CV: Thank you...maybe you are right. I will wait to see what He has in store for me. Thanks.

P.S. Vino and Coffee, not nec. in that order, sounds great!

Thatsall- and Everyone

You said it below. This is exactly where I am at. As the BS all I can do daily and moment by moment is be filled with the Spirit so that I can continue to love my W as Christ loved the church and get out of the way and allow the Lord to move on her heart.

If I am not filled, then the enemy and destructive thoughts take over and can hinder the work that the Lord is accomplishing within my W.

We have all committed spiritual adultery against our Lord. He knows how we feel, how it affects our hearts. With idols, relationships, jobs, children, cars, money. How many times have we grieved the heart of God and hurt him. He does hurt you know when his children choose anything else but him. He wants our worship, our free will to love him back.

For me it us up to the Lord and my W's repentance to want the marriage to work. I pray that the spirit of the Lord woos her free will to choose Him first and then our marriage.


"But the catch is. She still has her free will. I trust that God will not give up on His pursuit of her. He will remind her of the good times, remind her of our love, give her feelings of guilt, shame, remorse, but ultimately the decision is hers. If God can't bring her back, then there certainly is no hope! Anyway, if God does bring her back, I have a huge responsibility, one that I'm not really confident that I can take on. One that I have failed at over and over. Thus the Christian suffering.

Being a Christian isn't church rock and happy songs. I have learned that is can be extremely painful and that suffering is par for the course. That is how God gets us. Is it any wonder that when we suffer, we turn to God and feel closer to him than ever? Who needs God when money is rolling in, work is good, wife is happy, kids are excelling?"

<small>[ September 21, 2004, 04:29 PM: Message edited by: kbatcher ]</small>

<small>[ September 21, 2004, 04:31 PM: Message edited by: kbatcher ]</small>

Something else that I find helpful. I was always taught to pray for my enemies. It is a very tough thing to do, but it helps forgiveness. Try praying for the OM or OW !!!! Tough thing to do but helpful.

So soon after she left, I asked God, why are you vengeful? Why are you punishing this family? The response I got was a resounding, "If I was a vengeful, spiteful God, would I have given my son to take away your sins?" It simply doesn't make sense. God is by nature, not spiteful, vengeful, wrathful or vindictive.

So with that knowledge, I knew that God had forgiven our sins and wanted us to stay married. I really can't accept that He doesn't want that, even if we choose to do otherwise.

Anyway, feelings of resentment, hopelessness, failure, infidelity, and all the others that the WS are feeling are obviously not grown from love and God. Since they are unGodly, it only makes sense that God would willingly dispell those demons from our marriages. But we have to ask Him. I remember somewhere in scripture it says something to the effect that it only takes one believing spouse in a marriage.....

So, I have asked every prayerful person I know, and I pray it consistently, that God dispel those demons of resentment, hopelessness, fear, failure, infidelity.... from our marriage and that He replace it with the Holy Spirit. I pray that he gives my wife clarity and restores her hope. I plead with Him that she does not have the wherewithall to even have free will until she is released of those demons. I pray to the Lord that he continually pursues her as she lets those evils back into our lives and that He restores her and shows Himself to her.

I admit that is sounds insane. But my belief is that God is all powerful, all caring, and all compassionate. He wants his children to enjoy marriage, that is why He made it.

I learned that if I turn my marriage over to God and I am truelly willing to accept the outcome, He will work miracles that all reason and logic defy. He will guide me to do what is right, but I have to listen to Him, not the voice of despair, jealousy and hopelessness whose only desire is the destruction of this marriage.

It sounds absolutely crazy, I know.

But try the prayer. Do you think that God would be angry at us for asking Him to take over and make a difference?

Thatsall-

Great post and great reminder. There is much truth in what you said and that we should constantly be listening to the Holy Spirit as to the situation and how to specifically pray for our WW.

Thanks Brother