LoveMyEx, you're my NEW Best Friend! LOL Thank you so much for that last post! Everything you said, I MEAN EVERYTHING, is exactly what has been in my heart this past year and a half. I know my husband has to be willing to change. I know I have, and I have become a better person because of it. Thank you so much! I will also keep you in my prayers, so God will continue to use you as a vessel to spread His words...you are doing a wonderful thing for the Kingdom of God!

God Bless You, and your ex....

Hey LMX,
That was a beautiful sermon and I know it was because you have been obedient and let the Holy Spirit speak thru you. Who knows how many people that ministered to! The word is " Annointed ". Your post proves why we NEVER give up on someone. Sometimes OUR focus is on the other person and their " problem ", when really GOD"S focus is using the situation to change us!!! When something is changed permanantly, pressure must be applied. Pressure hurts. Sand into glass, woodchips into plywood, iron ore into steel, etc. And sometimes God has got to completely break the vase {us} and put it back on the potter's wheel and apply heavy pressure with His fingers to create a new vase that meets His approval. But then, how pleased He is with that vase and He sets it up on the mantle and lovingly displays His work! And He constantly is in relationship with that vase, he wipes it and He dusts it and He blesses it with beautiful flowers and gives it constant attention! He makes sure that everything around it enhances it.
God said that the GREATEST gift was love. Let me ask you this: If love has no forgiveness in it, is it really love at all?
God Bless
singleguy

Hi Amber,

I am truly glad that my post was able to speak to you... that God used me in that way. I could see that you truly seek the Lord, in both faith and obedience. I recognized many things you said as being things I too think/feel due to my Christian convictions re: marriage/divorce/remarriage. It's a narrow road for the most part, but I'd much rather be on the narrow road to life than the broad road to destruction. In the end, even if I never see my husband again, I will not regret my seeking after reconciliation. I will not regret the prayers, the decision not to date, the tears, etc. It has all only brought me closer to God in many ways. It will do the same for you.

Yes, your husband has to be "willing" BUT so many times in the Bible, God changes a heart without the person's "willingness." God works in mysterious ways and some people change because they seek it and some change even when they don't. We do not know how He will work and when, but we can know that if we are praying and walking in obedience, He WILL hear our prayers and answer... how, when, where... we don't know... but we can have that "peace that passes understanding" knowing that He hears and answers the prayers of those who seek Him with all thier heart, mind, soul.

When Paul changed, I don't think he was "willing." Well, he was after he went blind!! But that blindness was from GOD! Had God not blinded him, I doubt he would've been willing. God will do whatever it takes to make someone willing. I see it time and time again in the Bible. He changes hearts and minds for His good purposes.

I have you on my prayer list and have prayed and will continue too.

God bless you, and keep your eyes focused on Jesus. He will guide you and help you. It will not be easy and you may at times stand alone, but God is always with you.

I am praying for you.

Hi Singleguy,

Thanks for the encouragement. I am trying hard to be obedient. I try to be discerning too. I know that some places in here, I need to hold my tongue because what God would have me say would not be received. THe Bible says that we are able to comfort others with the comfort we have been given and we are able to do so because we have been through the same things. I am thankful that I am now able to minister to others (esp. women) who are in a place where I too have been. Before my divorce, I never knew what to say to someone in a bad marriage or going through a divorce. And I don't think I would have ever thought about encouraging them to reconcile. But God has shown me alot through my own divorce experience, and for that, I am thankful. It is often through the fire that we learn and are refined... even when sometimes that fire was brought about by our own wrongdoing.

Your words were very good and uplifting. In a world where divorce is easy and an "answer" to a bad marriage and where people give up on people calling them "hopeless" and where finding a new spouse is "better" than working things out with an old spouse... it is always good for my heart to see that there are still Christian Believers who see hope and restoration. Honestly, I don't know who Christ is if He is not the God of hope and restoration!

<small>[ September 29, 2003, 01:56 AM: Message edited by: LoveMyEx ]</small>

To both Amber and Singleguy...

A story I want to share with you to touch you.

My wedding date is March 23. I have a friend who collects Beanie Babies for her children. She has TONS!! I've never seen so many! Well, my husband and I lived in a state far away from my homestate (where my Beanie friend lives). After visiting her one summer, the summer prior to the year I divorced (last year), she mailed me my wedding Beanie Baby. She knew that the marriage was difficult, but she did not know that we were divorcing.

Well, the day that my husband made an appt. with a lawyer to file divorce papers, I received this package from my friend. I was not expecting it, and I opened it as I drove to the lawyer's office (following my husband in his car). Her note said, "Lovemyex, Look at your wedding day Beanie." (For the longest time, when I'd tell people this, I'd get so choked up).

Here I was, on my way to a lawyer because my husband wanted to divorce me (it was a terrible, terrible day), and I looked at the Beanie she'd sent me (and this friend had never mailed me anything other than an occassional letter... I truly believe God must've put it on her heart to send this to me).

Of all things, it is a little bear on its knees, with its eyes closed, and hands clasped. It is praying! But there's more! I opened the little tag with its name and it says "March 23" (my wedding day) and its name is "Hope."

So, on my way to a divorce lawyer, I open a package to find a praying bear with a tag that says, "March 23... HOPE."

Wow....

(It still sits by my bed... a constant reminder.)

Sometimes, the Lord ministers to us in such unusual, unexpected ways...

God bless!

Hi Ambermh,

I pray all the best for you and your ex!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

Faith, hope, and love. And the greatest
of these is Love.

Sent with Love, Ladysheep

Hey LMX,
It is always "special" to read your posts, because they come from the heart. I am glad God had your friend send the bear [Hope] on March 23rd. I think He was letting you know that His love for you was never ending and also if you wanted to talk, he was just a "knee" away. I know you have been thru so much and I know you would love to have everything back to "normal". But this life will not always be fair. We both know that. But God "will" walk thru the valley of what seems to be death with you. He promised it!!! Sometimes we don't realize that all we need is God until all that is left is God!!! He will make a way where there is no way. Jesus didn't die on the cross to abandon you, but to save you. Just start looking up instead of down just a little more often and soon that ray of HOPE, the dawning of a new season will shine down upon you. Not because I say so, but because it was promised to you by the one that made you. For I come to prosper you, to give you HOPE and a future!!!!
God Bless LMX
singleguy