How exciting it was to read a truly wonderful and totally God glorifying praise testimony posted on the private website today by one of our newer FAM Fellowship members. When he joined the fellowship about five weeks ago, he had done just about everything he could to virtually make the restoration of his marriage a total impossibility. He was headed for mediation in two days in divorce proceedings he had initiated and a custody hearing was scheduled for three days after that. Needless to say, his wife was very angry with him, because he had custody of their little ones and he was intent on keeping her from seeing them, and not at all inclined to make any kind of shared custody arrangements. But the following are excerpts from the praise report he posted after their mediation:
“We went through mediation today, and we were scheduled for a custody hearing in three days. But I have been fasting for almost three days now, and the results of the mediation were surprisingly positive. I found myself in the meeting repeatedly saying to myself “Just let go. Just let go.” and just staring out the window, while making one of the biggest decisions in my life. And suddenly a counter proposal idea popped into my head. I have to guard myself from reading too much into it and getting too excited, but my wife agreed to alternating weeks with the kids and agreed to reduce the child support during a time of temporary custody. And I’m so happy about that. One of the things I’ve been told is that we are to guard and cover our spouse’s nakedness; not unlike Noah’s encounter with one of his sons. And I had prayed and prayed for us not to “have to” go to the hearing, because we both would have ended up hurting each other and scarring the relationship so badly that it might be until I’m about 80 before we’d have a chance again. I have custody and was trying to figure out how to let my wife have access to the kids…. And the mediator told me that the main reason she was still so angry was because of the kids, so this gives her at least one reason to start letting go of the anger. Yay God! … I am so thankful for the site founder contacting me the other day; it was just in the nick of time. If she hadn’t done that, I would have gone ahead and pressed hard for full custody of the kids and would have ended up tarnishing my wife’s reputation so badly that it would probably never recover…and I know you’re all saying Amen!”

Naturally, I did my best to convince him to drop the divorce proceedings altogether; pointing out that what he was doing was totally inconsistent with someone seeking marriage restoration, and that he was in fact making the restoration of his marriage extremely unlikely. Even though he listened and obviously received a lot of what I shared in our first conversation and the two that followed the next day and just before the mediation meeting, he wasn’t quite ready to go that far; until the Lord went to work on him and convinced him otherwise! But a couple of weeks ago, he shared how the Lord put it on his heart to totally drop EVERYTHING in the courts, which he did IMMEDIATELY! And he’s shared many testimonies of how the Lord has proven faithful over the past weeks every time He’s prayed and sought His will and guidance through fasting. And even though it’s been a struggle, he has truly humbled himself before his wife and under the mighty hand of God; confirming the power and promise of 1 Peter 5:5-6, which says Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. And being ever true to His Word, the Lord is indeed lifting him up! And today, he posted an awesome praise testimony sharing how he has continued to pray and seek the Lord through fasting and how faithfully the Lord has blessed and rewarded his obedience. His wife has gone from previously barely even looking at him or speaking to him when they exchanged the kids to actually telling him this past weekend that she still loves him and that she will consider coming home, but that there are some things she wants him to work on before doing so (like anger management and control issues, which he agrees were all fair and reasonable requests)! What a HUGE and SUDDEN breakthrough…AND ALL BECAUSE OF HIS HUMILITY AND OBEDIENCE TO GOD, PARTICULARLY IN PRAYER AND FASTING!

As I read his testimony this afternoon, I was struck by how many of our “new” fellowship members have recently experienced dramatic changes in their relationships with their spouses, and I couldn’t help noting that there must be some reason, which I believe the Lord revealed to me. Just as the Parable of the Sower teaches, I believe it is their willingness and eagerness to DO what they’re learning about what God instructs us to do as we stand on the authority of His Word for the restoration of our marriages and families. They have been eagerly receiving the Word sown into their hearts and lives and it’s been falling on good ground and producing a great harvest (a href=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%204:1-20%20;&version=31;>Mark 4:1-20)!

Last Sunday, my pastor made a reference to a verse we have probably all read and heard countless times before; but somehow it just never registered the same way it did when I heard it again that time. James 4:17 says Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. And when I read this young man’s testimony today, I realized that we all too easily slide into a routine of NOT DOING what God’s Word tells us to do, and that is sin; which we are ALL guilty of. So as I pondered why so many “new” members are experiencing so many positive changes in their lives and in the restoration of their marriages and families, I remembered James 4:17 and realized that their love of the Lord has not grown cold and they have not become weary in well doing! Revelation 2:3-5 warns us about the danger of letting our love grow cold; it says You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Our new members who have seen the Lord moving so mightily on their behalf are doing the things we all did at first; they have a contagious zeal for the Lord and they eagerly soak up His Word like sponges. He consumes their hearts and thoughts and He is uppermost in their lives; they are putting Him first and seeing God’s supernatural power released to work in their marriages and lives! Yet, unlike the zeal and excitement that’s so obvious in the attitudes of some of our newest members, some of our members who have been around for a while have indeed become indifferent and weary in doing good, of which Galatians 6:9 says; Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. So perhaps those of us who have grown laps in doing the things we did in the beginning need to pray according to Psalm 51:12, which says Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. And we have to remember that when we know the good we aught to do and don’t do it, God sees that as sin, and sin ALWAYS separates us from God; so having good intentions just isn’t good enough for Him. And having good intentions doesn’t get the results we all desire and need for the restoration of our marriages, because the ONLY way to get God’s results is to Do THINGS GOD’S WAY, which means putting the WHOLE counsel of God’s Word into practice in our lives. And when we do, we will most definitely be blessed and encouraged and we will in due time see the restoration of our marriages and families!

Posted Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 7:57 pm in Seeds Of Faith.