We’ve been praying for the couples mentioned in the comments on Friday – about 150 of them! It’s both sobering and encouraging to know that each name has been lifted up before our Heavenly Father, in the specific area of their marriages. We know He is infinitely involved when we ask in prayer, and He is intimately aware of each and every situation. Our God is a God of miracles, and we are going to stand with you, believing that He will rekindle lost love, stir each heart and strengthen every commitment.
We love the testimony of Kim V., who said this:
I praise God for what He has done in my own marriage. We have been married for 14 years and during years 7 & 8, we almost fell apart. Praise God we didn’t!!!! We found a Christian counselor and we each began a journey back to putting God first in our lives. I firmly believe that, in a marriage, the closer you get to God the closer you get to each other. Last weekend, my husband actually shared part of his testimony about this hard time in our marriage with a group of about 75 men at a weekend retreat and I pray he was able to show some of those guys that you can overcome what seems impossible as long as you put God first.
And Juli shared this:
In 2002 my husband and I stood facing a divorce and my unwilling heart to stay. I wanted to bolt on a marriage that had slowly eroded to nothing but two people living separate lives. (I will add . . . we had the face of “the perfect family”, every Sunday at church) Once we “got real” with some of our church leadership, we had a circle of prayer warriors that never ceased to wrap our marriage up in fervent prayer.
Today, my husband and I stand together teaching God’s redemptive power over any marriage that is near destruction. We speak God’s truth about what marriage really means biblically to those preparing for marriage. We love on others showing them everything can be redeemed – anyone, and any relationship. We sit with other couples over coffee (or ice cream) and encourage and passionately purpose to stand shoulder to shoulder with them thru their journey. We look for those who may be sitting in front of us or in back of us at church. We pray diligently for restoration thru Jesus Christ for any marriage that is eroding. Thank you for this prayer chain. Marriages face a thief, a liar, a destroyer – and his name is Satan. He makes our selfishness sound justified. His game of keeping us so busy – forgetting to make our relationship with Christ and our spouse – is a “relationship wrecking ball”. Powerful, diligent prayer (and a good DATE NIGHT at least twice a month) is the counter attack, so here we go!!! Look for those around you – ask God to reveal who may need your encouragement and prayer and he will open our eyes wide open to those who need restoration. Again, thank you for this blog entry it is very close to my heart. IN HIM – Juli
Karen said:
There IS hope! Just want to offer up some hope from someone that has been there. In October of 2008 my husband had to spend time in jail due to actions he made that came out of an addiction he hadn’t completely given over to God during our nine years of marriage. God knew that time in jail was the only way to restore him and our marriage. We were separated for 45 days and during that time God worked on us mightily. He restored what the enemy meant to destroy.
I just want to encourage all of you with broken marriages – God can and does restore. He is still doing miracles – BELIEVE 🙂
One of the best things we can do to fortify our faith is to rejoice in the testimonies of answered prayer. We’ll be talking about how God has restored marriages later this week, and we’d love to hear more stories. Stay tuned.
Until then, commenter Gail said something that captures what we can do for one another as sisters in Christ – and what happens when we do:
I posted my own request earlier, but checked back to pray for the whole list of requests, and as I prayed through each one, I began to feel strengthened myself! I feel already a new sense of commitment, a fresh wave of desire for my own marriage, and renewed love!
Amen, sisters.
Let’s keep praying!
