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Category: Divorce

FROM THE ASHES

FROM THE ASHES

If you have read my earlier posts, you learned my second marriage ended in divorce. Certainly both parties play a part in any failed relationship. None the less, for anyone not wanting a relationship to end, it is devastating. I was now living out the consequences of two failed marriages. Through the separation, which lasted two years, God was preparing me for the marriage to end. I was growing spiritually in the midst of my circumstances. In the pain of the death of the marriage, God’s grace and mercy enabled me to keep going. God masterfully takes our failures, and turns them around. Good ultimately comes from the rubble and ashes of our broken lives. A real life picture of Romans 8:28. One thing I do not want to do in writing my posts, is litter the page with christianeze.  Relating how God saw me through this experience, denotes the practical living out of my christian faith. We all are broken in one way or another, in need of His grace, mercy and salvation.

I was participating in a singles group at the church I attended. I met my beautiful wife Patty there. We both had experienced divorce. She was a single mom with three children. Our relationship grew and developed. We married about a year and a half later. This past January, we celebrated our thirty seventh anniversary. God faithfully has worked in each of our lives. He healed the deep wounds we experienced, and has helped us grow and develop individually. As a result, we deeply love one another , and have a wonderful marriage and life together.

There have been struggles along the way. A couple of years into our marriage, through circumstances beyond our control, a financial crisis developed.  Suddenly and unexpectedly, our income was substantially reduced with no replacement or alternative.  God saw us through this season, and we were somehow able to meet all of our obligations. Eventually we regained financial stability. We experienced God’s faithfulness and provision.

There have also been blessings we could never have imagined. I had been told years earlier, I would be unable to have children, which to that time had been the case. We had been married six years, and were on a ski trip with a group from our church. Patty did not feel well, and was experiencing flulike symptoms. After returning home, she still was not feeling well. When she went to the doctor, we learned she was pregnant. I had accepted what I had been told years earlier, and I had no thought or hope I would ever have a biological child.  God blessed us with a beautiful daughter. Between us, we have six children. We love each individually and dearly! The son and daughter I adopted, Patty’s three children and our daughter together. His, hers and ours as we like to say.

From the ashes of Patty’s life and mine, God has done what only he can do. He has brought forth something beautiful and lasting. We praise Him for what he has done in and for us!

Launch

Launch

Welcome to walkingwithjesussrs. I am going to talk about my life in a bit of depth to give some insight and provide you with background for better understanding of future posts. I have and often will, mention the faithfulness of God in my life these past 41 years. I was a few years into my second marriage when I became a Christian. I had made a decision to allow my first wife and her husband to adopt the son she and I had adopted., and I had adopted my second wife’s two children. My doctors advised me I would be unable to have children. I was all in, so to speak, with the marriage and it was not going well. I had seen a poster for the Dave Wilkerson Crusade. As the date approached I felt compelled to attend. My wife and children did not wish to go, so I went alone. The crusade was being held at my old high school. I was late because I had to pick up a piece of rental equipment I was needing for the next day. I went into the auditorium and was seated on the upper level, off by myself. It proved to be a good thing as the night wore on. I cannot recall the message, but as Dave Wilkerson spoke I was sitting with tears streaming down and when it came time to go forward, I don’t believe anything could have prevented me from responding. I believe God knew I would need the exact experience I had that evening, to cement the reality of what was happening to me. On the path I would be walking, He knew I would need to know my experience with him was real. It is just as real now as I write this, as the night I went forward.  Not everyone has the type of experience I had. Most of you will not need to be thumped as hard as I did. God is a personal God. Your experience will be what you need, tailor made for you. My experience speaks to me of the personal nature of God in my life and how he is faithful to meet me right where I am at any given moment.

I wish I could tell you my marriage began to improve and life became better after that night. As the weeks and months passed, unfortunately the opposite was true. I was thriving Spiritually, but my marriage was not.  As the spiritual hunger grew in me, I started attending a full gospel church and also Full Gospel Businessmen meetings. I was literally like a dry sponge soaking up everything I could. I was reading book after book. Two which still resonate with me were In His Steps and From Prison to Praise.

I was believing God for healing and restoration of my marriage. As time went on and the marriage continued to deteriorate I was faced with what I would do if my marriage didn’t survive. If that was the final outcome, would I continue on this journey. Even during this difficult time, when everything seemed to be falling apart, God was faithful to bring people into my life to encourage and strengthen me. Once  again, a testament of His faithfulness.

The decision I was facing would prove to be an important cornerstone on my journey of Faith.