Tag: divorce

Now I am blessed with a wonderful marriage with a great guy who hates being interrupted and never leaves the house.  (This has the wonderful benefit of meaning that though he may get caught up in a project he is hardly likely to leave me.:))  On the other hand I have several friends who are in various stages of dealing with divorce and lots of other stuff, none of whom chose divorce or the other stuff,  all had it thrust upon them.  Some made poor decisions that helped to get them where they are but all of them love the Lord and tried their best to glorify God where they ended up.  Most of them have unbelieving spouses who have chosen to do things their own way.   All have children.  My heart aches for each of them.

I spent some time today wandering around my jungle of a garden, full of weeds and chosen plants, thinking about the heartache and murmured prayers and what Christ can possibly be doing in all of these situations.  You see I know that God uses ALL things for the good of those who love Him. But sometimes it can be hard to believe.

I know that God is using this to show His power and truth and will use this to glorify His name, but it is so hard to stand by and watch these beautiful sisters in Christ struggle and hurt.

And yet, I am seeing each of these beautiful women bloom in ways they have never done before.  I am seeing them put down firm roots in Christ, drawing their strength and nourishment from Him alone.

I am seeing them grow taller and stronger in Him than I have ever seen them before.  Seeing this changes my prayer from , “Lord, make their path easy,” to “Lord, strengthen them to endure, give them wisdom and your perfect peace.”

Seeing them grow in such adversity, seeing them thrive even, is amazing.  Knowing the fruit that will be born from this horrible thing, from this brokenness, gives me hope.

I know that God is using this to show His power and truth and will use this to glorify His name.

Seeing so many fighting to survive the same thing at one time reminds me that we are in a battle, not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against evil personified.  It gives me hope knowing that they are not alone, that we are at war  and that we, as Christians, are in it together.

Seeing them draw strength out of Christ reminds me to stand strong on His promises, to remember our freedom in Christ.

No more are we bound by our environment.  No more are we trapped in our pasts.  No more need we be afraid of our future.  Christ has set us free and therefore we are free indeed.

All this thinking reminded me of the girl in the story of the red dancing shoes.  Her own sin bound her up and in the story she was never set free.  But we are free in Christ, and He is using ALL that happens to us and around us to grow us.  He has taken off those red shoes and given us our freedom to dance for His glory.  I think of each of these women, at whatever stage they are in, and imagine them dancing freely for His glory.  Free of struggle, free of hurt, free of worry.  God is in control and He has set us free.