. She brings me balance, and I need a little bit of rebellious. I do try to, you know, do whatever it is, but sometimes I know I get lost in the process. Okay. We were saying that we're like all talkative in the Instagram. We are. We're very talkative, but then when we get in front of the camera, we freeze. See, you can see the laughing mics anymore than me. But, I mean, I guess we just say whatever. Like, it's our page. Yeah. So, just like a tab, we're on Instagram. That's right. That's right. We're reporting our faces at that time. All right. The first question that I have for you is how did the first initial reaction to your divorce, and I want to know your feelings and your thoughts about it. Like, divorce in general? Yeah. Like, your divorce in general, because you were married for 27 years, right? 25 years married, 28 years together. Okay. And you have how many children? Six. Six. Wow. Okay. All older now. 17 is the youngest, oldest is 28. Okay. So, wow. Yeah. We're going three girls. Okay. So, share a little bit about what you think, what marriages, what are your belief systems still today, even though you went through this whole, I'm assuming it was dramatic. Yeah, traumatic. Okay. It was very traumatic. So, I have been... So, I came from a home that, although my parents were married for a long time, it was still broken in many ways. So, I didn't have the greatest view of what a biblical, covenantal, beautiful kind of marriage looked like. For me, marriage is the reflection of the marriage between Christ and the church, right? That he loved his church so much that he laid his life down for his church. That sacrificial, unconditional love. For me, marriage is an image of the God. So, that I learned over the years. So, I didn't... I wasn't the kind of person that kind of knew that off the bat. I got married young. I was 18 years old. When I had my first little girl, I got pregnant and we got married a month after my daughter was born. So, we were really young and then I was raised in the church. He was Catholic. I was raised in the church, but I had left the church already at the age of like 16. I knew that there was a fine line to just go and go to church and then live in the world. For me, it wasn't like live in the world and go to church. It was either go give your 100% to God or go in the world. And that's what I did. I just went. I pursued my sin, which was that I got pregnant. I slept with my husband, got pregnant, we got married. He was my high school sweetheart. So, we met in high school and then we got married, had our first daughter and met from there. I had my third child, which was my son. And that's when I decided to come back to Christ. There was so much in our marriage, like so much cheating. At that point, he had cheated multiple times. Even before, like while you guys were dating as well? While we were dating, he cheated. Okay, okay. Yep. So, he cheated while we were married, while we were boyfriend and girlfriend, and he cheated in our marriage multiple times. So, by the time I got to my son, had our son, you know, it wasn't the first time he had cheated. He had already cheated multiple times. Okay. Can I ask a question? Yeah, yeah. Interrupt me anytime. So, with you, okay, the cheating part, how did you stay, right, and dealt with it? Like, what was it that made you stay? I think it's a mix of things, right? I think, at the time when he was cheating and the three older ones were younger, you know, I knew enough about God and I saw, even in the worst of circumstances in my parents' relationship, my mother always kind of dealt with things and kind of stuck through things. So, I think that example of just sticking through things was just embedded in me from a young age. So, I stuck through things that I really did believe in marriage. I don't think to the extent until later on in my marriage, but I always believed that no matter how hard things got, because I saw my mom go through some really hard, ugly things, you just stick with it, you know? You just go with it. You roll with the punches. You stick with it and you take what you can get. And I had always that mentality. I kind of took what I can get. So, then we came to the Lord. I came back to the Lord when I was pregnant with my son and he came shortly after. So, you know, we started raising the kids in the church. He was very involved in the church. He was, you know, from president of the board, to the elder, to deacon. He was very much involved in the church. However, you know, he just, cheating was something that he always did. So, there would be a season of good times where he wasn't physically cheating, right? Cheating, but, you know, then it would go back to to just cheating again. So, I think the hard part, just, you know, was seeing all that crumble. Even if it's bad, there's just enough for you to hope. There's always just enough for you to hope. And I think my hope was so anchored in God. And I really believe in marriage. I really believe in the covenant of marriage. I really believe in how God used marriage between one man, one woman. I really believe how God detests adultery. Like, all those things I believed about our God. So, for me, divorce was never an option, no matter how much he cheated. Wow. As a woman, right, how did that change you? Because that breaks a person. Yeah. Like, do you see yourself, did you lose yourself through that whole entire time while he was cheating? I think it broke me in my self-esteem. Okay. In my identity in Christ. I began to shift my identity to what he needed me to be. And whatever he needed me to be, I was willing to be because he wasn't happy. And if he wasn't happy, I wanted to make sure he was happy. And that, you know, that I was being the good wife, and that I was doing all the right things. And, you know, I was being the Godly wife I needed to be. And if I wasn't, and there was something that he vocalized that he didn't like that I did, or didn't, you know, like how I carried myself, then I would work hard at that. I did the marriage conferences. I did the marriage book. I did the videos. I did whatever I could because I longed for our marriage to be a Godly marriage. And I saw him starting to look for Christ. But even within those years of him coming to the Lord, which was in 2000, he cheated. Even being within the church, he cheated. So it was never, it never really stopped. Okay, okay. And, okay, because you say he was very involved in the church, and he was the leader, was there any accountability from the church, or the church, or the pastor was aware of the situation? Yeah. In some situations, he wasn't. When we first started to come to our church, we had an intern pastor. So we all were all kind of babies in the Lord, and we kind of relied on each other in relationships, like with friendships. We had a couple friendships. And we kind of handled things at that level. When we started getting a consistent pastor in our church, when that, you know, was very, I mean, when he would find out, he would sit him down and whatever process they wanted to do with him. But I think in the middle of all that, there was never a process with me. You know, the important part was to cover him and to restore him, which I wanted. I longed, like, I longed, I would tell myself, and later on, we'll see why this was so wrong. But I always would journal, and write, and cry, and pray, and fast, and ask. And I said, God, if he could just love you, if he could just love you, then he can love me well. Not perfectly, but he can love me well if he could just understand and grasp the gospel and know how much you love him. If he can understand that his sins were nailed you to the cross, then he can, if he understands that, then he can love me well. And that's what I do. Or you pray for that. Yes. And that, those are my prayers and my journals. I would pray things like, you know, I would start taking on so much of his faults. Like, I would take on the responsibility of, well, I'm just not being a good enough wife, or I'm just not praying enough, or I'm not fasting enough, or I'm not believing enough. And all that stems from a wrong theology, a distorted theology. Not that where I was rooted in church community was bad, because I don't think it was bad. I really believe that every season that God uses in our life is for the good of those he loves and are called according to his purpose. And I know that, at that time, is what we needed. But as you grow in the knowledge of grace and who God is, and you begin to see and seek his word for himself, instead of just listening to people teach it to you, and just going back and really learning the truth of God's word, I realized that so much of that, I was creating a spiritual prosperity gospel. Wow. You know, we talk about prosperity gospel in regards to money, clearance, payment, your kind of thing, but I was doing that with the spiritual things in my life. So if I fasted enough, if I prayed enough, if I did all these things enough, then the result had to be that God had to answer in yes and amen, because I was creating a spiritual prosperity gospel. That's amazing. Yes. And through all of this, because it's a very, it's half of your life, like, yeah, like, you know, most of your, yeah, from high school to now that, you know, most of your kids now are all gone, kind of, you know, graduated, married now. Some are married, the last one graduated from high school. And throughout this whole process, I mean, it must have been difficult for the kids. Were they even aware of the situation in your house? That's a good question. When they were younger, they were not. I protected them from so much. I learned that from my mom. My mom protected us from so much. Kids know. Yeah. They're intuitive. So kids know, and I believe my kids, my older three knew more. Because they got older, they saw the younger three were the most protected from his, you know, the things that are cheating and the, you know, just that, that manipulation in regards to the gaslighting, those kind of things. Kids were really very, I protected them from that. You know, for me, it was like, this part, I'd never want them to see their dad as a bad father. Because, you know, in many ways, he was not. He was really not a bad dad. He just had a sin problem, which was his lust and adultery. That was his problem. And to me, you know, that I didn't want them to know him for that. Other people already did. Yeah. Other people already saw. But even that, I tried to protect them from the church, from the people. Um, so I would kind of take on the role of, I was very, um, pre-judged by people. So I was, my character is a very strong role. Yeah. And that's where I would also ask, like, because of who you are, your character, and how this was more like breaking you pieces by pieces, not knowing who you were, like you said, in Christ, right? Yeah. And was your marriage the part of, I guess, idolizing your marriage? I love that you picked that one, because that is Godly. Like, that is God, Holy Spirit, chosen word. And I'll explain why. Because months leading up to the last time that, right before he left. Okay. So he cheated. Let's talk about the last two. Yeah. The last two. He cheated in 2018. Okay. Um, and shortly after that, I started hearing the word idol. Okay. Just hearing it in my head. And I'm like, oh, could it be that I'm listening to sermons? Could it be that I'm reading the Bible and the idol is coming up? But idol just kept, just, you know, that was the word that was coming up. And this was my thought. Oh, this must be about him. Like, this must be about, like, him making women his idol. You know, I was sure that that was, so start praying for him. Okay. About being, that being an idol in his life. And then in 2021, which was our 25-year anniversary, like a few months later, he cheated. He tried to cover it up, you know, by saying that he was battling and trying to sneak out the home so that he wouldn't get caught. But I caught it in the trajectory of him. I caught that he was cheating. And that's why he was battling, so to say, quotation marks in there. Yeah. So then that word started coming up again, idol. And I couldn't really process that word because I was so broken and shattered. I have never been so broken in the way that I was when he left that last time. How does anyone fix himself up from that? Yeah. I mean, because this is not just a one-time thing, but this is 24-something years that it was just, you know, continuation of his sin, his sin, his fault, right? Not being able to control himself, right? And then you, on the other hand, trying to have this gospel, what was it that you called it? Spiritual gospel, prosperity, prosperity, gospel. Yeah, that's like a whole bunch of different theologies. You have a lot of doctrines. Yeah. I mean, things didn't get revealed until after I had some reasoning happening, after the breaking of me started to happen after the divorce. So now that you say the breaking part, I guess that would be the emotional challenges that you faced during this, before and after the divorce. Can you talk about those things? Yeah, I think, like, yeah. Did you go crazy? Because for me, just thinking about this and what I've gone through in my past, I used to go crazy, right? Yeah, yeah. Because we're Latinas. Yeah, yeah, and we're, yeah. I think the characters, if they think up, again, a lot of it I hid, because I wanted everyone to just, didn't want no one to see him as a bad guy, right? My character is very out there. I am, I'm a strong world kind of person. You know, I am very friendly, but very strong character. When I have to speak my mind, I speak my mind. I'm very opinionated. So my character, people saw it for what it was. So I was the rough around the edges one, and he was the halo. Oh my gosh. People would praise him in church, and it was like, you know, oh my goodness, you, how are you married to this one? I mean, people would say that, you know, and point to me, and it was like, I would tell people, you don't know what's in the pot so you stir it. You know, just because I didn't want to expose, but I was just mad enough to, you know, chill, because you don't know. But, you know, because I was the way that I was in and out of church, people just saw that, and they would just see him as this, you know, great, because he was, see, I mean, just a great lover of people. He's just very friendly with everyone. He was that, that was his character, and people loved that about him. They praised him because he was such a friendly, outgoing, helpful person. You know, but when it came to me as his wife, he didn't, he didn't honor and take care of me in that way. So, the breaking came because that idol in me needed to be broken, and I didn't realize that that, people were like, well, it's, you know, because if people try to be helpful, I think sometimes, I'm reading on grief, and I'm reading on how we should respond to grief, because I think as Christians, we want to give all these best answers, or, but they think, yeah, we have to have a solution for you. A solution. When you're grieving this, you have to have the time. Yeah, you have to have the time. Exactly. So, I think, you know, in that, you know, after, people would be like, well, could it be that you just idolized your husband? And I didn't, I don't think that I idolized my husband. I think I idolized what I wanted, the image of what I wanted, the marriage, the marriage part, the happily ever after, the, if he could just love me, and this is where this comes in, where God showed me after my breaking down, that my desire was in being loved, and being cherished, and being picked, because I never was the one that was picked. There was always someone prettier, or better, or that, you know, and I'm going to use the word, because that's what it was, more sexual, or just gave him more than what I could have given. There was always someone better. So, I had this deep longing within me to just be loved, and chosen, and handpicked, and that was my idol. My idol was my self-desire, like the self-wanting to just be loved. So, my desire for him to love God was selfish. It was not that he would be saved, or that he would be completely restored, and that he would be broken from his sin, because when Christ comes, we're no longer slaves to sin. We'll battle with sin, and I was okay with him battling with sin, but he was a slave to his sin. So, my desire wasn't that he would be completely broken from his sin. It was that he would be broken from his sin, so that I could be loved, and fulfilled in those areas. So, that became the idol in my life, and when God showed me that, it was like, this army was coming. Wow. It created a crowd. So, this is a whole process, because you didn't see this until the last healing, right? You didn't see the whole picture that God was trying to tell you. Until recently. Until, like, I've been walking through this healing process. It's going to be three years now in September that he left us, and just a year divorce, but three years into this process, and just in the recent, just through the vocal counseling, and the recent, just getting to know habits that I created, why I was creating those habits, why I was responding to his cheatings in certain ways, why my behavior was a certain way whenever he would cheat. Those are the things that I started. Now, I've started seeing that, but when I, I was broken. You were so, like, lost in the soft, like, people say. Well, you know, because one of those things, when you say broken, you don't see that until you are removed from it. Yeah. I was always broken. I just didn't see the brokenness physically until he left. And you, I'm assuming you kept changing yourself for him. Oh, yeah. Like, Sharon, I just, you know, earlier on in the relationship, when I was young, you know, I came from, again, a home where my dad cheated on my mom constantly, and, you know, my mom dealt with different kinds of abuse. But, like, me, I was very dry. I was a very dry person, not very affectionate, not very lovable, just, you know, so that was, you know, that's where it started. Like, you're so dry, you're, you know, you're not affectionate. He's a very affectionate person. So, I just, so then, okay, then I'll, I'll work on trying to be affectionate. Or if, you know, I just wasn't excited for sex. Well, you're not excited. That means you don't, you know, you don't want it. Well, no, it was just so much cheating. It broke me. I never felt good enough. It didn't matter. You know, and I share this, you know, publicly because I've shared it with others in testimony. You know, I would cry after, after having sex at times, not always, at times, just because I just didn't know if I was good enough. Wow. I just didn't know if, if everything that I, that I gave, that intimacy was good enough. How long would it last? Would it be enough for him to stay? Would it be enough for him to, to want to, to not imagine anyone else? Not to say that he had. I just didn't know. I didn't know if, if I was the only one in bed when I was in bed with him. Again, I don't know those things that was in his mind. And I can't assume that he was with someone else in his mind while he was with me. But those are the battles that I have. So I would, I would have towards the end, towards the 2018 cheating, the anxiety panic text began. And I've never experienced that in my life. Wow. Again, I was always broken, but God began to allow suffering to bring out of me things that were not pleasing to him. And, and anxiety attacks began. Like I would literally go in the bathroom, put my knees to my chest, sit on the floor and rock myself and just panic. How long did that go for? It was happening for months after the cheating comments of the 2018 cheating. Was it because you didn't know how to come out of that? Or was it just, you didn't know how to deal with it? Was it more like, what am I going to do about this? I didn't know if I was, I didn't know how long I could be good enough before he did it again. Wow. So that's when you started noticing, and that's when the first, was that your first anxiety attack that you had? First, I mean, those, that was the beginning of my anxiety attacks. I never ever experienced anxiety attacks. My character has always been strong-willed and I can make it, I push through anything. But now, I think what, what happened was that in 2018, my kids are older now. They're not little kids anymore. I can't hide things anymore. You know, he cheated with someone close that, that we knew. So now I no longer go, wow. He never did. It was always very close. It was always very near. You know, the, the last one that he left with, that one I didn't know at all. But it was, it was people that, that I knew. So I, I think the anxiety attack began because I could not, I didn't. And now things were completely, that perceived control that I had, I can hide it, I can keep it, no one will ever know. I could no longer do that. And what's ironic is that God is so good in his provision to even want to get him out of this sin, that before he was in the act of sinning in 2018, my daughter, the second oldest, had a dream and told him that I had a dream that you're cheating on mom. Wow. And God in his, in his love and mercy and kindness is here extending that mercy. Wow. And you know, his response to her was something along the lines like, you know, that I would not do that to you and I would not do that to your mom. And then it came out. Okay. Then it came out shortly after. And it was God, like, getting him to a place like this. Because listen, the reality is that we all struggle with sin, even in Christianity. We all struggle with sin. We're not perfect. But 1 John 1.9 says that he is faithful. He confesses our sins. He is faithful, not us. He is faithful to forgive us of our sins and cleanses us of all unrighteousness. So here is God making that invitation to him like your daughter's dreaming about it. But he wasn't, but he wasn't into it. Like he. He would just deny it. Okay. You know, so then I, anxiety attacks began when I found out who the person was trying to cover it from, from close people that I knew that knew this person, that knew moms of this person. It was just, it became, I started getting panic attacks. And on my own, like just, I would wait till he would go to sleep and I would go in the bathroom and I had times I had to open the window just to get some air. Through all of this, you know, because I know there's, you just started feeling these panic attacks. The healing and restoration that had to take place in your life because you were hiding this for so many years. I mean, that's, that's like a huge burden anyways, for anyone to carry. And the, the scary part about it is you were a stay-at-home mom on top of that. So you had these 20 something years that you didn't work and you were home with your kids. He was the provider. I mean, just thinking about that, that would just take me to this spiral. Yeah. Because especially nowadays how everything is so terrible and the economy has gone, you know, out there, but how was it that you were able, you know, first of all, the healing, the restoration, because I know those two things are still happening in your life because that's not something that happens overnight. It's kind of like grief. You know, you had to, you had to bury that marriage, meaning you had to bury that person. A lot of people don't think about it in a sense. If the person is still alive and there's no answer, there's no concrete answer. And then he's moving on. He's moved on and left you behind to carry this emptiness, this brokenness. So how did your faith in God influence your healing process? So I want to know. Oh, that, that was tricky because I went into a faith crisis. Okay. So this is where the spiritual prosperity gospel comes in because the 2018 cheating happened. We started working on it. We went to one counseling session together. I was going to some sessions, but then when my counselor started confronting me about some behaviors that I was having in response to what he was doing, I was like, Oh no, no, no. I don't want to, I don't want to hear it. So I just stopped going to counseling. And things are, I think, I think the hard part was that between 2018 and 2021, before he left us, those were probably the best years that we had where I saw him try the hardest. So when it happened, I was genuinely shocked because even the kids noticed that, you know, he was trying harder with his family. He was trying to be more intensive in different ways. So when he left, that was a shocker. I felt like I was crazy. I felt like, what did I do now? What didn't I do? What didn't I do correct? So you start blaming yourself. So I started blaming myself. I started thinking, well, you didn't pray enough. You didn't fast enough. You got, you know, you got more, you didn't have big enough faith. You didn't, you know, when you pray, you didn't pray with enough faith or you just slack off on praying time or you slack off on spiritual time or you just stopped ministering the way that you used to minister. It was all these, I started praying correctly. I started spiraling because it was just like, I was trying to find an answer to what did all these years, right? I did all the right things. I prayed. I fasted. My friend and I would get up in the mornings and pray for our families, for our kids for years. We did for years together. And all the praying, fasting, moving, proclaiming, declaring. I was doing that, you know, whatever I bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven. Totally using it completely wrong in a different way. And it falls apart before my eyes. And I remember when he left, my kids had to walk him to the car with so many stools. That was traumatizing for him, for me, not for him, for me. I was sitting at the window and to see that it didn't, he looked up at me and it didn't face him. For me, my daughter, my youngest daughter broke down when he was leaving. And mind you, when he left, he left under the false pretense that he was struggling and he needed time. He needed like a break or something? Yeah, yeah. He just needed some time to think that he was struggling. He was struggling sexually in his mind. That was the excuse. But I was the type that whenever he gave me those kind of excuses, I quickly went into reproduction mode and found stuff. And this time around, it was different because he was like, you know, he didn't, it wasn't like, you know, for the 2018 cheating, there was a period of my time that I did work. My son had, my youngest son had went to kindergarten and I worked because we wanted to get our dream house. And so I worked from, I think, 2013 to 2018. So then he cheated in 2018 and his excuse was, well, you know, you work, you come home tired and then you just want to go straight to bed. So then I stopped working. So it was always you? It was always something that I didn't do. Okay. Well, this time that he left, he couldn't, because I was finding a place where I'm like, no, enough. You're struggling because you're struggling. Because you're not, you're not coming to Christ with these struggles. And I would tell him, you might struggle with this for the rest of your life, but it builds the self-control in you. The Holy Spirit starts building the self-control in you that, yeah, you're going to struggle with it, but you have an advocate that you can come and bring that to. But he just gave into his struggles. I think he got to a point where he was like, I might as well just give into it because I'm not going to struggle. This is my, again, this is not something he said, this is my, you know, when you struggle with sexual offense, I think it's easier to give into it. So then this time around when he left... It's not like an addiction. Yeah, it is an addiction. So this time around when he left, he was like, you didn't do anything wrong. You're not the problem. So then I stopped being crazy. So then if I'm not the problem, and if it's not me, then what's wrong with me? Now it's like, so now I don't have anything to fix. I don't have anything to make better. I don't have anything to control to make, you know, to make the situation better or to convince him to stay. So now, now what do I have? Now I've been completely stripped. And leading up to him leaving this last time, between 2018-2021, that was showing me dreams where I was completely naked, like physically naked. I just didn't understand, like, what do these dreams mean? And when he left, that is exactly how I felt. I felt like God stripped me naked, and I didn't understand why now God didn't love me, that he would strip me to this point. And through all of this, because this has to do with your spiritual journey as well, and understanding where you were as a, you know, a spiritual person, and the wrong practices that you had. How was that? I mean, that's like, you're being broken from everywhere. You're broken as a woman, as a mom, as a wife. And then on top of the spiritual part of it, because here you're believing a God that you kind of created, right? Distorted kind of God of, you know, if I pray enough, if I do this enough, he is obligated to do the answer for you. How or what, how did you fix those spiritual practices and brought you to the strength and the comfort that we know who God is? Right? Who the real God is that tells us in the Bible that we are going to go through hardship. Yeah. I think, again, God, when his children, every child of God is going to suffer one day or another. But God never allows us to go into suffering without his provision. Remember, his character is never separated from who he is, and it's never separated from our suffering. God doesn't stop being a providential God because I'm suffering. If anything, he was already making provision between 2018 and 2021 in that I began to listen to different teachings as opposed to the one that I used to listen to. But I, you know, teachers like Joyce Myers, they helped me in the season of my life. It really did. In my younger years as a Christian, you know, but I started listening to teachers like Paul Washer and Roshan Lockham, you know, and Dan MacArthur, which is not very popular, but I like them as a teacher. And just some sound doctrine, Fred Chandler, all these amazing teachers, Jackie O'Perry, she's the teacher of women. So I began to listen between 2018 and 2021. What's ironic was that my daughter, um, Jessenia, was the one that was kind of introduced to these teachers by one of her good friends. And, you know, introduced Calvinism, which we'll probably talk about in another episode, which I'm not, but I am more in the Reformed camp. Definitely, I get that conversation. Yeah. But, you know, it's just solid biblical doctrine, just straight up Bible, like... Not this whole prosperity thing. Not prosperity, not... It's just in your emotions. Yes. And this is your season. Yeah. It was just all about Christ, His character, who He is, what He did, what He came to do for us, understanding the gospel for what it is. And the only thing I can attribute it to was when the disciples had... Jesus had resurrected, the disciples were waiting for Him, and Jesus had prepared a meal for Him. And I think it's in the book of, in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus prepared a meal for them. And Mark, in the book of Mark, it describes it and says that it was at that moment that the Word, that their eyes were open to the Word. My boys were walking with Jesus. And it was after the resurrection that their eyes were open. And that's how I can describe what happened with me between 2018 and 2021, was God opening my eyes to who He was. He was already making provisions. He was. Just small ways. That is still hard. Okay. Yeah, because that provision and seeing that didn't kick in when He left. Oh, no. But let me tell you what it's been. The whole thing, the whole distorted view of your belief system was completely shattered. It crumbled, completely shattered. To kind of see that the God that you were praying was not you, you felt like you wasn't listening. I felt like... I didn't feel it immediately. I remember when He left, my kids came to my bed, the younger ones, because the older ones weren't at home. They moved away. One was in college, the other two were moved away. And the younger ones came and just wrapped their arms around me on the bed, and I was broken and crying. And my first worry was, they're gonna... God, they're gonna hate you. They're gonna question you. They're gonna... So I said, guys, God gives and God takes away. Yes. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's the only thing that came out. But I was... It wasn't until, again, days leading up, months, and everything coming to the light about His cheating, who He cheated with. It was someone the age of my son, my oldest son. Oh, my gosh. Same age. That's right. How old is your son? At the time, he was 21. She turned 22. My son had turned 22. It was just an element of loss, right? It was just... So then in the midst of that, as I'm broken, my counselor challenges me. And I was broken at home, but whenever I would go to counseling sessions, I was just like, have it all together. A tough Sharon who had it all together. And she realized that. She was very discerning. And she said, so you're angry? And I said, no, just like that. Yeah, I'm angry. And she's like, like, you feel anger? Like, yeah, I feel anger. Just blank. And she's like, okay, so I'm gonna ask you a question. And I was like, yeah, go ahead. And she said, so God is sovereign, right? And I said, yeah, of course He is. So if God is sovereign, He knew that your husband was going to leave you. Girl, that must have been like... I wasn't angry until then. Like, I was like, wow. And I said, that's uh, uh, yeah, and your point. So how do you feel about that? That started bringing out a lot, a lot of my view of God. And I remember just angry and I wouldn't show her. I, I've always been that type. Like, I just wouldn't show the anger, the anger or the emotions. Yeah. Affected me really deep. So I went home. And she's like, well, talk about it. You know, I was seeing her weekly because I was so bad. I, I dropped so much weight. One of the videos you did for the church, that's when I noticed, I'm like, oh, something's going on. I was just halal. I looked sad. I just crying day and night. Um, and I remember being in the basement one time, screaming. That's where I would go to scream. Because the kids were all the way upstairs and I didn't want them. I was still trying to cover everything, but they knew, I mean, they would come down and check on me and I screamed. And I said, that's what I'm telling you, God was letting it all come out. And I, I yelled in the basement and I said, how are you supposed to make me better and heal me? If you couldn't even save my husband. And when I said that out loud, it showed how much I did not trust God. Wow. And how much I didn't believe, um, that he was for me. And I, and just saying that I crumbled and I started crying and I started asking forgiveness. Because in my mind, I lost my salvation at that point. Wow. Because I told God that I didn't believe he could heal me and that he can heal my heart because I was so broken. And I, it was, I don't know how to describe the other day. You just felt like your heart was going to come out of your chest. This was so tiny. And it was just like, I just, every day I felt like I just could not breathe. I just could not, I just needed a little bit and enough air. And when I said those words, I immediately thought God just turned his face from me. Wow. And wants nothing to do with me. It was so distorted. But again, in all of that, God demonstrated his love toward me still. And I remember, you know, and there were so many days I cried. There were so many days I punched the floor. I screamed till I had no voice. I, I literally would go numb from my, it's like from my waist down. I had, I would take drives in the middle of the night. Wow. Just looking for him. Wow. And I could just find him. Yeah. And then I would scream and hit the steering wheel. And I remember one of those moments I got home, just thinking about it, just, you know, like, he was so good to me. Um, my son, my older son who came, um, had to physically carry me from the car to my bedroom because I could not feel my legs. In the midst of all that, um, it was so, I never felt so much panic and anxiety and out of control the way I felt. And a lot of the, a lot of women that have experienced this, most of these women don't come back. You know that, right? A lot of these women stay shattered in that brokenness. They don't come back from that. I mean, they are still today. I've seen a lot of women that are broken from situations like yours and, but at least you, you had a support because you did have a counselor regardless of how you felt you were going to be that strong person. But you were seeking help. Um, and there was some measures that, that put me in more of a crisis, right? Because of what I thought, right? You know, spread of depression. No, it was grief. I was grieving. Um, that brought me to fire. But then there was a point where my counselor, I was so like malnutrition, like there was, I just, you're not eating. I wasn't sleeping. I wasn't, when I tell you, I was 24 hours already. I wasn't eating. I could not, every time I would sleep, I would dream with him and then I would wake up anxious so that I wouldn't sleep. She told me, I need you to take some medication. Okay. Now I felt like if I take medication, I'm a sinner because I'm not believing that. So the devil was, it was like the perfect storm for the devil to just play in my mind. And this is someone who knew the Bible and he was using the Bible to, to twist it in my mind. So now I'm feeling like, I said, I can't take it. Are you crazy? She's like, Sharon, I, if you don't take next week, you know, real decision, we're going to have to, we're going to have to talk about some other things. And I didn't think, lock up. I didn't, I just thought, you know, I just thought about, like I said, she was, I want you to, you know, we have, we have someone who can prescribe. And I said, no, I'm going to talk to my doctor. So I talked to my doctor. I said, nope, I don't want that. This is when we prescribe for you. And I remember having a panic attack once, really bad. I couldn't breathe. My daughter was actually, and she's like, mom, you gotta take the pill. You're anxious. You're, you're not thinking, you're not rationalizing. You're not like, I can't, I can't, God's going to be so mad and he's going to be so disappointed. He's going to, it was, it was so bad. Like I said, that she's like, she has to call my best friend and my best friend's like, Sharon, where are you? Where are you? And I'm like, God is angry. And she's like, no, where are you? What is around you? Look around you. Where are you? Like, she had to bring me back to like, to the present. And she's like, Sharon, we're going to pray. And you're going to take this pill. And, and Jesse was like, mom, please. She was crying, mom, please, just please. Because I was so anxious. I couldn't calm down. I just couldn't calm down. And, and I put my kids, I think what I have to live with and it's hard with for me is that I couldn't shield them from that. So I feel guilt because they have to, they have to see the broken Sharon that no one saw. So I began to take medications to sleep. Um, because she's like, your mind is not resting and then you're not eating. So if you don't, if you don't start stabilizing in any area right now, you're going to crash. So, um, my doctor told me we're going to take this and in three months, we're going to check up on you, which was great. Having a doctor who did not believe in narcotics, but at the moment he's like, you need this right now. Um, because it helps at the moment, you know, I just needed to calm down. It's balanced. It really balances at that moment because you were out of control. Yeah. And I just couldn't think straight. My mind, my mind couldn't, I knew like, it was so bad. My, my kids would read scriptures to me, but they would play music. And instead of me hearing it, my dog was reading, um, the story of Lazarus to me, where Jesus waited to go and see Lazarus. And, and here's Jesus who has the power to do this. He waited, he knew what was going to happen and he waited. And Jesus in that story rebukes the Pharisees. So what did I hear? He was rebuking me. And my daughter in the discernment that she had, when she's reading the story that she's trying to tell me, mom, Jesus is the resurrection and you don't have to fear. I was hearing you unbeliever. You are not even believing Jesus. How do you even call yourself faith? I was wrestling. And my daughter, I, she knew because my breathing started getting heavy. So I would get into a little panic attack and I started breathing heavy and just started like crying and hysterical. And she's like, mom, what are you hearing? And I'm like, Jesus is disappointed. He's disappointed with me. He's angry. She's like, mom, no, he's not. He's not. The devil was in that campground of like, well, this wasn't just a battle with your mind, but it was also a spiritual battle. It was a spiritual battle. It was like a totally spiritual war. And whenever, yes. And then whenever I, whenever I see a spiritual warfare on the doctrine that I was taught, it was like, you got to pass. I rebuke, you know, in the name of Jesus. And I was being attacked because I was rebuking. But spiritual warfare didn't mean that I have to rebuke that away. It was literally allowing myself to, to let Jesus in that warfare, let him in that warfare. And I remember one of the greatest memories I have of my suffering was that I was in the, on the floor with my daughter one day. And this, God showed me this after, and very shortly after, weeks after, and I saw myself on the floor when I was having that panic attack. And I saw the whole thing in my head again. My daughter was next to me. My friend was on the phone. I'm crying on the floor. I'm having a panic attack. I tell her that in my mind, as I'm seeing this vision, I don't know if I was falling asleep when I'm seeing this vision. But now seeing the vision, I saw Jesus sitting there. And he wasn't running away. And he wasn't scared. And he wasn't surprised by my response. And he wasn't shocked because I was doubting him, or I wasn't believing. He wasn't running away. He sat with me in my suffering. He sat with me in my pain. And he never left my side. I saw him. The enemy was trying to show him disappointed in me and turning his face from me. And Jesus is sitting there the whole time, never once left me. So is that, so looking back, that's some of the keys where, in this whole lesson that you have learned, has been, he's always, and he was always there the entire time. It just, I mean, you were so broken. You couldn't realize anything anyways. You were, you had this distorted belief of the gospel that you knew. And then learning the new one, it kind of, it's a whole, that's what saved me. It's a whole thing that you probably went through. Yeah. The gospel saved me. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not just so that you would accept Jesus in your heart. The gospel sanctifies us. It gives us a knowledge of who Christ is. It continues to grow us. And the gospel was the very thing that saved me because the gospel of Jesus Christ is that Christ came to die. He lived the life that we were living. He was living a perfect life. He paid the price for a distorted life that we are living. He paid the price, being a perfect being, paid that ultimate price for our sins. That gospel, understanding that, understanding that nothing, now I can understand Romans. There is nothing, no height, no depth, nor principality, nor authority, nothing that can separate me for the love of Christ that is in Christ Jesus. That's what saved me from that. Understanding that no matter how broken you were, no matter how much you doubted Christ, no matter how much you doubted God, no matter how much I yelled at him, no matter how much I spit at him, basically, the love of Christ. But while I was still a sinner, Christ died. The gospel saved me from all of that. And all of this, right, because there are going to be women listening to this. And I know that this is not a one-time conversation because I know we'll still talk about our testimonies as we do our podcast. Because this is a long one. But as people are listening here today, what would you tell a woman or somebody that is currently going through a similar situation? What advice would you give that person? Grief. Grief. It's real. It's not bad to grieve. It's not bad to grieve. Because growing up was something that... Rebuke it. Yes. Rebuke it. Get away. It's okay. It's okay. And you have to rebuke it. And there was no amount of rebuking that was going to make my husband at the time come out. Because what I understood was that God handed it over to His Son. He wanted His Son. And God handed Him over to us. It's kind of like what Romans says. They will stay with their deprived mind. And that's scary. That He will let us to be, well, this is what you want. And this is what you want to say. And it took me into such a crisis. Because when all of this was happening, he would gaslight me. And he would tell me things like, you know, yeah, Sharon, because you're on the throne. And I'm like, but I'm not trying. I would constantly give him scripture and try to show him, listen, you're in sin. Come back from it. And he said, I can marry you. I can divorce you. Remarry, and God will forgive me. And that would send me to, because now I'm like, well, God, that's not fair. Why would you? It was just a campground for so much of the enemy to distort the truth of the gospel in my mind. And then I remember feeling like, but God hates divorce. I can't divorce him. And I remember God bringing me to where the Pharisees were questioning about adultery and divorce, and about who would be married and who would not. And I remember that that helped set me free a little. Because in that passage specifically, Jesus says to the Pharisees, Moses allowed divorce because of your heart and purse. It wasn't because God wanted it. It was because your hearts were so hard, and you were so caught up in your adultery, that God allowed divorce because of adultery. But then Jesus goes on to say, but from the beginning, it wasn't so. God never, his intention was never divorce. But because of our hard hearts as human beings, that's what happened. My ex-husband's hard heart for the gospel, hard heart, and his desire hardened his heart to the point where he pursued his desires. What? I mean, it is a lot, what we gave today, right? Because your testimony, I know people will probably have to process everything they heard. Because even you speaking it, I mean, I'm assuming the more you talk about it, the less hold it has on you. Because that's pretty much what I have learned, that when you speak your testimony and what it brings behind, the more you say, the less it has that power over you. But if somebody is actually today feeling these fearful, these scary thoughts, the anxiety, what would you say to somebody that has actually lost their faith, or they felt like their faith was shaken because of the personal trials as a woman and their husband's leaving? Because again, this is not easy, not even for you, but your kids, you have, you have families. What would you say to that woman that is actually, does not know what to do today? Yeah, I think you have to be raw with God. He's not, he's not absent to your suffering. He's not shocked by it. He's not sitting there like, oh my goodness, look at Sharon, like he's completely broken apart. You know, he's not, you know, shocked by that. Being raw with him where you, where you are in your suffering, in your pain, in what's happening to you. And just saying, I don't, I, there was just a lot of times that I'm just like, I don't know what to do. I don't know. Like, I don't know if I was responding the right way. I don't know if I was possibly in the right way. All I know is that the invitation that Jesus makes, that we have a high priest that can empathize with us. He is our advocate. And the fact that he makes that invitation to us in Hebrew to come to the throne of God with boldness. We have a high priest who can empathize with us and we can come to the throne of God with boldness, knowing that there we can obtain mercy and grace for our time of need. And grace is what we need when we're suffering. We need that grace to get us through the next moment and the next moment. And my current minutes, sometimes it's going to be a second to second, literally, like seconds. And then those seconds turn into minutes and those minutes into hours where you, it literally was that for me. It was like, I just didn't know what would happen the next second. So I took this second and then the next second, and then it became, okay, one minute at a time. And then it became, you know, 20 minutes at a time. It just began to become easier. One of the things that my counselor suggested to me was, because I think, again, I hated being broken. I hated looking at it. Why? I mean, because I was just feeling weak and broken and, you know, forgetting how low, how many times do we say that He's made strong in our weakness? How many times before that? But then when we're weak, we don't want to be weak. We want to be the strong one. And how I allowed those moments, she would tell me, Sharon, stop trying to not cry. Because I would cry. I would hold it and I would hold it and she said, let it out. And I'm like, I'm tired. I'm tired of crying. I'm tired of, I just want to be okay. I just want to be okay. And she's like, Sharon, it will get easier and easier. But it's this, as I cried more. But it's okay to find help, right? A lot of people have this perspective that you should- You should get away and only God and- Yeah. You need to fast more. You need to use, you know, the holy- We're not saying you shouldn't fast. That is a great discipline. We're not saying that. But- I really believe that God made provision to comfort. I needed that. A lot of my healing process, even that was hard because it's so taboo. You have to go through the emotions. You have to go through that broken part where- But it was her saying, like, she would tell me. I felt that I had to- That's not good when somebody else is telling you, hey, this is what it is. Yeah. And a lot of it was I, every time my ex would cheat, I would continue to function in the church. I had it all together. And I would be up there in the prison of worship, and I would be up there meditating. I just had it all together. So I was a strong, self-sufficient, self-reliant- So do you think that was showing that you were stronger than God? Oh, I don't know. Definitely not. Like, the self-sufficiency that I had, the self-reliance that I had, you have to break. And this time, my counselor told me, you need to stop. You need to sit. Where I was hearing, you got to keep functioning, you know, you are a woman of God, and God has all these- God's giving you all these talents, and God misses you up there. And, like, and my counselor was like, people are not going to be okay with you not being okay. So I would tell the woman that's listening or, you know, that's going through a hardship in anything, whether it's a divorce, any suffering, it's okay to not be okay. Yeah. It's not okay to stay there. No. Because grief is a process. You've got to grieve. You've got to go through the steps of grieving. So staying there is not beneficial. But being not okay is actually you being weak and allowing God to be strong. And I needed to be at that point of weakness where my strengths were not going to be sufficient to carry me. And that is something that, again, a lot of people probably have that view of life. Yeah. And that perspective that I have to have it all together. I've got to keep ministering. I've got to try to keep going because then they will think I'm weak, and that's not what's good. Or they're not going to see God's power in me. Okay. Because it's all about your power. It's all about me, or it's all about how strong I am. And it becomes about self again, right? Back to me. Back to me. Back to what I can do. What I could encounter. What I could face. Yes, I have God, but he's on my pocket because he's strong right here. And that's all. And I just need him here to give me the things that I need, but I don't need him to be the leader of my heart and my life. Wow. And it's a lot. It's a lot. I mean, I just want you guys to break down a little bit. But it is, you know, I want to say thank you for sharing, you know, your testimony. And it is very inspiring to see that you saw the other side of this because you could have stayed- It was dark. You could have stayed in that whole religious, what is it that you called it? You could have stayed in those. Yes. Or I could have gone completely out of the church and just left that all together. Completely. That is very true. But remember that no matter what people are facing, no matter what you're facing today, healing and restoration are possible through Christ. Yes. But you have to surrender that to Christ. And if you enjoyed this episode today with us, please share, like, if you have any questions about anything that you want to ask us, please provide them. Yeah. So that way we could actually talk about them the next episode or so. And the next episode will be, I guess, I have to share. Oh, Lord. I really don't like- Yeah. Yeah. That's why I was like, how are you going to do it? But I know that what you talked today would actually help a lot of our listeners to understand that it's okay to be broken as long as you don't stay there. And rely, like, Jesus makes a invitation, come to the throne of the Father with boldness, and there you will find mercy and grace for your time of need. You need him to get through whatever it is that you're going through. You can't do it alone, no matter how strong and independent you've been. And no matter how much rebuking and claiming and proclaiming you do, the reality is that God will answer and give according to what he feels is good for us. Yes. And if it's not good for you, he's going to take it away from you. And I mean, I don't know if you have any other advice or anything that you would like to share to anybody out there, if they actually need to look for help, you know, what are the steps? Or, you know, even listening to the right counselor and the right person that actually is rooted in the scriptures. Because imagine if you would have gone to a person that was not rooted in the word of God, I think you would have... It would have changed my emotions. There's a couple of things that I would encourage you if you're going through a hard season. You need to be connected to a community of faith. That's just a must. The community of faith is there to help. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. And the community of faith, even if it's just them praying, the community of faith, you need to be connected and plugged into community of faith. If it wasn't for me having community of faith, I don't know what I would have done. I had a lot of prayer warriors that just prayed our family through in such a beautiful way. And then I had a group of friends that just constantly, as much as I wanted to just isolate, constantly were there. You need to have a community of faith, a community of friends. If you don't, one person that you can trust. For me, I would be able to have a local counselor. I don't know if that's ideal for everyone. It's hard. But being in a community of faith that is equipped to have counseling and have counselors within the community, that's beneficial to have. And then lastly, family is so important. I saved them for last because they were such a strong rock in my whole process. When everything happened, my mom, my sisters, my dad responded in a way that I was just shocked. My kids above all. Even in that, to see how God made provision through my children. Some women just don't have that. Yeah, they don't. So if you could just find one person, and if you don't have one person, call up to Jesus and ask Him to make provision. He will make provision for you. And you already have it here. This is one way right now. It's a sharing. Our testimony is what inspires hope when we're suffering. When we get with a community of faith, that's why community is important. Other people's testimonies don't save us. There's something about our testimony that can save us. You know you're so good that you said that. I always say that, yeah. I'm like, there's nothing about my story that can save me. Maybe you could, you know, inspire with it or you kind of connect with it. But my story cannot save nobody. It can. But it can definitely encourage you in your life. My younger daughter was going through something recently, and she said to me, Mom, when I hear—and this was so encouraging. I just love Jesus. Because she said, when you hear what's happening in the world, and you hear how people are standing up for the gospel, she said, Mom, that gives me hope. Yes. By suffering. And our suffering has nothing to do with what's happening in the world. No. But to hear that, that is exactly what happens. Our testimony helps to give others hope. But knowing that we are sinners, and that the wrath of God was upon us at one point in our lives, and that Christ had to come, die, and save us from the wrath of God, that is the testimony that we proclaim, that we were sinners, and the wrath of God was upon our lives at one point. And in His goodness and in His kindness, God sent forth His Son to die for our sins. And I no longer am under the wrath of God. But I said, you no longer are under the wrath of God. If you're listening and you're a believer, you're no longer under the wrath of God. And now we can walk in the truth of the gospel and forever be reconciled with God. And one day He'll come again for us. Well. But the gospel is what saves us. Our testimony is what builds our hope. Yes. In the body of Christ. And that is true, the hope that we have, right? And it's not the hope in her story, okay? It's not hope in Mariceli's story, but it's the hope in Christ. And, well. What He saved us from. It's amazing, you know, what the hope that you had in, you know, it was anchored in Christ, you know? And. How it looked like. Yeah, it's like a little, I know it was a little like, yeah. But it was still, God was able to walk you through that and you stayed anchored in that. And, you know, this might benefit a lot of the listeners, right? And we encourage you to don't give up, okay? Regardless of how ugly it might look. Scary, because I know this is a scary testimony that she, you know, expressed. And even going through it, because I can't imagine going through something like that. But I do come from a background of broken relationships, you know, and divorce as well. But there's always the other side where restoration does come from God. Just because we are broken people doesn't mean we have to stay broken, you know? And we have to anchor ourselves back to Him. And I hope that our listeners will join us next time. We'll definitely have more stories of faith and strategies on how to anchor, right? Our lives in that living gospel and the living Christ and God who He is in our lives. And well, until next time, I hope everybody stays rooted in Christ. I love in Him, you know, allow His love to be anchored in your heart today, right? Even in the most ugliest part of your life, you know, His wisdom and His faith is there with us. So I don't have nothing else, Ms. Sharon. Thank you for being the courageous first person to share her testimony here. To be honest, I, you know, this month I had to go to an event and I had to share my testimony. And I was like, man, I have to relive this again. But it is a blessing when you do share. But we hope that God will help us through this whole process of this podcast. You know, what are the things that we're supposed to say not to say to continue to learn how to do all of these electrical things? Um, you know, I'm blessed to have Sharon to be, you know, part of this, because this is something that, you know, there'll be more things to come. It's just the summers are hard. And it's kind of like a busy season for both of us. However, I want to say thank you for being here, Sharon. Thank you for sharing that testimony. I know. Thank you guys for your patience. Yeah, it's not that long, I don't think. But yeah, if you do enjoy this episode, please like, share and stay tuned for the next one. Yes, please subscribe, stay tuned for the next. We get to know her a little bit more. Yeah, she got some powerful, powerful stuff right there. Do try to hide my stuff. It's a little more reserved. But yeah, but I know that, you know, God has brought her through so much. And again, it's God's saving grace that we are wanting to highlight. Definitely. So stay tuned and download the episode. The more you download, the more it moves our feelings. Yeah, yeah. Something like that. Yeah, the algorithm. Yeah, whatever it is. Yeah. All right, well, God bless and see you guys later. Bye. Thank you for joining us today's episode of Anchoring Truth and Wisdom, a community for women. It's been a profound experience hearing Sharon's testimony and journey of faith. Sharon, your encouragement and honesty in sharing your story are truly inspiring. We're grateful for the insights and hope you have brought to our listeners today. As we close, I want to remind everyone that no matter the storm we face, we can find our anchor in God's unwavering love and truth. If today's episode resonates with you, please share it with someone who might need this encouragement. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast so you won't miss out on future episodes where we'll continue to explore stories of renewal and faith. We love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out with your thoughts, questions, or prayer requests. You can connect with us in our website or social media channels as we part our ways. Remember to stay rooted in God's love and anchor to his wisdom. Until the next time, this is Maricely Marte signing off. Stay blessed and keep shining in his grace.