Circumstances are coming against you… separation, divorce, finances… fear and worry are your constant companions. Where will I live? How will my children react to the ‘other person?’ How can I support my family and myself when we have separate living arrangements? How will I get through another day with the pain that I face?
If you are racked with fear and worry, let Christ comfort you with His Word…
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Matthew 6:25-27
Little faith results in big worries. When we worry, we are being disrespectful to God. We are telling God that He is not able to bring healing to our situation. We are telling God that He cannot meet our needs. We question God, “Why have you brought us out into this desert to die?” just as the Israelites did in the wilderness shortly after God delivered them from 430 years of slavery in Egypt.
Sometimes God uses the trials in our lives to test and strengthen our faith. God often uses trials to mold and shape us into the person He wants us to be. It is by faith that we are delivered from trials.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:1-5
Note what God promises when you exhibit faith in the midst of trials: peace, grace, perseverance, character, hope and love. “Hope will not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts.” It is through this love that you are strengthened to endure the suffering, loving the unlovable. God will equip you with everything you need to deal with your absent spouse. Through His love, you can “do everything in love.”
Can you see how God is equipping you for good works through your trials? By being broken and coming to God in faith, He in turn provides for your every need. He pours out His love on you, healing you of your brokenness. Through His love, dwelling within you, you, in turn, can love others.
Do not lose hope in the midst of your trials. Embrace your hardship and allow the Father to meet your every need. God is working in your life and the life of your spouse. Submit to the Father and let Him work in your circumstances.
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. Philippians 1:6
God does not call you to stand for the healing of your marriage without giving you the grace to carry it out. Ask God to give you abundant grace to stand, in unwavering faith, for the restoration of your marriage. God is pleased with your obedience and faithful trust. He will use you as a channel of His love if you but daily die to self and allow His love to flow through you.
God is at work in you… for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13
God is working in your life, transforming you into the man that He would have you to be and that your wife needs and desires. My prayer is that you will submit to His holy and perfect will and that He will shower His grace upon you and your family.
Let this be your constant prayer for your family:
Restore us, O God, make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. Psalm 80:3
God bless,
Dennis Wingfield
