Marriage. Two Christian lives blessed and living as one… however, when things go wrong you are looking at a Christian divorce. This is a diary OF a Christian Divorce. It is hardly even acknowledged, let alone caring, godly shepherding to help and support in such a situation. But what if there was caring, godly shepherding to help and support ..?
Introduction
A diary of desertion and despair whilst holding onto faith, hope and God’s love.
The publication of this diary was 30 years in the making. And yet it wasn’t.
I never imagined I would share it with anyone at all. My closest friends didn’t even know it existed for years. How could I share the thoughts of these dark times?
All this time I’ve sadly heard of Christian couples separating, divorcing and leaving their local Church and perhaps turned their back on any Church and/or their Lord.
I don’t think there is anything like this diary out there. Who in their right mind would publish? But, all this time there has been a constant prompting, a nagging that it needs to be done.
I don’t know how it will be received.
I pray, though, that it will be of at least 3 uses.
The first, that it may encourage those who are going through a separation/divorce that God is Faithfull. He is the 'God of yesterday, today and forever'. This Lord is the one who has experienced the ultimate suffering and understands. He is there. As they say today, ‘trust the system’.
The Church is where God is as well. Don’t forget that we are in Christ but we are not all perfect yet. Sometimes, we need to share and ask for help.
People do not always behave how we expect; maybe you are going through or have gone through a separation/divorce and you know this first hand.
However others behave, God is still the same. Hold on. Keep praying and reading, learning and growing.
The second thing I pray for is, for those of families and Churches both, to offer a tiny insight into the suffering of this terrible and, often, un-asked-for, situation. You can make a difference by just being there for them and loving them without judgement as Christ has asked us to.
Thirdly, I’m sure this will start conversations, gentle ones, I hope.
We are all brothers and sisters in Christ and must not turn our back on each other. It’s a learning process for everyone, but, sadly, a lesson learnt all too slowly.
There are help books for all sorts of situations faced by the Christian today (and in the past) but reading help is very thin on the ground for this heart-breaking situation. If there is such material, it lacks experience and compassion and, for those going through these dark waters, is felt like another stick over the head when all things seem to be beating down on them.
It isn’t a novel, so read it for what it is and pray through it that you will either receive a small encouragement to hold on to our Dear Lord and Saviour or your will be prompted by the Spirit to reach out and help someone you know is suffering in such circumstances.
