I recently returned to the Lord about two months ago after a decade of living in sin.
I have not been a good husband or father for many years and my wife told me about six months ago that she wants a divorce. The news was devastating and I contemplated suicide for the first and only time in my life. I could not (and still can not) imagine life without my family.
To make a long story short, God used this moment as a turning point in my life to bring me back to him. My heart was so calloused that for years I thought I was no longer able to love God or be close to Him. I am literally shocked at what God has done to cleanse and heal me these past few months. God is so good and merciful! I am falling in love with Jesus all over again AND I am falling in love with my wife all over again too. Seems ironic but it feels wonderful.
My wife is a wonderful Christian woman. She says she has forgiven me for the past but she still wants a divorce. I committed adultery many times so clearly she has grounds. Worst of all, however, I disrespected my wife in many small and not so small ways and made her feel worthless, unloved and unwanted. God has forgiven and forgotten -- my wife has forgiven but I'm not sure how even she could forget what I have done. We talk every day and we remain close friends. She says she is "jaded" and that she does not love me as a wife anymore, only as a friend. I have hurt her emotionally over and over again and I know she is worried that I will hurt her again. She says that she tries to love me but the feelings are just not there. I love my wife and I want to save our marriage.
Most of all, I want God to heal our hearts and guide our steps toward true reconciliation with Him and with each other.
Thank you for your prayers. God bless.
I understand where you are, I too am praying and standing for Jesus to restore my marriage. My brother in Christ, I would like to encourage you to hold on and know that JESUS CAN AND WILL RESTORE YOUR MARRIAGE IF YOU LET HIM!! I would also like to share this helpful website http://rejoiceministries.org/ for others joining together in prayer for hurting marriages. Dear Lord Jesus, please help me and my brother through our time of waiting for you and ONLY YOU dear LORD to heal our marriages. Thank you Jesus and we put all our trust in you FATHER as you are not for divorce but for family. Only you Jesus can change our spouses heart so we turn them over to you FATHER. Thank you JESUS. IN JESUS NAME, AMEN AND AMEN.
SATAN WOULD NOT WASTE HIS TIME TRYING TO DISCOURAGE YOU UNLESS HE ACTUALLY THOUGHT YOU WOULD FULFILL YOUR DESTINY IN GOD.
Pray this with me please:
Dear Father, help me to hear Your voice and not the voice of the accuser. Change my vision. Help me see myself the way You do. Allow me to see others in light of Your grace, and help me se Your destiny in people everywhere I look. in Jesus name ...Amen
Heal their hearts and marriage in Jesus name I pray. Amen
Hi, I understand your pain. Actually, I understand your wife's
pain and want you to know that God can heal your marriage
and your wife's heart. My husband had an affair 8 years ago, and we are still putting our marriage back together (with great success). Celebrated our 25th Anniversary!!
I prayed for 4 months for my husband not to leave me, and when he finally decided to stay, I was not sure that I wanted him. I felt so hurt by everything that I could not get past the mistakes. My poor husband waited about 5 years for me to get over it and get on with life. He was very patient. Thank God that he did not give up either. Both of us did our part to make sure that our marriage worked out, just at different times. Now we are doing it together. Working on many areas and enjoying getting to know each other even more.
One thing that God did for me, was to remind me of my memories of when I first fell in love with my husband. This got me back in touch with good thoughts and feelings. I wrote down all of the things that I used to dream about before I got married, (what I wanted in a husband), and then wrote down all of things that I had seen in Joe then, and now, that fit that description of my dream man. I was shocked to see that he was still many of the things that I had (and still) wanted.
Maybe you can help remind her of these things by getting out the photo album and talking about good times, or taking her to
a memorable place and reliving the time you asked her to marry you (or do it all over again, it can't hurt to ask)
I know what it is like to be in love with someone who wants to leave. I also know what it is like to be the one who wants to leave. Both, are just very afraid of the unknown. They don't know if they can trust, and they don't know if they believe in love any more. I wrote my husband love letters when he had rejected me completely. Do you know how humiliating it is to write a love letter to someone who has already declared they are leaving you for someone else? (God does, he wrote 66 books and still gets rejected--does he run and hide because He is afraid of the rejection--no because He knows what is best for His children is to come to know how much He loves them-and what is best for your wife is to come to know that you do love her so that you can save your family)
But writing love letters worked, because God told me to do it, and I obeyed. What is God telling you to do?
There were many moments when I did not think I could take anymore pain, and then I would think about what God wanted. He said in His Word that He only allowed divorce because of the hardness of our hearts. I did not want to be hard hearted, so I chose to stay, and pray. He has given us a new love for each other and it was worth it all to know that our grandchildren will be visiting Momma & Poppa at the same time (we are having our 1st grandchild this year).
I am currently reading the book, "Love and Respect" and know that it is helping me to learn how to treat my husband after the affair. I have a problem with respecting him because of his past choices. So, I am making a big effort to show respect whether I feel he deserves it or not. But, men need to show unconditional love for their wives, as scripture says, in order for them to be happy. So, in your case, you should spend a little time thinking about ways to show her that you truly love her.
Maybe write her a love letter, do something special for her. Discover her love language (from the book, The 5 love languages--you can take the test on line and ask her to take it
to determine which one she is--, just type in the name and sites will come up--one more way to show your really do love her, by wanting to know what her love language is) Some people feel loved when you give them gifts, some when you praise them, some when you touch them, some when you spend time with them, and others when you do something for them (clean the house, do laundry, etc). If you are not speaking her love language then you are never going to convince her that you love her. Don't just guess at this, this is one of the things that helped me be able to understand how to show my husband I did love him. My language is touch, and his-- is words of admonition or praise. When I wrote those love letters to him, he was being praised and he felt my love. If I had tried to touch him (because I would respond to that), he would have never experienced my love that way. So, give this a shot. It really helped us.
God bless all of your efforts. Do not neglect to pray. One other thought. Don't selfishly only pray for your own interests. Begin to pray for others. The bible says that Job was restored after he prayed for his friends. Find time to pray for others and see what God does for you.
I prayed this prayer for my husband and myself and our marriage every day. I began praying this way right after he announced his intentions to leave me. Nearly immediately he began to change and 4 months later he told me he was staying. I prayed that God would bind (attach) our minds to the mind of christ, and bind our will to the will of God, and bind
our actions to the fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self control)
There is so much that I could write to you, but, I just wanted to let you know that God is in the business of uniting families. Don't give up. There was the one thing that kept me and my husband together. I never stopped believing, and I never gave up hope. I did anything that I thought God wanted me to do, and I kept open to new ideas and God inspired me with new ways to show my love (and now respect) for him.
God Bless,
Clara
HEAVENLY FATHER, HALLOWED BE THY NAME. I PRAY FOR THIS BROTHER'S WIFE THAT HER HURT WILL FADE AWAY, MAY SHE FORGET ALL THE HEARTACHES AND SUFFERING THAT SHE WENT THROUGH. MAY SHE STILL FEEL THE LOVE THAT SHE ONCE HAD WITH HER HUSBAND. SAVE THIS MARRIAGE OH GOD AND LET IT BE RESTORED AT ITS FULL BLOSSOM. I ALSO PRAY FOR THIS BROTHER NOT TO BE TEMPTED ANYMORE WITH ANY OTHER WOMAN, GRANT HIM THE STRENGTH AND THE WILLPOWER NOT TO HURT HER HEART AGAIN AND HELP HIM TO KEEP HIS FAITH IN YOU FOR TRULY YOU ANSWER PRAYERS. HELP HIM NOT TO STOP PRAYING ABOUT THIS BECAUSE IT PAYS TO PRAY AND NOT TO GIVE UP. YOU ARE AN AWESOME GOD. I ASK THEE IN THE MOST PRECIOUS AND MIGHTY NAME OF MY LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, AMEN AND AMEN.