Testimonials – Marilyn Howshall

Making Heart Connections Testimonials

Marilyn, I, too, am so, so grateful for these programs! They just keep getting better and better. The faith one was SO GOOD and SO TIMELY for where I am right now! Thank you! – Rhonda

“Marilyn and Barbie, I always feel so much love from you when you are instructing, correcting, clarifying, telling the truth. It helps me to be able to turn to the Lord and trust Him to open my eyes to the hard things (flesh in me) and the good things (life in Him) that He wants to show me. Each call builds hope in me. This hope is real and not something I’m trying to muster up and pretend that it’s going to be okay, that I’m going to be okay. Right now I see there in nothing and no one in the way of the changes He wants to bring.…that makes me full of hope. That is where He is leading me. Thank You Lord.” Carlise

“I thank God for the privilege to be one of His own chosen ones and to be brought into this season of sobering in Truth and Reality. Wow! Thank you Marilyn and Barbie for your specific work on our behalf and thanks to your families for giving you over to this work.” ~ Mary

“Thank you all so much! I know that my understanding of these matters will continue to grow as I continue to study them and follow Him. The materials you are providing in this manner have such far-reaching potential. Truly life-changing with the challenges to things I had previously thought. And yet, God’s truth shines forth from them. Once they are pointed out and I wrestle with them, test them by studying God’s Word and put them into practice, the truth cannot be denied. And even though I am only part way through my process, I already feel that I would NOT go back! Where would I go, but forward! There are places I have already been through that are HARD– painful to see and painful to die to. Thoughts of the anesthetic of my previous state may call to me, but it is a momentary thought, because I have already seen the beauty of what lies ahead, and I see the ugliness of what is behind and want it NO MORE! Thank you , Lord! And thank you, Marilyn and Barbie for what you are doing. “~ Julie M

“Marilyn, thank you, thank you for the time you have given to get to know us so that we are not being given a general message. So grateful for all you are doing for me…for us.” ~ Rhonda M

“This series has been life changing for me and my family. My eyes, heart and spirit have been opened in ways I could only dream of before. My home is bursting with love and learning. We are majoring on the majors and see much fruit from it. Because I am now taking my orders from the Lord, thank you Lord!!, my life is full, satisfying and much more peaceful. I have not arrived, but I am stopping, repenting, taking the time to invest in my families hearts and desires. Now I have been spending time with my heavenly Father finding the real me and remembering my dreams. I did not even remember my dreams before. My heart is full. My home is becoming a lovely place because the Lord is now in charge. I am so thankful and appreciative of everything Marilyn and Barbie have done.

I must add that without any thought or planning that my home is more organized and neater. Amazement!! Praise the Lord! Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these shall be added. The adding has begun. Mind you not perfection, just pleasant and inviting and loving. This is key, I am loving, truly loving, my family for the first time in my entire life!! Thank you Lord!!” ~ Sharyn

Your Desires ~ I can now see, regarding the many desires the Lord has put in my heart, that I was totally leaving God and relationship out. I was mistakenly operating as if it was all mine to do and bring to pass, and it was all too overwhelming. I am so deeply thankful to realize that it is He that will bring the desires He gives to pass, and that my role is simply and wonderfully to seek to know Him more intimately and cooperate with Him more fully. ~ Rosemary

Your Conscience ~ Just finished the first “Conscience” call. Wow! Took like 4 pages of notes and it sparked a great discussion between hubby and I. Such a relief to start to get to the bottom of why I feel so “yucky” deep in my heart. ~ Elizabeth R

After going through the “Your Conscience” program, I have such a relief to start to get to the bottom of why I feel so “yucky” deep in my heart. I finally have words to express and define what I’d always sensed and yearned for inside, but didn’t know how to find and live out! My family is being absolutely transformed. We humble ourselves frequently because we are becoming very aware of our sin, and catching ourselves either before, during, or right after, and moving remarkably towards the “before” stage more often than not! The best part is, as far as my specific family relationships go, I’m finding it easy to “be in love with” my husband again! What I mean is, because of the many sorrows we have reaped for our fleshly ways of parenting, and because I also treated my husband the same way, and the romance was all but squelched in our lives. Now that I am free to love him, faults and all, I am free to enjoy our love without resentment and negativity. Wow…I never saw that coming! – Ellen B

Your Faith ~ “This has been one of the best programs in my mind. Like Lois said as well, this program was key in making things click in my understanding and practically living things out. I really appreciated the first call and really understanding how repentance is truly the key to faith and not having fear. I understand the statement “Perfect love casts out fear” much better. It has also been key to seeing how God is already working in my life and how I can believe in the work he is doing and have faith that he will continue to work. The real-life examples were so practical and helpful for understanding how God works through our faith in so many practical ways. I am seeking the Lord in several practical situations and have made a list of prayers for them. The Lord is working. Thank you so much for all of your time and prayers and truth.” ~ Melanie C

Marilyn Howshall, I, too, am so, so grateful for these programs! They just keep getting better and better. The faith one was SO GOOD and SO TIMELY for where I am right now! Thank you! – Rhonda

“The faith program has helped me understand what I have been experiencing to some degree, but has opened up a greater understanding of how to intentionally view and approach life from this point forward, therefore a greater desire to activate faith and press into faith process with the Lord. I look forward to relistening to the audios and rereading the article and FB conversations, which will probably be many-many times. Thank you so much for your investment!” ~ Nancy B

Julie Writes Again…“I knew the Lord was confirming I needed to take part as well. AND< wow! things have really taken off in breaking down my false ideas, helping me to learn to hear my conscience, and through it all He is building my faith and trust in Him and my love for Him because of His love for me. The belief and CERTAINTY I feel that HE WILL answer and that I can trust Him and wait, if necessary, really is transforming my ability, I think, to hear! I don’t have to spend so long reminding myself of who He is and how it does not make sense that He would not answer and it is not in line with His character—I KNOW it already and believe it—so that part of it is cut down and out. I can hear Him more clearly and more quickly.” ~ Julie M

“Marilyn Howshall and Barbie Poling, I am so grateful for these coaching programs. They have been and I know will continue to be life changing! I am so gald to express to you my gratitued. The things you shared on faith calls are continuing to work and I am putting them into practice and finding I see God moving! I can not wait for the next one. I am currently listening to the “Your Conscience” program, and it is amazing how God is using it to work with the “Your Faith” program to make connections for me! Thank you again!” ~ Julie M

“Marilyn and Barbie, Thank you, thank you for your message and your sharing on the call yesterday— SOOO sweet and amazing– so touching and inspirational and instructive! I cried, was amazed, was drawn… It really, really made so clear the relationship between our actions and our faith and how to seek out, the steps. The ‘understanding’ of that connection will help me stay forcused on going back to the Lord in trust for the next step I need to take, or not take.

He has had me walking this out for a bit even ahead of this fuller, deeper understanding. I think I had shared earlier that He was calling me to have NO interactions with my family (specifically my daughter) without crying out to Him for wisdom and instruction. As I have been obeying in this, He has been moving! He is revealing things about my daughter and others in my family to me and showing me how to love them in ways specific to them that I never would have thought of! I am amazed and humbled at how individual His instruction is; how specific to the person and situation; how perfect and not the way i would have done (LOL). When I have failed to stop and seek Him for guidance, He is still using it to deepen my understanding of what living in His courtroom looks like; no beating myself up and being paralyzed and unable to do good to others or obey Him because of my self-focus and false standards, but instead conviction which brings repentance, then grace, forgiveness and mercy followed by instructions for making things right with the other person. This has increased my faith to keep coming to Him and my personal love for Him (personal being the operative word). I am falling in love with my LORD! My first thought when I am sinning is becoming about how I have hurt HIM rather than how I have hurt myself (through damaging relationship, looking bad, or causing embarrassment or strife), or even how I have hurt the other person! This is, I see, a dramatic shift in my spiritual maturity as well as in my relationship with Him.

I have been studying and delving and thinking on the things the Lord is bringing up strongly in me to study as I have opportunity. THere is a GREAT hunger and thirst that cannot be quenched right now (thank you , Lord)First, He had me taking notes on a previous coaching call (God’s Moral Law)–very detailed notes so that I had to listen over and over to a bit at a time. Since then, I have read Blessed Assurance 2 times and am taking notes on it, I have read THe Con-straining Ways of the Lord, HOw to Develop a Lifestyle of Learning, and returned to an earlier study the Lord had me doing by taking notes on Marilyn’s book Wisdom’s Way of Learning (and guess where I am?– the Seven Natural Vital signs of Learning, beginning with Individuality of course! LOL).I also have been continuing to read Barbie’s blog posts–sooo wonderful– and her Rachel’s “Kids Character Blogs” (available to LOLACHE members) as well as searching on HEM and LOLACHE for information on healing relationships and loving our children and can’t thank the ladies there enough either– Rhonda, Michelle, Christi , so many others have helped tremendously by sharing and seeking in your processes.

Marilyn’s writing takes me a bit of time to get through (and I am an avid and SPEEDY reader usually) because each sentence contains such deep truths that are not my old pattern of thinking and which could use thought and processing. He is helping me to make connections and I am so pleased to see the growth that He has done in me as I am understanding more and more. Thank you , Lord! And thank you , Marilyn for so generously sharing what the Lord has taught you.

I cannot wait to catch up on the posts and what God has been doing in each of you precious ladies’ lives!. I had been so touched and inspired and filled with joy to watch and learn from your posts earlier as you shared what the Lord was doing in your lives. I really can see the growth and change in thought processes and understanding as you so generously share and seek out knowledge here. thank you all!

Praying for you all and the Lord’s continued work in your lives.. ~ Julie G

“The mini-coaching programs has had a MAJOR impact in my life…and I have only worked my way through the first three programs…

Your Conscience ~ In the first one..the Conscience, Barbie and Marilyn talk about how to hear the Lord…and what to do with it when you do. The way that they explained it, it made it very simple and EASY to begin knowing HOW to walk and follow the Lord in each area of my life, but especially in how I was relating with my loved ones. I had a really bad tendency to turn to self-pity and condemnation. I KNEW I wasn’t doing things right….and I was feeling convicted for that, and I would feel guilty…and knew I needed to change, but didn’t know how. These programs helped to propel me towards things that were LIFE GIVING and I was instantly able to see how to STOP doing the things that weren’t. I was relieved to know that it wasn’t this long, drawn out process, but it was able to simplified into a process that could immediately begin to be implemented.” ~ Heidi Harris

Your Standards ~ “I quickly continued with the Standards coaching call because Marilyn mentioned that our conscience was gong to be convicted by the current set of standards that we were operating in…and it was important to make sure that we were using the right one….and it was again, very freeing to discover what that ONE standard is. I was able to begin working through all the false standards that I had operating in my life, and again, simplify to JUST THE ONE that the Lord was concerned with. This freed up a BIG burden in my life and also gave me the time to do what I needed to do with my family. I was able to STOP wasting time once again doing things that were not producing life in my relationships and begin focusing on the ONE that was.” ~ Heidi Harris

Your Desires ~ “I just started the Desires program (the 3rd one)..and again, I am blown away by the impact. So, YES, I feel that these programs are so worth it if you want to really grown and make a change in your life and in your relationships. I had begun my LOL journey with reading the Empowered… book but I had a hard time reading it. I just walked away with lots of self-condemnation and I didn’t know how to get to where the book was pointing towards. The Coaching calls has tremendously helped me to see where my disconnects were….and NOW I can read that book and see the wisdom that was there this whole time, but I couldn’t see because my ‘vision’ was clouded by my fleshly and sinful ways. As far as relationship with God goes….the Desires program is really showing me how I have been so ‘wrong’ in how I have been trying to have a relationship with the Lord. I have been trying to ‘do’ many things and try many things to get close to Him, all the while missing it. So, yes, these programs will improve ALL areas, starting with your relationship with HIM.” ~ Heidi Harris

Your Faith and Your Helper ~ I haven’t even started the Holy Spirit as our Helper one or the Faith one yet…but I already know that they will be life-changing as well. I now am encouraged and can see that I don’t have to ‘rush through’ this process. That I can trust the Lord and His timing for when I do each of these programs, so I don’t know WHEN it will be that I actually get to those (I already have purchased them). When I first started, I got them all thinking I was going to rush through them to find ‘the answer’…that would bring me the immediate relief that I thought I needed for the tragic turmoil I was experiencing in my relationships. But after just the first two programs, I saw how much of a wonderful process this really was and how important it is to begin trusting HIM in my process. I don’t have to “GO” any faster than what He is leading me to. It’s not a race and the process IS in a sense the ‘answer’ I was looking for. Even though I am very passionate about these programs, this is still a good time to ask the Lord how HE is leading you. He knows where you are in your journey and if you are prepared to hear these truths. You can trust Him to prompt you and lead you. You can trust His timing. I would be less concerned about my ‘endorsement’ and more concerned about His prompting! I hope that helps and blessings to you on your journey!” ~ Heidi Harris

Your Conscience ~ “I was a bit skeptical about how much they would help and if it was really a value or not. I am just about done with Your Conscience and I am thankful I spent the money. I have read lots of books with wonderful theory and action steps, but this has shown me more practical application than I was expecting. The file of Facebook discussion has really helped me to see that I’m not alone in my feelings and frustration but then helps me move past those. I also thought I would buzz through these as I usually do such things, but I guess it has been the Holy Spirit prompting me to actually put this stuff into action.

I have missed my regular counseling meetings with my former pastor since we moved. He would walk me through situations to see how God was at work in my life and how to cooperate with God. I feel this program has helped in much the same way. It has helped me tackle self condemnation and anger in such a way that I feel I’m making real progress in those areas that I have had such a long time struggle.

While I know the coaching program is designed to support LOL, I think that what I am learning is very applicable whether or not I home school or follow LOL. It is very much a heart/relationship study and not a homeschool study.” ~ Karen Head

Marilyn's ministry empowers parents to become competent working in the heartbeat of their family. She shows you how to break through the barriers that prevent heart-level relating between family members. You will come to understand how you compensate with self-focused behaviors instead of doing the hard work of lovingly addressing heart-level relating habits in yourself and in your children. Your whole family will experience reconciliation with one another and with God. The Christlike character that results leads to deeper bonds in your relationships so you can write the best possible family story for the Lord. Marilyn's ministry is on-line as well as in her local community in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.