Wedding Officiant Training and Licensing

Read this woman’s testimony on God’s faithfulness in her life and how she found the Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about online Bible courses, Click Here) for wedding officiant training for the next step in her life.

I have almost always known Jesus. I had no idea how I would come to depend on Him in adulthood. During my freshman year of college, I started becoming quite ill. I pushed through a couple more years of school while hopping from one doctor to the next searching for answers they didn’t have. It took four years and a lot of prayer and persistence, along with my mother advocating for me, to finally be diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s and now several other chronic illness diagnoses have placed some limitations on my life.

My Traumatic First Marriage

Not long after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, I married the person who would become my abuser. I had no idea of his true nature and suffered several years at his hands and words. But from that difficult relationship, God brought me my two beautiful children, who are now adults.

Over a decade ago, their biological father snapped and held me at gunpoint in our home, brutally assaulted me, and took his own life. My children were 9 and 13 at the time. We struggled for answers and fought to move forward. That situation brought us to our knees. But God met us there. He walked through some challenging times with us. He was our strength when it got to be just too much. In some ways, we are still healing. Through difficult years, I had a friend ask me how I didn’t just collapse. “Only God!” I told her, “God and my children gave me a reason to keep breathing.”

My Healthy Second Marriage

I’ve been asked the question, “How could you even consider getting married again?” The answer is simple. I know my first marriage was not normal. God did not intend marriage to be like that. I grew up around healthy marriages, including my parents, grandparents, friends, and siblings. I knew a healthy marriage could exist, and when the time was right, God would bring the right man.

God surely did. He brought a man who fit my list of requirements that he would love God and it would be evident in his life, and he had to love my children as his own. In fact, even though my children are now 19 and 23, they asked my husband to adopt them officially. A judge made that official just this week. Isn’t God so good? I am blessed with children who are my heroes and a husband who is my kinsman redeemer in many ways.

My Writing

A few years after the great trauma, God turned me back to one of my other first loves–writing. Writing became very therapeutic for me, and several years ago, I started a blog. Then, I began writing a book that is still in progress. My blog and writing evolved into sharing about healthy relationships, toxic ones, our true worth, and abuse recovery. I also share about recommended books, chronic illness, and anything else that I feel led to share in my writing. My goal in all that I write is always to encourage others. I have contributed to several other blogs and have written and edited copy for a few online magazines.

Ministry Opportunities and Wedding Officiant Training at CLI

Pre-pandemic, I taught an in-person class of women in Muskegon at a local shelter. I designed the class and centered it around healthy relationships, boundaries, and knowing God. I have a desire to serve women who’ve been in abusive relationships.

Now, I am here at Christian Leaders Institute to become legally qualified to perform a marriage. My daughter is getting married this year, and she and her fiance asked me to officiate her ceremony. With great honor, I accepted and then sought out a way to achieve this from a Christian perspective that would give me a biblical background. I plan to perform a beautiful, Christ-centered ceremony.

The wedding officiant training at CLI and licensing with the Christian Leaders Alliance are perfect for me at this time.

Author: Henry Reyenga

Henry Reyenga is president of Christian Leaders Institute and Christian Leaders Alliance.