Testimonials

There are those who state marriage is not for them, unlike them marriage was one of the things I knew God designed for me. I met my husband four years prior to being married. I felt I had met the man that captured my heart and the man that would love me unconditionally. I was extremely happy about the thought of spending the rest of my life with him, that I would one day become his wife.

It happened, we got married, shortly after things changed. I felt lonely, I started to experiencing rejection. I became confused. My self-esteem had reached an all-time low. I felt like a used dust rag, unattractive, undesirable, ashamed and embarrassed. I was at a critical moment in my life.

United For Life Marriage and Family Ministry gave me hope which seems to be a hopeless situation.
Through the wisdom of God, I was given directives along with practical advice that brought me to a place of restoration.

Because of the Thomas' consistent guidance, instruction, life example and teaching through the Word of God, I regained my self-esteem and learned my self-worth. I am forever grateful that God allowed people like the Thomas' to invest their time and love in giving me the spiritual direction as well as the practical instructions I needed counseling in the most difficult time. Because of United For Life, I've learn how to live again, I know who I am, I have discovered my purpose.

My life has been enriched in so many ways through United for Life Marriage and Family Ministry.

Jerome and Rhonda Thomas is anointed and appointed by God to touch the lives of hurting and broken people. Also, there is help, hope, and total restoration. Thanking God for using this couple to help me during my dark times.

The Band-Aid Phenomenon: God’s Freedom to Live, Love, and Trust Have you ever suffered from a small wound you believed was treated properly with all the right medications, love and tenderness, and the proper covering only to discover it has gotten worse over time. Rationalizing seeing a physician, you keep using the same remedies until you reach a place of discoloration, and oozing to a point you can no longer hide. Well my friends that is what we call the “Band-Aid Phenomenon”. Living a life of washed up remedies’ and too many issues that can no longer be hidden.

So let’s journey down memory lane as we share a few life changing moments in our lives. It has been an amazing journey and we are truly grateful how God used Minister Jerome and Rhonda Thomas through United for Life Ministry (UFL) to remove our relational Band-Aids and walk into God’s purpose and plan for our life. (Jeremiah 29:11) We are the Arnold’s, Shefftal and Zae-Vista, the Dynamic Duo as some of our friend’s reference, or “Triple Threat” now that God is truly the head. We have been married for 21 years for which God gets all the Praise, Honor, and Glory. We have two children, 21 and 18 years of age. As a young couple in love aimlessly living life, we thought we had the best life ever. After all we had each other. Right? Wrong. We were missing the most important component, the third cord (God) to keep us together. We didn’t have premarital counselling we simply lived and loved the best we knew how until issues started to arise. With the hopes of making things diminish quickly we went with the flow and applied a Band-Aid. This went on for years until there was no longer a place to hide and the love we’d knew was no longer enough to hold us together.

This stage in our life was one of the most devastating, eye-opening, soul searching, seeing far beyond what was in front of us, let’s just forget about it time in our life. #ButGod. It was during this time that we made the choice to seek spiritual marriage counseling with the Thomas’. It was time for the bandages to come off and you can only imagine that feeling after being covered for so long. From our first meeting we knew they were working in their God given purpose. Many layers were being removed. God put us to work. Through marital counseling we found a deeper understanding of our roles as husband and wife. We were provided homework assignments that placed us in positions to communicate more deeply, counseling sessions inclusive of answering the hard questions that lead to the root of our problems, and a new level of love for God and why he needed to be the head of our lives as references in Matthew 6:33.

We will never pretend that the journey was easy but we will shout from the mountain top it was worth it. The freedom to live, love and trust. We still remain an intricate part of the UFL Family. Notice we said “family.” From the first meeting five years ago we are truly a part of an awesome family. We have traveled together in the name of love, serve as hosts on the prayer line in the name of love, we have given presentations in the name of love and we are always challenged by
the leaders of this ministry to go to higher heights and deeper depths all in the name of love. We continue to learn together in the name of love through our monthly face to face experiences called “Life Connection”. In this arena we have been truly blessed as the Thomas’ in collaboration with the other members of UFL bring resources to build families and keep us strong. Matthew 22: 37-39 states “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

It is our hope that you are inspired by our story and understand the importance of being connected to such a warm and welcoming family/organization. As Proverbs 3:5-6 states “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight. We come together flaws and all but we pray, live, love, and laugh together as we journey to receive all that God has for us. As children many of us played the game Connect Four in which you strategized to drop your checkers in the correct slots to win the game which depended upon the right connection. This holds true to our connection with United for Life for through this awesome ministry lives are changing, dreams and visions are coming to pass; one family, one couple at a time..
#ButGod.