Thursday, February 18, 2010

Attempt to Heal the Marriage

Another suggestion as you evaluate your situation is to attempt to heal the marriage. You may have the biblical right to divorce, that is, your spouse was unfaithful or your unbelieving spouse left the marriage, but you don't have to divorce. God's first desire is that married people remain together. Before you make the quick decision to end the marriage, attempt to heal the marriage first.

Wallace and Linda decided to try and heal their marriage, and their decision resulted in eventual reconciliation. They share what they learned through this difficult process:

"Many people try to do things through self-discipline," says Wallace, "but the ability to be restored into a full relationship with the Lord and with one another can only come through Christ. A lot of damaged people can continue to be damaged and go on and live damaged lives, but to be restored, it has to come from Christ. People will say to me that things will never be the same between Linda and me. That's true. They won't be the same, but they will be better. They will be better and better through Christ. My desire was to restore this relationship in the way God wanted."

Linda shares, "I had been dependent on Wallace to satisfy me, to make me happy, and to meet every need. But he couldn't. No person can. I finally realized that my whole dependence must be on the Lord. In our relationship today, our main dependence and focus is on the Lord and what He can do."

God offers each person a fresh start in life, regardless of past hurts and wrongs, through Him. We can follow His example by forgiving others who have hurt us, and we can accept His forgiveness as we seek to make amends in our relationships. Linda concludes, "He's forgiven us for everything we've ever done, so we can forgive each other through Him."

"God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins" (2 Corinthians 5:19 Msg).

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