Thursday, July 16, 2015

Supreme Court and the Church "letter"

Hey my loves! It's been awhile, life just won't stop! Hubby is still out of state working and our house hasn't sold yet. Please throw some prayers our way!

First of all, YAAAAAAAAAAY on the Supreme Court decision! Of course I am happy about it. I was discussing it with my brother and he's all "No, it tramples on state's rights." Don't get me wrong, I am a big supporter of states rights...but this ruling has made it so the LGBT community can get married legally to a same sex partner without any penalties. I think it's beautiful. LGBT are no longer second class citizens.

I don't necessarily support gay marriage...I support happy marriage. Everyone has the right to be happy!

Now, the as to the now infamous "letter" from the church stating that the church disagrees with the ruling but we still welcome all to come to Christ. We should love one another and not support gay marriage.

Have faith, dear friends...everytime there has been a major ruling that has gone against church practices has eventually been changed through modern day revelation. When marriage was defined by the Supreme Court in the late 1800's to be "One man and one woman." The church came out with a response saying it's not the Lord's will, as they were practicing polygamy. Then those of African American decent, they had nearly 2 decades after the civil rights movement before they were allowed to have the Priesthood. Until the 80's, they asked to not mix races of the decent of Cain or Lamenites. I am nearly half Native American. If my family had listened to those words, I wouldn't be here today. The church today, defines marriage as one man and one woman, ANY worthy man can hold the Priesthood.

So, take heart, we are at the beginning stages of this change in our church. We are FINALLY starting to see more people being put into leadership roles that are more loving and accepting of the LDS LGBT population. The Lord is hearing our prayers to find love and understanding in his church.

Be strong, be faithful, and know that God loves YOU for YOU!!

And I love you too!

♡Jessie

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Moving!

So, yet another crazy time in our lives!

My husband has been promoted and we are moving out of state! Ack!

He is already up there and has been for nearly two weeks. I am left with two kids, work and packing.

I am truly grateful for amazing friends and family!

The Lord has been blessing us so much!

And to you single parents out there, I bow to you...it is HARD!!

I will continue trying to keep up with any emails. But if there is a delay, this is why!!

All my love,

Jessie

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

To Be or Not To Be?

Hello my beautiful readers!

I have received several emails asking me that they wish I would update more often.

I do try, but life in my little family has been very challenging. I have  currently injured my arm and hubby will be having surgery here soon. So, I am very sorry I can't update more right now, but I am just trying to keep my family together!

The other thing I want to address with you is how honored I am. I am a perfect stranger and you are spilling your secrets to me seeking help, strength and encouragement. I think it helps that I am completely non-judging and only here to help.

That being sad, I do try and give advice from both sides. I lay it out very black and white.

I have had a few emails from woman lately that have desired to have a girlfriend while married...or even currently have a girlfriend with full spousal support.

I felt I need to address this more formally...I feel like there are more in the situation than we know about.

First of all, again, I am not judging. I just want to make that perfectly clear. I love you all, and understand the hurt and frustration of it all.

For those that have girlfriends with full spousal support, that is amazing and rare. Other women that have emailed me in the past, their husbands don't quite understand why and have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that they were bisexual, let alone wanting to be physically with another woman. I am very happy that you have that support!

For those that are thinking about it, it is a VERY hard decision to make. I sometimes still struggle with my decision to abstain from having a girlfriend at this time. My husband is my best friend, I have known him since high school. For me, I don't think I could forgive myself for the hurt it would cause him...when things really hit the fan when I first came out to more than him...I literally ran away from home for a day. When I came home, the relief on his face...he thought I was gone for good.

I stress this is a very hard decision. It comes down to this...if you are willing to potentially break up your marriage to explore this part of your life? For me, I am not there yet. But I am personally okay with my decision.

That being said, you need to be your genuine self. If you feel like this is something you need to explore, if it is crushing you not to do this. Then, you need to. Hiding and fighting these feelings with no outlet can be so damn exhausting.

I know this is not church doctrine. The church states "heterosexual and marriage only sex." Which I think is funny now considering the first few prophets had many wives...

I am not condoning monogamy, or a non-monogamous marriage. That is not something I will do. For me personally, I am okay with sacrificing the other part of my sexuality because of my love for my husband. If I wasn't in a good marriage...all bets would be off.

My hubby and I have joked that we'd be okay with a plural marriage as long as I get to pick one of the girls. Lol

I hope this helps.

I love you all so much. Thank you again for trusting with your secrets!

I remain, as always, your loyal friend!

Jessie

Friday, April 17, 2015

LDS General Conference

I have a few thoughts that have been weighing on me since conference.

First of all, to the people that shouted "I DO NOT SUSTAIN YOU!" (or something to that effect.) When we were called to sustain our prophet and apostles. I understand your frustrations, I really do. But there is a time and place for it. It is a hard balance. But, anger only breeds anger, a hard lesson I learned so long ago. Know that I love you all and support your ideals of being heard, but not how it was done. Please know I am speaking with love and not condemning anyone. I have no right to judge. Nor do I know the whole reason why you did it. I invite you to contact me for an interview. I would love to get the full story!

The last few years, with the push for accepting LGBT people in the world is getting bigger and better, there is STILL a lot of push to stop these "counterfeit" lives. When L. Tom Perry said that, I died a little. I have always looked up to him. Him and my grandfather were Bishops in the Sacramento area together...so I grew up with a great respect and "grandfather type love" for the man. My heart was hurt. That some apostles (and the prophet) teach love and acceptance for our LGBT brothers and sisters, and other apostles say things like "counterfeit" about us.

It makes very vulnerable people do some tragic things. Two friends who are active LDS are trying to heal and deal with their LGBT kids attempt suicide after this last General Conference. Thank goodness they stopped themselves before they did. However, after reading other articles, there were some that weren't as lucky.

These impressionable kids, they are young and already confused as hell with their hormones...they don't need to have adults who they are told to look up to and respect telling them that something is wrong with them.

While I know that was not the intention behind it, the fact remains that it happened. These youth in our church are HURTING! They feel so lost, and when they go looking for guidance, for love, for acceptance they get met with words that make them confused, depressed and hurting more than they already are.

This is the one thing that has kept me in the church. We have ALWAYS been taught that God is a loving God, not a vengeful one. That he loves us no matter what! It's what keeps me going. So, when I hear these apostles of Christ speaking like this, it hurts, it hurts bad. It is a enough to shake my testimony a bit.

There has been much soul searching in my heart, a lot of prayer over these talks, over the attempted suicides and some that did take their lives. We truly are getting closer to the last days. We are starting to see a great divide in the church
We are seeing so many wars and pain, so much pain. We are trying to fight ourselves and we need to unite and fight back with love and goodness.

I have had too many experiences in my life as a member of the LDS faith to deny the church. I do believe it to be the true church of God on this earth. We have seen through its history, the evolution of our faith.

Black people were once not allowed to hold the Priesthood at all...it took so many years of prayers and pushing for that ban to be lifted...and even then, many people left the church thinking that a white person was more supreme.

I am, and have been called (recently even) a mix, a not pure blood. I am a mix of several Native American tribes and about half of Europe. I can pass as a dark white person or a light skinned native as I have qualities from both sides.

My point is this, at some point, many years ago, I had relatives that fell in love...their love was deemed a sin, their love wasn't allowed! Hell, even the church has stated in the past that we shouldn't mix races. And that "commandment" has since been removed.

It has taken centuries for us to evolve, for freedoms that we do have. It has taken a long time for racism to be stomped out...and it still isn't all the way, there are still people that hate people just for their skin color. They can't help what color of skin they were born with!!

And that is how it is with sexual orientation...we are born this way. And while the struggle is still very real, that were are having hatred and rights removed from us because of our "preferences." I hate that word "preference"...it is used in the manner like we have a choice and it is an easy choice. We do not. If we could choose not to have these feelings, we wouldn't. Do you think we like all the shit being done to us? I think not!

We are at the forefront of this fight. We are the pioneers...and we had pioneers before us! It is going to be a very long time until people will come around to loving us as is.

I know this church is true, with all my heart. I still sustain the Prophet and our Apostles. Is it hard to do? Sometimes, yes it is. But I have the faith that things will one day change. Do I know what that change will be? No, but something does need to change!

God and Christ are all loving, it's humans that aren't.

All my love,

Jessie

Friday, January 16, 2015

Things Are Changing in The Church!

Hello my loves! I'm back! Things are starting to turn around health wise...I appreciate your well wishes via email!

We recently received a new Relief Society President in our ward...the old one moved out. I do love the old one, I know she loved us with all her heart, but she was hard to approach sometimes.

I didn't know our knew one very well, and actually just started to get to know her in recent months. As you know from previous posts, I go to church for me, not for anyone else, because most people (it seems) in the ward don't like that I have more than one set of earrings or that I have tattoos or that I speak my mind when I hear the "gospel according to Sarah" (made up name) and not what the message is really supposed to mean. There are many times I've sat with a clenched jaw in class wanting to say some things but not really wanting to get hauled into the Bishop's office.

Anyhoo, I am a Visiting Teaching Supervisor, which means for those of you not LDS, that I am responsible for a group of women who go and visit usually about 4 different sisters a month. They check in with me, and I report if there are any needs that need to be met. Well, a need arose, and a most desperate one. I called her up to let her know what was up. Later on we just started texting. She said she loves seeing me at church because I light up the room.

I was floored. Wait, huh, who, me? You're joking, right?!

And then went off on a tangent...and I said things I thought I would NEVER say to a Relief Society President!  I told her I don't feel that way, I feel more like pierced up, tattooed, bisexual, outcast that speaks my mind when someone gets on their high horse...especially when they say Mormons are so much better than anyone else. Excuse me?! Ghandi, the Popes (minus a few waaaaaay back), Mother Teresa, they're going to heaven, it's not just us Mormons.

As soon as I sent the text, I quickly sent "sorry about the rant".

She then texted back a very lengthy response thanking me for the rant. She shared some beautiful and painful things she has gone through...but the one thing that stuck out was "I have a gay married daughter, together they have a baby. She loves the church and loves the way she was raised and wants to raise her kids the same but fears the judgement. I could not be more proud of her, she is a VERY amazing person."

The point of me sharing this rather lengthy story, my friends is this: Our Heavenly Father knows us, he hears our struggles, our pain, our DAILY strugglings with our feelings, our feelings of no self worth because they tell us time and again, "it is a sin to be gay." Even though our Prophet and Apostles are saying, commanding, nearly YELLING at us, they are pleading over the pulpit to have more compassion for us that are having these struggles...that we can walk among each other with our judgment, without prejudice. That we can love one another...it's not just a song folks...it's a commandment.

And I just saw this in my own ward. We now have a leader that has first hand love and the upmost respect for her daughter...who is no different, she is a good person who just happens to be gay. She is a daughter of God, and he loves every single one of us.

Things are changing, and it makes me excited!

With all my love,

Jessie