Every Wed. we are to pray and fast for one another. Every Weds we can check in and let everyone know we have prayed for the group. Prayer does mighty things and group prayer is even better.

Right now I am doing "Experiencing God Day by Day" and Lupolady is doing "Power of a Praying Wife" for the ladies. You can use this as your prayer or have your own or combine them.

I think it will be great to see how God works in our lives and heals our marriages and us.

If you want to pray with us I will be more than happy to add your name to the list below.

Prayer Warriors who are praying and being prayed for: cajunky,Ezra, Willgetthruthis, Godisincontrol, Natasha79, JohnC, c++_guy, Wallace, relady, steadfast and committed, morriggs,lupolady, stillwaiting, Broken Hearted, PasDeDeux, hopeful_person,GinnyF, Not peachy in Ga, cry2much,SNL,LostAgain(Dave&April), Dodger, gloriachu, LoveNcare,JMF,WEN, NiteHawk, Absurd, LetSTry,AgainsttheWind,cemmerson, getting better,kellidiane,Terrified, BeeLee,idostylin, Resilient, thiscantbehappening, day by day, Jloves, broken x3, Sue with Hope, sunrise1, shepette, Malc, Faithfulwife, timbo-e,Angelia,FeelingAllAlone,broken_joe,dopey,awake,truly a friend, Is it to late, stilltryingtosaveit, landslide,GODBLESSU,vega,LoyalWarrior,janna-m-r,ferbie,epiphOny,simmy

Prayers Answered: Lupolady(air conditioner),Steadfastandcommitted(first string again),cry2much(sucessful surgery), Movingonwithlife(Wife coming home),WGTT(accepted into mentor program), betrayed and desparate (sucessful cancer surgery),Againstthewind(Got job), Free ( Marriage Restoration begun ), cajunky (wife not engaged & did something with family, told me she loved me), Stillwaiting(neice is o.k.), Stillwaiting(Got to see her husband for 2 hours and his heart seems to have softened), Steadfastandcommitted (wife gave up other man and said steadfast is stuck with her. God showed her the change was for real in steadfast),janna-m-r (Husband came home and wants to try to restore marriage even though he is the BS), tsc (marriage being restored)

Love in Christ
Cajunky

From Rejoice Ministries. I got this in my e-mail.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">TRUST YOUR LORD GOD!

"O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you."
Psalm 84:12

Do you really trust God? If you really trusted God, would you not
believe that He knows what is best for you, your family and your
future? I know how you hurt, how you feel, how lonely you are, how
much fear you feel regarding your future, how from your standpoint or
many others--it is impossible for your spouse to come home. BUT
remember, God can move ANY mountain of circumstances, at ANY TIME!
He has a plan for your future. You must TRUST HIM!

Trust means to put one's confidence in someone. Put your faith, hope
and confidence in your Lord God. Do not put all your trust in your
friends, pastor or counselor to know how to solve all your problems.
Learn to trust your Best Friend, your Counselor, your Abba Father,
your Savior and Lord of your life.

Do you want to trust your future to your own will and way or God's
will and God's way? Many years ago, I was very afraid of God's will
and way. I can tell you now from the bottom of my heart, TRUST Him.
He will never fail you. He will never reject you. He will never leave
you alone. His way is the ONLY WAY! Your Lord God created you and
loves you. Trust Him. This may be the greatest and hardest lesson to
learn, but it will give you freedom and victory in your marriage
being restored!

"Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will
never let the righteous fall....But as for me, I trust in you."
Psalm 55:22,23b

"Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give
me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise
you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; forever. For great is your
love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the
grave." Psalm 86:11-13

Many of you have asked me how I trusted Bob after He returned. After
Bob married me, he had a job two hours away and he would drive home
for weekends for about three months. I knew things that he had done
previously, but I trusted my Lord, more than my husband. Think about
it, if God could change Bob's heart and mind to bring him by my office,
take me to lunch, get a marriage license and then go to our church to
get remarried, all in one afternoon, should I not trust my Lord for
everything? That is where your lack of faith, your doubt and unbelief
is destroying your faith and blocking answers to your prayers. You
must sell out to your Lord God's power, His mightiness, His strength,
His will and His way, put ALL your confidence IN HIM. He will deal
with Bob or with any other prodigal, if he was to do wrong. It is not
for you and me to handle. Allow God to deal with them!

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is
in him." Jeremiah 17:7

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in
me." John 14:1

Today tell the Lord you will trust Him completely! Let go and let God
show you His power and His way! He will never fail you, but what
blessings you will receive for trusting only in your Lord God, not
man! Let me ask you. Are you trusting God to restore your marriage?
Your Lord God and the Holy Spirit is the only one that can really fix
all your marriage problems. Trust Him totally!

</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Love in Christ
cajunky

ex-wife moving to Alaska...the still denied affair seems to be going strong. I am tired. I have been alone for a long time. I am losing energy for this. Being the betrayed spouse and being punished by all this loneliness is too much to handle much longer. I spent my 20's alone, taking care of 3 very sick people in my family, now the 2cnd half of my thirties are being spent alone. Progress has to be FAST or I may have to pack it in and move on.

Pray for me,
Andy

I posted this in another thread </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">

Last night in my prayer time, I heard God saying to me -
"What about the prodigal son? Didn't I welcome him with open arms?" No way was my first thought. Then it came to me that God may be using me as a life line from WH to God. The word lifeline kept comming to mind. Finally, I remembered that shortly after dday, I had a dream about WH. He was just about to drown in the bay near where we live. The water was really choppy and the winds blowing. I was on the shore throwing out a life saver with a rope on it shouting "Take the rope, take the rope" WH was struggling and would go under then come back up. There were others on the beach with me, some from my prayer group, the others "real friends" of WH. They were shouting too - take the rope. I woke up so I never knew if WH took the rope.

My feeling is that I am to offer him a hand. It's really wierd feeling, like something is happening. I don't know what though. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">cajunky That email was what I needed to read tonight, thanks for posting it.

Blessings,

D.

From "Experiencing God Day by Day" by Henry Blackaby.

BITTERNESS

Hebrews 12:15 - Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble.

Bitterness has a tenacious way of taking root deep within the soul and resisting all efforts to weed it out. Bitterness occurs for many reasons . It might come from deep hurts you received as a child, hurts you cannot forget. Time, rather than diminishing the hurt, only seems to sharpen the pain. Bitterness can result from the hurtful words of a friend or coworker. Often the person who hurt you is unaware of the extent of your bitterness. You find yourself rehearsing the offense over and over again, each time driving the root of bitterness deeper within your soul. Bitterness can derive from a sense of being unjustly treated.

Bitterness is easy to justify. You can get so used to a bitter heart that you are even comfortable with it, but it will dstroy you. Only God is fully aware of its destructive potential. There is nothing so deeply embedded in your heart that God's grace cannot reach down and remove it. No area in your life is so painful that God's grace cannot bring total healing. No offense committed against you is so heinous that God's love cannot enable you to forgive.

When you allow bitterness to grow in your life, you reject the grace of God that can free you. If you are honest befroe God, you will admit the bitterness and allow God to forgive you. Bitterness enslaves you, but God is prepared to remove your bitterness and replace it with His peace and joy.

Remember to pray for your own marriages as well as everyone elses.

Love in Christ
cajunky

I had lost my sheet with the A,B,C's of standing but I found it so I will continue with it.

G- Go to church. Find a local body of believers where you can grow and serve the Lord. Each of us are given spiritual gifts. What are yours? Use your spiritual gifts where you go to church and help others. (This is where you can invest your tithe into God's work). Marriage ministries will give support , but they should not replace the local church. 1 Corinthians 12:24-27, Malachi 3:8-12

H- Pray that you will be filled with the Holy Spirit including your spouse, your children, your loved ones and any other prodigals. We need the Holy Spirit to have power from on high as Jesus instrusted His disciples. John 14:25-26, John 16: 8,13, Acts 1:4-5,7-8, Acts 2:38-39

Oh boy! I have to be honest with you'all. My stbxH has been a REAL jerk lately, thinking of himself but not caring one little bit about the children or their well-being or care. It HURTS them because they are teenagers and they know what's up and what he's doing (a little)--and they can also tell when he cancels out on them or just doesn't care about something that hurts them. It's so SAD...I weep for the harm that is being done to my children!

Yet, you won't believe this, but God keeps smacking me on the head wanting me to pray for him!! Can you IMAGINE! (haha <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="images/icons/tongue.gif" /> ) My first prayers for him were more like, "God, I'm praying for [HIM] like you said. Please do something with him and fix him! Thank you for hearing my prayer--amen." Haha! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="images/icons/tongue.gif" /> heehee. Don't you love me?? I do.

But as time went on, I came to realize that God does not only want my prayers and obedience--He actually wants me to be KIND to him when he is MEAN to me! To show him LOVE when he has been HATEFUL! OY--you've GOT to be kidding me!!!!!! Then we had the old battle of the somewhat stubborn, partially hardened heart....

Remember my post a little while back about hardening my heart? At the time, I kind of WANTED to harden my heart and be just as mean and spiteful as he was being, but I received some wise advice and took it to heart: (1)resolve is not the same as hardening your heart; (2)don't provide additional opportunities to be hurt, but don't become hardened either; and (3)pray for him. Oh boy--there it was again! I can't escape it.

So I have reached a decision to give MY heart to God and ask Him for the willingness to pray for my H. I can't think of any other way to deal with this, because I know it's what God wants, but don't want to pray for a man who is hurting me all the time. I need to give my heart to God for protection...He can protect it. I need to give my heart to God for softening...He can make my heart soft and pliant. I need to give my heart to God for willingness and obedience...He MADE my heart and He can give me willingness and obedience.

AARRGGHH!.

Okay, here's a stab at it:

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, creator of my lost husband [M]. You have made it clear that it's Your will that I pray for him, but oh Lord--You've been watching! He has hurt me like no other person could possibly do because I loved him and now that's gone. He chose others and ripped my heart to shreds and then drove over it with a Mack Truck! This feels like a burden that's too heavy. How am I supposed to pray for a man who has cast me and my dear children aside as waste?

I know, I know. Just do it.

Okay, Howard, I pray for the very soul of my H. I am sure that this is hurting him in his own way, so I pray that You comfort him and sending ministering angels to soothe his fear, hurt, and loneliness. Please send him smiles and joy today; dry his tears. Provide for him and keep him safe--even from himself. Use Your spirit and others in his life to bring him to You; save His soul however You can. Give him the character to fight the temptations that come along, and bring real love into his life.

(sobbing big tears)

Amen.

cajunky, I came on tonight just emotionally exhausted to post a prayer request for some peace at heart as my D proceeds relentlessly under the pressure of my WH. My finances are completely drained and if I don't offer some sort of martial settlement proposal for him and his attorney, he will just sit back and watch me go "down for the third time", even though it will make things difficult for him as well.

I never wanted this, but I have felt all along that God allowed me to find out about him and this other woman(women) to protect me. I can't change my WH's heart, only God can and I need the strength to let go EVERY DAY and LET GOD. I have to protect myself and my daughter and I find myself getting bitter and resentful. Then, I come on here and read the posts from Rejoice Ministries and the passage from Hebrews about bitterness. And there is God, talking to me.

Thank you. I will do my best to proceed with caution to protect myself, yet leave every door and window open for the Lord to work through. I will do my best to remain upbeat and loving. Even when it gets thrown back at me. I do ask for prayer so that I have the strength to do this. My prayers will be with all of you.

Pray for us. Court tomorrow. I am saddened beyond words. Pray for lifting of financial burdens,peace for my soul and for God to wrap His loving arms around son and I.

And for peace, peace peace. We are asking for a restraining order also so that I will not be hurt so deeply by his actions and behaviors that are controlling and unrelenting. He is still emotionally abusive.

I did the best I could and fought hard for my marriage and can say sadly that despite my doing my best, it isn't to happen, reconciliation. And he is so far from God now, admitting somewhat in IM tonight that he is seeing both OW. He said in IM "we never were a family." I cried and cried after that. But my son and I are a family whether he wants to see tha or not. And he can lie and deny all he wants but it is not true.

Think the evil one is really up to some baaaaad stuff down here. Like the song, The Devil Went Down to GA--Lookin' for a soul to steal. Pray hard.

court begins at 9 am eastern time. Pray for my attorneys also to have wisdom and for the judge to be able to hear the silent voice of God and for justice for my child and I.

Thanks to all of you, cajunky, wgtt, cj, broken. I'm writing to ask for your prayers.

Tomorrow I meet with my attorney for the first time and will probably go ahead and hire him. This means that the divorce is proceeding. For the past year, I've sent my WH money and paid his rent and he's left me alone.

I got a bill today from the hospital showing that he was in the emergency room at the end of February and had a follow-up appointment in March. Don't know why. At the end of this month, he has his trial date for violating the restraining order and other charges stemming from breaking into my house. His life is clearly a mess, but if he's true to form, he'll try to turn all the blame on me.

I know this going in and need to prepare myself. I didn't want the divorce, though I'm filing and pursuing it. I didn't want him to destroy his life with drugs and alcohol, but it's not my decision. Sending him money to leave me alone has given me time to heal, but I know I'm only postponing the inevitable and supporting his unhealthy lifestyle. I've been dreading confronting him, but I finally feel ready.

I'm asking for prayers for God's will to be done in my life and my H's life. I've tried to let go of bitterness and resentment. I hope I'll be able to maintain healthy boundaries whether he tries to charm me or goad me into a fight.

I remember cajunky describing his divorce as the end of the old sick marriage and that's the way I see it. I don't know if it's the end of our relationship. That's up to God.

Like broken said, God has little by little revealed a lot more deception and betrayal to me over the past year that I wasn't able to face during my marriage. Not only can I now see my own LB's toward my H, but I can see the pattern of denial that I learned in childhood, which prevented me from seeing the truth and taking care of myself.

I have learned so much from this process, I can almost say I feel grateful. I've gotten so much from all of you here at MB and, especially, I'm in awe of the faith displayed weekly here on this thread. It's been an inspiration to me.

I need to put in a plug here for Al-Anon, which has also helped me develop spiritual fortitude. My life is so much better now than it was, I can't begin to thank God enough, for speaking to me through all of you at MB, and my friends in Al-Anon.

I am asking for alot of prayer.
My marriage is slipping back and no longer a 'we' thing.
Please pray for us.
I will continue to pray for all of those here.

I am praying for all who posted here and even those who don't but lurk here.

INTERESTING ----

I just got off the phone with WH & he told me that he had gone to Church last Friday night with the guy who was going to buy our business, but didn't. WH said it was pretty interesting & he would tell me later. WH let me know that the guy he went with was going to call me. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" /> ???

WH is allowing the Lord to move on him ..........

Also found out today that WH & OW2 are having problems <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="images/icons/tongue.gif" /> That there were credit cards run up and disagreements <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="images/icons/tongue.gif" /> So mine weren't the only ones! Gee, I am so shocked that they are having problems.

Blessings,

D.

<small>[ April 02, 2003, 02:58 PM: Message edited by: WillGetThruThis ]</small>

Ditto what broken and Let's Try have said

Boy, is it just me or does it seem like there are 2 or 3 of us here (more like 4 or 5) who have addicted spouses who are refusing to help themselves and choosing to continue in their addictions?? None of us WANTED to divorce our spouses, we each loved them and desperately wanted them to face their addictions, but not one of them will.

Well, I am praying for everyone--especially you my sister prayer warriors who are in the same boat as I am!

Since we are all in a rather bummed out mood, I thought I'd lighten our thread with a prayer joke. Thought you'd get a kick outta this:

* * * *
GOD'S VOICE MAIL

Most of us have now learned to live with voice mail as a necessary part of our lives. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if God decided to install voice mail?

Imagine praying and hearing the following:

"Thank you for calling heaven.

For English press 1
For Spanish press 2
For all other languages, press 3

Please select one of the following options:

Press 1 for request
Press 2 for thanksgiving
Press 3 for complaints
Press 4 for all others

I am sorry, all our Angels and Saints are busy helping other sinners right now. However, your
prayer is important to us and we will answer it in the order it was received. Please stay on the
line.

If you would like to speak to:
God, press 1
Jesus, press 2
Holy spirit, press 3

To find a loved one that has been assigned to heaven press 5, then enter his social security #
followed by the pound sign.

(If you receive a negative response, please hang up and dial area code 666)

For reservations to heaven, please enter JOHN followed by the numbers, 316.

For answers to nagging questions about dinosaurs, life and other planets, please wait until you arrive in heaven for the specifics.

Our computers show that you have already been prayed for today, please hang up and call again
tomorrow.

The office is now closed for the weekend to observe a religious holiday.

If you are calling after hours and need emergency assistance, please contact your local pastor.

Thank you and have a heavenly day."

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

cj, VERY CLEVER! I loved it! And thanks for pointing out that, yes, we've all been prayed for today already - God gives us each day our daily bread...

I, too, noticed, that those of us struggling the hardest all seem to have been beating our heads against the wall with spouses who don't want to acknowledge or deal with their addiction problems.

I lived through 8 years of active addiction then two years of sobriety before marrying my H. Then we struggled with my step-son's addictions (he's now serving an 18 mo. sentence in prison for drug-related crimes, though the drug charges were dropped), and took in my H's sister's two kids due to her and her H's problems with addiction. Then I got diagnosed with breast cancer, had a mastectomy, chemo, radiation, and reconstructive surgery.

I thought I'd paid my dues and would be rewarded with a "till death do us part" marriage, but God clearly has something else in store for me...

At least you've reassured me that my questions about dinosaurs and life on other planets will be answered, eventually...

I have prayed for all of you, and for your (x)spouses. I hope the Lord works on each of our hearts and holds our hands through these dark, uncertain times.

I have felt so bad today. It is going on month 8 since I've had any contact with my stbxh..not counting the divorce petition I recieved at the end of Feb. (LA law..if you've been seperated 180 days, he can have a nearly auto-divorce). So many things I am stressing about...my skin disease, my wieght, my excessivly non-exsistant finances and growing/uncertain costs/bills...esp after this divorce thing heats up. (he's paying for my truck and insurance rt now...and I have medical insurance thru him..which I need thanks to the skin disease). I need to find a ft job at nights so I can continue going to school to finish my degree...and I need quite a bit of money to afford school. I feel like no matter what I do, it isn;t going to cut it. And here I am, just did my tax returns, and my solo income was so low that I only get back $40, where my stbx is getting around 6k back. He makes lots of money each month, and he gets school for free. And I just know he didn;t wait a second before replacing me with a string of sex buddies. He hasn;t been on his fav. personal site in 2 months now...which leads me to believe he's found someone --and I refuse to presently allow myself to feel the immense pain that senerio wells up inside of me.

Sorry, all---not trying to hijack the thread. Just, anyone who is willing to pray for me, please do so.

I have decided that, although justified, I was too judgemental in our marriage, and I have been trying to work on that and become more compassionate. I recently "adopted" two marines I heard about from my parent's bible study class to write letters to and let them know that my thoughts and love are with them. It may be wierd, but maybe -just maybe- my letters will help them feel a little less scared. I perfumed them and kissed the backs with lipstick <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> ok..so maybe I am a little flirt.

Well, thanks everyone..I will continue to pray for everyone on this board--as well as your familes and spouses. Keep your heads up. My thoughts are with each of you as well.