When we’re discouraged or tempted to give up as we stand for the restoration of our marriages and families, testimonies like we’ve seen play out in the life of one of our FAM Fellowship members over the past year is a great source of encouragement to all of us and gives us hope and inspiration as it reminds us of what we’re really standing for and how to do it!

Easter weekend 2007 (not even a year ago yet), Diane and I spent a great deal of time pouring over the details of the settlement proposal her husband had just given her as part of the divorce process he had recently initiated. As it always is, that was a very difficult and emotional process, but Diane was determined to do what she knew she had to do, which was to cooperate to whatever extent she could with her husband, while relying totally on God to do what only He could do and turn her husband’s heart back to her and bring him home. As we ran through the numbers and made all sorts of calculations, it was pretty obvious that Diane’s husband hadn’t really given that much thought to the financial consequences of the decisions he had made, because he was already struggling, and abiding by the terms he had proposed was bound to make things even worse for both of them. But we did our best to understand it all and to identify the issues she needed more clarification about; mostly because certain things weren’t spelled out. So she made a list of questions for clarification, just reminding her husband that they had to be sure it was clear since they would have to live with the agreement after the divorce was final. When they met to go over the agreement, he seemed surprised that she was being so agreeable and surprised by some of her questions and the issues they brought to his attention. To make a long story short, less than two weeks later, her husband asked to go out to eat together and she said he just kept staring at her like he didn’t even know her; of course, he didn’t, because God had made her a NEW creation! Then shortly after that, he called her early one morning and asked her to meet him for breakfast, and the first words out of his mouth was that she didn’t need to “worry about those papers”! And then soon after that, he had to move at the same time he was going out of town, so asked to temporarily store his furniture in their garage until he returned and moved to another rental. Well, that didn’t last long either, because before the end of May, he was home!

Of course, that was just the beginning of their restoration process, and they’ve had ups and downs during that time, but Diane has remained faithful to the Lord and continued to stand on the power and promise of His Word for her heart’s desire, and God has been ever so faithful to bless and reward her faithfulness and trust in Him! To that end, this past Easter, she and her family traveled to visit her family some eight hours away, right along with the family dog! And they had a wonderful time and her husband was no longer uncomfortable in that setting and truly enjoyed the trip along with everyone else. And in addition to that, they are both very excited about plans they’re now making for their future, which includes selling their current home and building a house on their lakefront property. Diane is giving up her home business in a few months and her husband is retiring and they’re looking into other part time income opportunities as they plan to travel and just enjoy their lives together! It sure has been a wonderful blessing to see the many ways God has been steadily at work to fully and completely restore their love, affection, admiration and respect for each other, and how He’s even been healing and restoring other family relationships as well! God just doesn’t do ANYTHING half way, and when we stand firm on the power and promise of His Word and are faithful to praise God for all things in all circumstances, we can expect to see Him do the same work of restoration in our lives too!

This powerful restored marriage testimony has always been, and continues to be, a great example of one of the most important lessons for all of us as we stand for the restoration of our marriages, which Jesus taught in Luke 6:46-49 as follows:
The Wise and Foolish Builders
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
And Diane’s testimony has certainly proven and shown all of us what it really means to walk out Proverbs 3:5-6, which says Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. And we’re certainly seeing God faithfully uphold and honor His awesome promise in Psalm 37:4-6 in her life; because it declares Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

I have no doubt that the Lord continues to bless and reward Diane so wonderfully BECAUSE she continues to faithfully serve Him and to live for His glory; not just accepting God’s miracle of marriage restoration as a matter of her own happiness and joy; but making sure to always use the Word of her testimony for the Lord’s glory and to overcome the works of the devil in the lives of others. Despite being blessed to witness marriage restoration in the lives of many of our members, Diane is the most faithful and consistent member of the FAM Fellowship when it comes to responding to the praises and prayer requests of other members and she always shares words of hope, encouragement, support and sound biblical guidance with other fellowship members. And she constantly and persistently encourages everyone to stay positive and to continually praise the Lord and hold onto His Word. We all love the promise that God is not a respector of persons and that what He does for one, He will do for all; BUT we can’t expect Him to do what He has done for Diane if we’re not also DOING what Diane has done in terms of putting her complete faith and trust in Him and never ceasing to praise Him and putting His Word into practice in her daily life. But just as we have absolute proof of in this awesome testimony and those of others, against all earthly odds, WHEN we DO things God’s way, we WILL get HIS results! So let’s consider and meditate on the above passages of scripture and how to practice them in our lives, because we can rely on God’s promise that we will be blessed and encouraged when we practice His Word!

Posted Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 3:36 pm in Seeds Of Faith.