My Journey to Rediscover Relationships

By Johnie Hinson

Johnie Hinson's journey to rediscover relationships took him to a new level in his understanding of relationship dynamics. The Lord opened a door of opportunity allowing Johnie to glean precious knowledge about the greatest gift He gave to humanity. The Lord's revelations provided keen insight into how He views relationships and His expectations of how Johnie should approach them. The first revelation or divine insight Johnie discusses in his book reveals the significance of our connections. "Life is all about relationships, and relationships are all about life." Johnie discovered that nothing in life promotes greater satisfaction than meaningful connections with family, friends, and the Lord who made life possible. As a result, Johnie chose to make his relationships a priority. Johnie's journey also provided him with a greater understanding of marriage and his role in the home. He learned that marriage isn't a contract between a man and a woman but a covenant designed to connect them in a lifelong union. Johnie is constantly reminded by the Lord that "Your marriage isn't about you, it's about what you promised in your vows." Although a painful reality, the author is learning that fulfilling his promise to his wife, Rene, is the only way to make their house a home. Johnie chose to become her husband, now he chooses to fulfill his responsibilities. Johnie is convinced that life is a journey, and if he intends to enjoy the ride, vertical and horizontal connections will play a significant role. As a minister serving the Lord for 47 years and traveling around the globe, I can attest that everything rises and falls on relationships. As a minister, military officer, husband and father, Johnie Hinson's story can teach us a lifetime of lessons about relationships that we can all learn from. I highly recommend this book to you. Rev. Dr. Paul Ai President Vietnamese Outreach International Bishop Overseer Vietnamese Harvest Network

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781640795501

Book preview

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My Journey

to Rediscover

Relationships

Johnie Hinson

ISBN 978-1-64079-549-5 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64079-551-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-64079-550-1 (digital)

Copyright © 2017 by Johnie Hinson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973,1978, 1984 by Biblia. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. www.zondervan.com.

Printed in the United States of America

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all of those who graciously assisted me in reviewing parts of my manuscript and providing helpful comments. I know it can be a boring process, but they selflessly tackled the task and helped me to improve my work. Thank you!

Paul D. Smith – Florida

Rev. Jamé Bolds – Virginia

Sam Davis – Florida

Jennifer Byers – Virginia

Sheryl Hartwell – Florida

Chuck Webster – Florida

Word Weavers – Florida

Krista Sennett – Florida

Matthew Markley – Virginia

Janice Baoec – Hawaii

Ricardo Patterson – Florida

Keith Reagan – Virginia

Dedication

I wish to dedicate this book to Rene, my sweetheart of forty three plus years as well as my daughters Christy (Sissy) and Jennifer (Jen). I also want to dedicate it to Jared Holloway, my son-in-law, and Preston, Colette, and Ansleigh, my grandkids. I love them all very much.

I would like to add a shout-out to all of the husbands and wives who’ve committed their lives to pursuing meaningful connections with each other. To those couples who refuse to give up or give in to the issues and challenges of married life, let me say thanks. I encourage you to stay focused and engaged so you can keep the flame burning. It won’t be an easy task, but it can be rewarding. It won’t be perfect, but it can be enjoyable. Stay the course and see what Christ can do in your lives and your relationships.

Foreword

Perhaps the greatest joy in life is to hear and receive an assignment from the Lord. I recall the day in 1996 when Johnie was called by the Holy Spirit to listen and write a series of messages on marriage and family relationships. The deployed Chapel community at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey prayed fervently for Johnie’s charge from the Lord. We sensed the Lord was initiating a work that would bless many. Faithful to the task for over sixteen-plus years, we now benefit from what the Lord revealed to Johnie. It was definitely worth the wait. May you and your family be greatly blessed as you hear a word of hope, encouragement and guidance from the Lord through My Journey to Rediscover Relationships. Thank you Johnie for your sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord, for your faithfulness to us!

Chaplain, Lt Col R. Michael Warner, USAF (Ret)

(2 Cor 5:7)

Intro

What happens when the supernatural invades the natural? Things change. Lives can be transformed and destinies rewritten. It doesn’t matter who it falls upon; it matters how it’s received and handled. This is my story of a life-altering supernatural event I experienced in 1996. It’s a story of transformation and education that changed the course of my journey with my wife, Rene. Twenty-three years of marriage failed to produce the results we desired because we lacked any real knowledge and understanding of the process. However, this experience would launch a remarkable sixteen-year journey to fill in the blanks and answer my questions about marriage. It’s my journey to rediscover relationships.

In February 1996, while deployed to Turkey, the supernatural world invaded my natural world to reveal phenomenal ways to build better relationships. This welcomed invasion came in the form of two awesome encounters or visits from the Lord. The brief encounters lasted long enough for him to deliver a two-part message tasking me to develop a series of lessons on marriage and family and put them in a book. I felt like a soldier standing before my commander, getting orders for a very important mission. This mission would prove critical to the salvation of my marriage as well as the security of my family.

When those brief encounters ended, a monumental journey began. All of a sudden, I found myself on heaven’s Polar Express train heading for an unknown destination with the Creator of the universe as my conductor (The Polar Express, Warner Brothers, 2004). Excitement and curiosity gripped my heart and mind as this spiritual train left the station. Past experiences with the Lord dictated that something meaningful and wonderful awaited me, so I looked forward with great anticipation to what lay ahead.

On my journey, I received twenty divine revelations or God-given truths about the subject of relationships. Many of them challenged my perspective on the marriage connection and shot holes in my philosophy. Even after twenty-three years of marriage, Jesus Christ proceeded to tell me all the things I didn’t know about this dynamic connection. He revealed simple yet profound relationship development principles and applications I desperately needed to alter our misguided course. Each revelation illuminated my understanding while moving me closer to a more meaningful connection with Rene. They captured my attention and motivated me to listen and learn everything the Lord wanted to share with me.

The more I learned about this subject, the more I wanted to know. It seemed that each principle or application I put into practice produced a positive result, benefiting the relationship in some way. It wasn’t a magical formula making everything immediately wonderful but a commonsense approach to rebuilding our connection one step at a time. These revelations impacted my attitude and perspective, causing me to approach my marriage with a renewed focus and purpose. Although my wife balked at embracing some of the principles the Lord shared with me, it didn’t stop or hinder me from pressing forward. For the first time, I possessed tangible guidelines I could use to work toward building a better marriage.

During the next sixteen years following my encounters in Turkey, I received a lifetime of knowledge and understanding about relationship development. The best way I can express the awesomeness of my journey is to say, I’m glad I jumped on that train in 1996 and remained onboard to obtain valuable insight to the most important aspect of my life.

If you’re feeling adventurous, take a journey with me to discover what the Lord revealed to me about relationships. I believe his revelations can enlighten you and change your life and connections as it proceeded to change my relationship with Rene. I’m not the same person who boarded heaven’s Polar Express in 1996, and my marriage to Rene isn’t the same either. As of November 2016, we’ve been married for forty-three years, and it’s still a work in progress. It’s not perfect, but it’s getting better because of the lessons I learned. So, board the train and take a journey with me to rediscover the wonderful world of relationships.

Chapter One

The Encounters

In Steven Spielberg’s movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind , Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) experienced some close encounters (Columbia Pictures, 1977). He came face-to-face with UFOs and beings from another world. Although troubled by these events, they would eventually change his life and his destiny. My story begins with a similar event. I experienced a close encounter of the divine kind from the Lord of the universe. It led to an amazing journey of monumental proportion, revealing practical principles and applications that would transform my life. In this chapter, I want to share with you the amazing details of the event that set the stage for the writing of this book.

My story began on the foreign soil of Turkey in February 1996. The United States Air Force deployed me to that country in November 1995 to monitor the Northern No-Fly Zone over Iraq. I spent the next four months working in the Incirlik Air Base operations center, scheduling and monitoring the execution of air operations. During my off-duty time, I spent numerous hours in the chapel, volunteering my services. Captain Michael Warner, the deployed chaplain, led the ministry team, which I joined. As an ordained Assembly of God minister, I enjoyed working with Chaplain Mike and meeting the spiritual needs of the men and women in uniform.

Supporting the weekly chapel functions and events kept me busy. I enjoyed the interaction with the chapel staff and the deployed troops we served. They became my family away from home, providing some much-needed fellowship. I even got to visit some of the historical landmarks and towns mentioned in the Bible during our chapel-sponsored trips and tours around Turkey.

My first encounter or visitation unfolded during a Thursday night Bible study at the base chapel. We were viewing a series of video lessons on Knowing God by Henry Blackaby (Blackaby Ministries International, 2010). During the video presentation, I sensed the atmosphere beginning to change as a sweet presence filled our gathering place. It took a few moments before I realized that the one being discussed in our video just entered the tent of our Bible study. Previous experiences with his presence led me to believe something wonderful could be in store. In the past, when God showed up, he usually came with a plan and a purpose. It could be to bring comfort and peace or provide some guidance and direction. Whatever the case, I welcomed the interruption.

Once I sensed his presence in the room, my focus moved from the video presentation to my invisible guest. I attempted to block out the surrounding activities and noises so I could give him my undivided attention. I didn’t see any bright lights nor did I hear thundering voices. I just sensed a stirring in my spirit as he began to deliver his message. I heard him speaking to my heart and mind, not to my natural ears. It was like getting a thought or an idea. You know you received something because it came through so loud and clear. I knew that this communication came from the Lord because of the nature of the message. He tasked or compelled me to do something potentially beneficial to myself as well as to others. As I received his gentle message, it exploded in my spirit. It wasn’t a passing thought or something I’d been thinking about. It caught me off-guard but in a good way. I can’t explain how it all happened; I just know it happened.

Through the years, I’ve discovered that the Lord will speak to me in a number of ways. He speaks to me through the words I read in the Bible. He speaks to me through sermons or messages I listen to at church or on television. He speaks to me in my prayer time at home as well as on the golf course or in the fitness center. He’ll speak to me when I need encouragement or to bring some needed correction. He also speaks to me when I need to make some choices or decisions. Does he speak to me every day? Not always. However, I’ve learned to listen so I can recognize his voice when he does speak.

During this encounter, I sensed him say, I want you to put together a series of lessons or sermons on marriage and family. As quickly as his presence entered the room, it departed. Afterward, I sat quietly in the tent chapel, contemplating the event and the message I received. Once the Bible study ended, I went back to my room with his words running over and over in my head. I spent the next few days pondering every word he spoke, trying to make some sense of what it all meant. It’s interesting because I wasn’t thinking about relationships or the need to write lessons or sermons on marriage and family. I thought about my family because I missed them, but that’s as far as it went. However, as I would soon discover, the Lord wasn’t finished speaking.

As I lay in my bed on the Saturday night after the Thursday encounter, I experienced a second visitation. It transpired very much like the first one as the Lord’s presence entered my bedroom and began speaking to my spirit. I sensed him say, "Put those lessons or sermons into a book and call it Relationships: The Key to Success." All I could say was wow! It’s an awesome blessing to experience a significant God-encounter, but two encounters within three days blew my mind. It’s interesting that the second encounter confirmed the authenticity of the first one. How? The second message added clarity and completeness to the first message.

Although unsure where this would lead me, I felt honored to have received a directive from the Lord. I cherished the opportunity to do something for Jesus Christ because I knew it would be beneficial in many ways. I thought about his tasking for a few more days, and then I decided it’s time to get started. I sat down on my couch in Turkey with a Bible in one hand and a laptop computer in the other hand. The thought of tackling this incomprehensible task overshadowed the momentary excitement I experienced during the encounters. The events did leave me with some unanswered questions.

Two major questions dominated my thoughts: what do I do now, and how do I fulfill this task? I knew how to develop lesson plans and sermons because of my background as a minister. However, I’d never studied the subject of relationships, causing me to wonder why the Lord chose me. I wasn’t an expert on relationship dynamics, and my marriage wasn’t the epitome of success. In addition, my lack of relationship knowledge and understanding didn’t make me a good candidate to write a book on relationships. As a result, I began to question my ability to fulfill this task. Who am I that the Lord would entrust me with such a monumental task?

Like most couples, my wife, Rene, and I entered our marriage with great expectations of developing a meaningful connection. We wanted a wonderful relationship we could enjoy together. However, those expectations never materialized. Year after year, unresolved issues plagued our marriage, creating significant obstacles to developing anything close to a meaningful relationship. The lack of effective communication skills contributed to shallow conversations. Our inability to fully discuss our issues and challenges hindered the accomplishment of any positive resolution. Our inward focus and selfishness frustrated attempts to compromise and facilitate workable solutions to our overwhelming marriage problems. In retrospect, we were a mess.

The continual frustrations we experienced created doubt, and doubt produced hopelessness. As a result, we began focusing on ways to get out of our marriage instead of finding ways to stay in it. We often found ourselves greatly disillusioned with our connection because no matter what we tried, nothing seemed to work. Nothing improved or got better with age or time. We just existed in our connection with unfulfilled dreams and expectations of possessing a great relationship. Our twenty-three years of marriage from 1973 to the encounters of 1996 failed to secure any significant measure of meaning thus threatening the survival of our connection as well as our family. Bottom line: Rene and I didn’t know how to develop a meaningful marriage union. Therefore, I wasn’t sure how to proceed with the Lord’s task.

Being deployed provided a great deal of time for me to consider the task and the way ahead. Chaplain Mike often provided some helpful insight and encouragement. He challenged me to trust the Lord to provide everything I needed to accomplish the task. He reminded me of the need to walk by faith instead of by sight or feelings. He recited 2 Corinthians 5:7, "For we live by faith, not