Intentionally Standing

I don't feel any different than you. Not more courageous. Not any wiser. Certainly not more intelligent. Just a normal girl trying to survive what life throws at her. Here are some thoughts I wrote to help stay focused.

free resource

Gain valuable insights on the steps to healing from emotional abuse in our Tools for Healing resource guide.

Click Here

free guide

🌟 Living an Intentional Life Through Adversity 🌟

I don’t feel any different than you. Not more courageous. Not any wiser. Certainly not more intelligent. Just a normal girl trying to survive what life throws at her.

As I navigated a separation and subsequent divorce that I tried everything to deter, I became part of a community called “Intentional Standing.” These peers were also striving to honor their marriage vows amid tumultuous relationships. With varying degrees of faith and commitment, our unified vision was to live intentionally, honoring God’s ways and hoping for marriage restoration. In the midst of searing pain, it is often hard to keep the focus on honoring God rather than idolizing the marriage. Here are some thoughts I wrote to help keep the right focus:

💡 Intentionally Standing Tips:

Stand Before Christ: See yourself accountable to Christ for what He gave you to steward and care for.
Surrender the Outcome: Be on your knees at the foot of the cross, inviting Jesus into every part of your life.
Let Him Guide You: Allow Jesus to lead you through any and every circumstance.
Embrace Transformation: Let every circumstance transform you to become more like Christ.
Trust His Plan: Believe that your role, no matter how painful or confusing, will be used for God’s redemption story.
Develop a Christ-like Heart: Cultivate a heart that loves the unlovely and honors God, just as Jesus did, even when it means loving from a distance.
Let God Be Your Everything: Even if your marriage is not restored, let God be your all.
Walk with Grace and Mercy: Live with grace, mercy, truth, and love as demonstrated by Christ.
Embrace a New Level of Living: Be bold, courageous, and fearless, defying what Satan intended this valley to do.
Defer to God’s Sovereignty: Find joy in God’s plan and sovereignty, no matter your role in it.

Living intentionally is not just a buzzword; it’s a lifestyle that leads to fulfillment and strength. 🌱✨

Join the journey and share your intentional living experiences in the comments below! 👇

#IntentionalLiving #FaithJourney #PurposefulLife #IntentionalStanding #BeIntentional

Key themes in this article: faith after harm, separation & divorce

meet the coach

Sharmen Kimbrough

Sharmen Elaine Kimbrough is an identity strategist and the founder of LiveFound, Inc. She holds a Master's degree in professional counseling and spent more than ten years working alongside Dr. David Hawkins at the Marriage Recovery Center, where she developed and led the women's programs. She helps women recognize emotional abuse, coercive control and spiritual bypassing — and recover a self, and the agency to use it.

You might also like....

flowers growing out of rocks, overcoming hardship

The Perturbed Heart: Is This Relationship Refining You, or Harming You?

You’ve been told God is using this relationship to sanctify you. Sometimes that’s true. But the stir in your heart isn’t always pointing at your idols. Sometimes it’s pointing at a problem in the room. Here’s how to tell refining from harming.

when children are around shoes in a tree

What to Tell Your Children About a Difficult Marriage

Your children already know something is wrong. What they can’t handle isn’t the difficulty. It’s a house nobody will explain. Here are the three sentences that help, and the one thing you never do.

Recovering Your Identity After Escaping Codependency and Abuse

You were told the codependency was yours — a flaw you brought in with you. But compliance and hyper-independence are both doors out of the same house. They are not who you are. They are what you learned to survive.

How Do You Be Resilient in Emotional Crisis?

Resilience isn’t just about bouncing back—it’s about creatively transforming challenges into something meaningful. True resilience requires engaging with what you have, thinking outside the box, and building something valuable from life’s setbacks. Whether in relationships, personal growth, or life transitions, resilience empowers you to move forward with intention. Discover how to cultivate resilience in a way that brings purpose and possibility to your journey.

Is It a Boundary, or Am I Punishing Him? How to Tell the Difference

You’re lying awake asking whether the closed door was cruel. In the same house, on the same night, someone else has not asked himself one question about it. That asymmetry is the whole problem — and there’s a test that settles the question in ninety seconds.

Healing Together

It is common for couples to remain in a relationship even when emotional abuse has been part of the picture. Even when the pressure of staying together is removed, she may still choose to stay for multiple layers of valid reasons. We need to create a road map to help them move toward healing together or, at least, help her detach from the abuse with good boundaries, strong character, and a safety plan to stay well.

Hear from actual clients who have been coached at live found

I especially love that my circumstances and choices are not judged, but rather supported and supplemented with sound and realistic advice.

She has helped me reclaim my identity and grow into the healthiest most steady version of myself.

Every session is such a relief to me because she gives such helpful suggestions that actually work in difficult relationships.