LuAnne Barnet

Hello!  I’m LuAnne! I am a wife, mother, animal lover, mentor, writer and musician.  I have held multiple positions, including mental health counselor, trainer, consultant, CEO, and Realtor.  I have experienced the pain of divorce, miscarriage, abuse, death, and more.  But most importantly, I am a child of God and a believer in the amazing power of Jesus Christ!

I have a beautiful daughter, Nicolena, who is also an overcomer and a strong witness for our Lord. She is a living testimony to the power of healing that comes from faith in our Risen Lord! Nicolena is the artist of our music logo and will be contributing other artwork as well. She will also be writing articles for this site and will be a primary contributor to our “Just for Teens” section. You can find the link to her testimony as well as others on the “About” page.

I am married to an amazing Christian believer, Joshua, who stepped into a messy and complicated situation with patience, grace, strength and a lot of love.  With God at the center, we have a family that is knitted together in love and that remains strong no matter what life throws at us.  Josh is a computer programming engineer who provides the technical assistance necessary to keep this site running efficiently as well as a student of Christian apologetics who provides me much material for these articles. And he is my musical partner in crime. Having been God-gifted with a wonderful voice and a strong ear for music, you will hear him on our original recordings throughout the articles.

I am blessed to have some amazing in-laws who will also be contributing to these articles. Tom and Janet Barnet, as well as their daughter, Nicole, are mature believers who will be assisting with the writing of articles. Special thanks to Josh Barnet, Janet Barnet, Suzanne Lee, for their editing assistance. And thanks to all of my other friends and family for their support and inspiration!

My Testimony

I was raised in a Christian home, went to church every Sunday, sang in the choir and taught Sunday School, but I didn’t really understand what it meant to have a real relationship with Jesus Christ.  Church, prayer time and Bible study became routine and tedious over time, and when my questions about seeming inconsistencies in the Bible could not be answered by my “church experts”, I let both lapse.  Over time, non-Biblical concepts crept into my belief system and drove me even further from God. The further I got from Him, the more my life spiraled downward until I was completely devoid of joy.  I employed all of my counseling skills on myself to try to fix the problem, including setting life goals and working hard. Eventually, I met all of those goals and had everything I had ever wanted, yet I was miserable. Then one day, I read a book by Ray Stedman about the book of Revelation.  In one section of the book, Ray clearly outlined how each of the churches in Revelation specifically related, in order, to the church eras from the days of John to the present.  I saw for myself how the Bible had accurately predicted the future.  As I delved further into Biblical study, I could see the divine hand of God throughout the entire book, and I could no longer dismiss the parts I didn’t like or see it as an outdated “history book”.  

Once I accepted God’s truths and grew closer to Him, several awesome things happened in my life.  I began to understand passages of the Bible that had never made sense before.  I was able to witness to others, and when they asked me a question that I didn’t have an answer for, the answer would suddenly come to me.  And, God gave me music!  Although I had long stopped playing piano, God began to give me songs that would come to me so quickly, I could barely keep up.  When it was all said and done, I had written an entire musical program that gave the story of the Bible from beginning to end. 

During this time, a major situation tore our family apart.  I was faced with being a single mother with a demanding job and a lengthy, expensive, and messy legal nightmare.  So many times I had no idea what to do, but God was there through the entire situation.  I was able to live a life of peace, hope and joy throughout all of the garbage.  Over time, God not only healed a damaged heart and exhausted mind, but He helped me to find meaning and purpose in my experience.  Now, on the other end, I am in a better place than I ever was before.  Life still throws punches, but the things I have learned from the past now shape my reaction to them.  

I have felt led for some time now to reach out to people who have experienced difficult times and share ways to not simply survive, but to thrive. As a former counselor, I can say that many therapeutic techniques commonly employed don’t get past the “survive” piece, and they tend to treat every individual in the same fashion.  Every person is a unique creation of God, which means that some things will work better for some than others.  That said, the most important piece, and the piece that applies to everyone, is that Jesus needs to be number 1 in your life.  When Jesus is first in your life, everything else starts to fall into place.  Will life become rainbows and unicorns?  No.  Will other people magically start to act kindly?  No.  Will your new puppy stop eating your rug?  (OK – that one is personal!) No again!  But what will happen is you will start coping with things from a better perspective.  

Music has been an important part of my process, whether it was writing, playing, worshiping, or simply listening.  Music affects the human psyche in amazing ways – either for good or for bad.  Throughout these articles, I will be sharing music (some of which I have written) that can be a tool to help you on your path to victory.  Again, everyone is unique, and different songs will have a different impact on different people.  I will devote an entire blog to that topic, but if you need a couple of songs for encouragement, I have included them below in the “Songs of Victory” section below.

For now, I will close with these verses. They speak to the victory we can have through Christ Jesus and my prayer for each of you.

For you are my hiding place;
you protect me from trouble.
You surround me with songs of victory.
The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
I will advise you and watch over you.”

Psalm 32:7-8

The Lord is my strength and my song;  he has given me victory.

Psalm 118:14

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.

1 John 5:4

God Bless!