NOTE:
I told you God would find me a job, and He did! It is a great job, close to my children’s school, with wonderful co-workers, and a fulfilling ministry to hurting families. The only drawback is that it is commission based, so it is a daily walk of faith: asking God for sales, and trusting that somehow at the end of two weeks, He will have provided enough sales to provide for my family. So far, though I’m still in training, He has been faithful to do that, and I don’t expect that He will let me down. When I’m tempted to worry, I remind myself of what David said in the Psalms: “I have been young, and now I’m old, but I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.”
As a result of the job-change, however, I have less time to write, and as some of you have noticed, I have been unable to keep up with the weekly dose of hope. I know I have some topics I need to continue, and I’m working on them, but until I can get them ready, I am going to begin sharing excerpts of my book. Today, I’m sharing the introduction. Feedback is appreciated. My prayer is that you will be encouraged…
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!”
All of us dream of the day we will hear that proclamation over us, as we enter our Master’s presence, don’t we? We live our lives in dedication to hearing Jesus declare us a “good and faithful servant”. But now, we find ourselves in hopelessness and confusion, where we never thought we’d find ourselves, and that dream seems to be slipping into the realm of the impossible.
After all, we’ve failed.
We tried so hard to be a submissive wife and godly mother. We’ve endured mistreatment, misunderstanding, and pain for years, taking it all with the gentleness and patience that a Christian woman should. But somehow, we’ve still fallen short. We’re afraid to speak out about what is going on in our homes, so we continue to suffer. In silence.
After all, it would be wrong to speak ill of our husbands.
But we are coming to the end of our strength. We are clinging to our sanity moment by moment now, afraid that we won’t be able to hold on much longer. We have too little energy to see to the needs of our families, much less, our own needs. We can feel our marriage and our family falling apart, despite our best efforts at holding them together, and we feel defeated.
After all, everyone knows that if a marriage falls apart, it is because the wife fell short of submitting like she should.
We try to hide behind our silence, protecting the one who is hurting us so deeply, knowing deep down that if we could just be the godly wife God intended for us to be, our husband would rise up and become the husband and father that God wants him to be. So it really isn’t his fault – It’s ours.
Have you felt that desperation? As everything slips from your grasp, about to shatter into a thousand pieces? I’ve felt it, too. Have you felt that fear when you think about your children? Have you wondered how they’ll navigate the nightmare of a broken family?
I want to come alongside you, as one who has walked this dark, seemingly-hopeless path ahead of you, and give you a ray of hope to cling to – no, more than that. I want to bring you into the most beautiful of places, and help you to see how you can also experience the comfort, peace, and rest that I’ve found.
That may feel impossible to you right now.
If you are trembling there in the darkness and confusion, on the brink of losing your sanity; if you are crying out for wisdom, strength, and even for your next breath; if you are shrinking back from the light, feeling that somehow you deserved this, let me assure you — God sees you and He has not forgotten you.
My marriage was difficult from day one. This book will share snapshots from my life, but this book is not about my marriage, but about Him. It is not about my life, but His, given for me that I might live. It is not even about abuse, though that plays a large part in the story of my life – it’s about God, who loves you and me too much to leave us in our place of suffering. He loves us too much to leave us tattered and broken in the gutter of life’s streets, and He loves us too much to leave us in hopelessness and despair. He wants to bring hope and healing, freedom and faith, rest and redemption.
He, too, is longing for the day, when He will declare over you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!” But what if I told you that some of that joy can be experienced even before that day?
Cristo vive salva sana y restaura no te partes de el porque un día no muy lejano tendrás tu milagro amén.