Author Gail Gaymer Martin shares:
“I’d never thought of myself as a strong woman until I faced the
unthinkable—divorce. As a Christian woman, divorce is an action no one wants to
face, especially when you know what the Bible says and that it is scorned by
many faiths.
My former husband’s unfaithfulness was the cause of our divorce. We tried for
two years to keep the marriage together, but it failed, and I received divorce
papers from my husband. My world collapsed. I had never run a house alone. I’d
never worried about car repairs or dealing with house repairs that a home owner
must handle. I lay alone at night, tears rolling down my face while asking the
Lord to give me a sign that I would survive, that life would get better, that my
world hadn’t crumbled.
I didn’t receive a sign,but I received an answer. Life moved
on. I resolved repairs in my home by getting estimates, hiring people to do
repairs and to rebuild the porch. I learned how to do some small repairs myself.
I dealt with car repairs by asking men from work what did it mean when my car
went thump, bang, bump. They smiled, took my keys, started my car, and told me
what they thought. I went to the repair shop saying. “I think my belt is
slipping.” I had no idea if it was, but the repairman thought I knew something
about cars and I never got duped into replacing something not
needed.
I not only survived,I gained confidence, grew stronger and
realized that was the sign I’d needed all along. I could do anything with
confidence, planning and forethought. And besides that, the Lord led me on a
stranger journey to a divorced singles church event where I met
the sweetest man who valued his children, family and faith as much as I did. We
celebrated our twenty-eighth wedding anniversary last year.
Thanks for sharing, Gail. I'm sure your experience will encourage many women.
Follow me on Twitter @RitaSGalieh
Dennis Hirschfield shares.
"I was born into a Jewish family in a tough section of New York. Life consisted of street gangs, racial trouble and violence everywhere. As part of a racial minority I was often laughed at and challenged to fight.
My mother died when I was twelve years old. Up until then I believed in God, but then I stopped believing He existed, because how could a good God allow my mother whom I loved and needed to die?
I became wilder as the years went by with all the others from similar backgrounds in the concrete jungle. When I was 14 I carried a gun and wasn't afraid to use it. At age 18 I was drafted into the army and found myself in Vietnam. There I personally experienced the horrors of war. And when I returned home I was so disillusioned and uncertain about my future, I couldn't adjust to civilian life.
During the next ten years I took all kinds of drugs and alcohol to get something more from
my life...something lasting. I took in Eastern religions, mysticism, astral travel and others areas of the occult. The more I looked into these things, the more lost and confused I became. By that time I got married, but our mutual drug-taking and lack of communication and understanding of each other's needs caused our marriage to break down.I had lost everyone and everything that was dear to me without hope of getting them back.
A minister came around to my home and talked about Jesus Christ. But I really couldn't see how a man born and then died two thousand years ago could do anything for me. But after his last visit, there alone in the in a corner of my dark, lonely room, my heartache caused me to cry out to God. Then I remembered the minister telling me from the Bible that Jesus Christ was God's Son and the only way to God was though Him. I had nothing to lose so I prayed to receive Jesus into my life. I asked for forgiveness and felt a calmness that I had never experienced before in my whole life.
It took time for my problems to be sorted out, but my tensions and fear were gone and I knew God was working in my life. And a few weeks later, my wife and two children returned to me. It took time to patch up our marriage but God was there giving us the strength to get through. My wife also became a Christian and our marriage is better than it ever had been. We both gained our self-respect and our respect for each other and our love deepened.
Now I don't need to carry a weapon because we are in God's hands. Jesus Christ says 'I shall never leave you or forsake you.' And having my Saviour's promise of eternal life gives me encouragement and hope. The most important thing for me now is being able to have a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe, and the Source of unlimited wisdom, power, love, and happiness."
So who cares about you? Jesus Christ God's Son cares. He cared enough to give His life for us, and He rose from the dead and now lives in heaven at God's right hand. We can pray directly to Him and he will answer our prayers according to God's will.
