This comment was left on the Honest Talk about Gingrich’s Woman Problem and I felt it was significant to warrant it’s own post.
ALLtoJesus (April 17, 2012 6:55 AM)
I am from Georgia. I've known Newt since we were 15 years old. We spent an
evening together during Spring break at Panama City, FL - two nerds who wore
glasses, sitting on the patio talking when the rest of my cheerleader
friends were down at the Bandshell dancing and flirting with the cool
football players. He was fascinating, a talker, interested in history and
government even then. He was also a kid in an identity crisis. He had just
found out about his biological father and his birth name. He was trying out
Leroy McPherson instead of Newt Gingrich to see how that fit. I never forgot
that evening with Newt.
We had a lot in common. We both had divorced dysfunctional, absent and
abusive parents. We both had insecurities, lacked strong identities. We were
both army brats and had suffered due to the frequent moves.
Many with Newt's background become serial adulterers, alcoholics, drug,
porn, sex and gambling addicts, or they turn 'gay' - all seeking the love
and nurture and identity they did not get when they were younger. Newt's
pain was evident that evening. The very next year, Newt got involved with
his favorite teacher, a woman seven years older and married her to get away
from home to a sane and stable life. Newt was marrying a mother/parental
surrogate. He was emotionally vulnerable and immature. She evidently had
issues as well to seek the company of a student much younger than she.
Later, when his wife and family did not come to DC with him, Newt got
involved with another strong woman figure, a political colleague, again for
the wrong reasons. The affair with Callista began when the second wife had
left and they were separated. Newt had affairs in between his marriages,
always seeking identity, seeking to fill the emptiness and numb his pain.
When Newt's second marriage failed, he did the wisest thing any human can
do; he repented and confessed his sins, has renounced and abandoned those
sins. He also got help and counsel. Now Newt has come to Christ Savior,
Redeemer, the source and definer of real satisfying Love, Truth and Life.
Knowing Christ's Love and the power of His Cross and redemption, Newt has
been healed, restored; his emptiness filled and satisfied. Now Newt and
Callista are married as two whole adults, married in spirit and in truth.
Newt has found completion and wholeness that no woman, no substance, no
power, fame and no amount of wealth can provide. He is a new and whole man
in Christ who has found a secure identity, purpose, vision, based on God's
Word, Commandments and on the Constitution, Bill of Rights and founding
documents.
My life followed much of the same pattern - marriage in a state of pain,
vulnerability, lack of judgment and maturity due to my unhealed childhood
traumas and losses. I came to Christ sooner than Newt, after my first
husband was killed during Viet Nam, and again after my second marriage was
in crisis. That second time, I had married again too soon, and married a man
who was a serial adulterer because of his own unhealed issues.
People are attracted to the wrong people over and over until they deal with
their baggage at the Cross. Wounded, hurting, dysfunctional people are drawn
to other wounded dysfunctional people. Like Newt, I had married both times
to get away from home and to try to numb the pain of my childhood traumas
and fill the gaps and quench the fears and insecurities in my soul. Like
Newt, I was a child seeking security and protection and nurture that no
human can provide.
Even after coming to Christ, I could not save my second marriage; he had an
affair with an old girlfriend who was recently widowed and now they are
married. Through lots of prayer and counsel, I have come to see how my own
choices and behaviors hurt our marriage. Christ is still working on me, and
is my source of truth, strength, security, peace and joy...and respite from
pain and loss. Since my divorce I have worked with other similarly-wounded
adults in Celebrate Recovery and in prayer ministries that focus on healing.
I have received the help of counselors and groups and have come a long way
in recovery. Thank God, like Newt, I did not get into drugs or alcohol and
the other behaviors our parents did. I have shared my story because it will
help you to understand Newt and his journey better.
Newt was not my first choice of candidates. I was for Romney at first, but
soon realized he had a serious problems with lying, corruption,
liberalism...so I switched to Michele Bachmann, then Rick Santorum, then
gradually to Newt, but it was out of conviction, based on evidence as I
watched all the debates, forums, listened to speeches and interviews, read
their articles, platforms and researched their records. I realized much of
what Bachmann and the media had said about Newt was false. I learned that
what the RNC and media were saying about Romney was false...there are whole
websites dedicated to telling and documenting the truth about Romney that
the media and Republican establishment are ignoring.
Newt is now the only one I will vote for, even if I have to write in his
name. A repentant, redeemed Newt (who was always conservative and pro-life)
is far better than an unrepentant Romney...whose word is worthless and whose
record is radical liberal and whose plans are the same socialist liberalism,
according to his staffers and consultants.
I will vote my conscience and stick with Newt.
