[PraiseNews] Praise Report

[Ministry]

I know this is super LONG but I didn't know how else to
condense it. I already took out a lot of details but I want
people to know that NOTHING is impossible with God. I always
wanted more details when I was first beginning my stand so I
thought I might try to do what some of the testimonies I
read in the past did not.  I don't want to shame my husband
but some of the details are very relevant.

   Standing for my marriage is not easy, I have cried,
screamed and kicked along the way, but it has turned out to
be the best thing to happen to my relationship with my
Heavenly Father. I am at peace now and I know that anything
that happens in my life God can make good.

My husband has been home for one month and we have been
rebuilding our relationship and family. The road to
restoration has been long and winding. We had not been
married long when he was tempted to adultery and left me for
the other woman immediately. I was just entering the second
trimester in my pregnancy and we were approaching our first
wedding anniversary. I felt like I was dying. I lost all
hope and felt miserable. Most of all I was angry about being
pregnant. I look back on that now and see that God knows
exactly what he is doing. If I had not been pregnant, I
would have been able to file for divorce immediately and not
look back but in my state divorce is not allowed until the
child is born. So I was forced to wait.

  In that season of waiting, I reestablished my relationship
with God. I began to pray for the simple things at first,
like the strength and desire to eat properly and take care
of the child I was carrying because I was so depressed
eating was the last thing on my mind. I lost 15 pounds the
month he left. Praise the Lord, I had a few to spare so it
did not hurt the baby. Then, I began praying for for the
pain to go away, but I realized that the pain would go when
I was able to forgive, holding on the anger and hate was
only hurting me. The people causing that pain were not
thinking about me and I refused to let them have that kind
of power over my mind. So, I turned my prayers to forgiving
my husband and the other woman.

Slowly the Holy Spirit began to reveal things to me. First,
I felt compelled to put my wedding ring back on. Next, I
began to think on marriage restoration, a term I had never
heard before. Then, I was led to many marriage ministry
websites. As I ordered materials and began to study His word
on marriage, I felt more and more convicted that this was
what I was to do. I began my stand officially in March, I
had no contact with my husband for almost the entire
separation (one really rude phone call in February doesn't
count, right?), and suddenly in August the phone call came.

I had been receiving messages for the weeks before this
phone call from the Lord. He had sent me confirmation by two
or three means that I was closer than I thought. So when I
got the call I was ecstatic. My husband wanted to meet me
and talk. He let me decide if I wanted to bring our baby, he
didn't force anything. Within three days of that meeting we
were back together.  Little did I know that this would be
another year of testing my faith. It was the most miserable
year, I kept praying and fasting and trusting the Lord, to
no avail. I kept thinking God, I know that this is what I
wanted and I was miserable without my spouse but I would
rather be alone than in bad company. I kept waiting and
praying but finally, after a few days of fasting and
praying, I knew it was too much and I asked my husband to
leave.

When I asked him to leave, I felt at peace and knew that the
Lord would protect me and provide for me and all my fears
were gone. I trusted HIM completely and went about getting
used to life with God being all I needed. Within the first
week I knew God was not going to let off the hook that easy.
I decided to be obedient but I didn't like it. I knew
that if God wanted this marriage restored there was nothing
I could do about it. I kept getting confirmation in many
ways that my marriage was not over yet. My prayers changed,
instead of praying for all the other things I used to pray,
I only prayed for his salvation and his soul. Restoration
was NOT my focus. I didn't even think I wanted my marriage
restored. First,this separation was very different my
husband called on a regular basis to say hello and he
confessed after about a month out of the house that he did
not want a divorce. Praise the Lord!  He kept calling, then
asked to see me, offered to buy things that he thought I
needed, etc. etc. Finally, about a month after he declared
he did not want a divorce, he showed up  on my doorstep
unannounced with his belongings and asked to come home.
Declaring that he made a commitment to me and God and he
intended to honor that commitment, he missed me and his
child and he would do whatever he needed to do to help me
through the rebuilding of our relationship.

Praise God! So far, my husband has honored everything he
said that day. I wake up everyday with gratitude and love in
my heart. I thought I had stopped loving him and was ready
to move on and in an instant God changed my heart the same
way he is changing my husband's. I have made many mistakes
along the way but I have learned from all of them. God has
shown me what I need to work on and HE has shown up and
shown out in amazing ways. So now I am standing for my
marriage with my husband in the home. I thought the
separation was the hard part but after our year long false
start, I know that my prayers and stand are more important
now because the enemy is going to attack more now than ever.\
==
from "Jody-Beth"