We all like to know how a story ends. Yes, we may enjoy the drama and suspense for awhile, but at some point, we want to know how it all turned out.
In my writings, including blog posts, but particularly in my book, Fighting for Your Marriage while Separated, I include snippets of stories – a paragraph here and there of someone in the middle of crisis. Usually it’s because at the time of writing, the story still wasn’t finished. I didn’t know the ending because God was still in the process of doing His work.
In “End of the Story,” I want to share some of those endings. I don’t know about you, but I love seeing what God does with our circumstances. I love seeing how He turns things around for our good and His glory when we love God and are called according to His purposes. Even when they don’t necessarily turn out the way we wanted, it’s surprising to see the good God brings into our lives when we are surrendered to Him.
So in this place, you can find some of those endings.
A SEVEN YEAR TURN-AROUND
Last Christmas my heart rejoiced when I saw a picture of a couple who’d been separated for SEVEN YEARS now smiling TOGETHER for their Christmas picture!
How I remembered the emails from her, the tears, the questions, the wondering “if” “ever.” “Will he ever want to get back together?” “Will he ever love me again?” It was a tumultuous seven years of separation before a “yes” clearly broke through the questioning and confusion.
She is Marcella, one of the women mentioned in the Letting Go chapter of Fighting for Your Marriage while Separated. She is the one who said “letting go” had helped her in dealing with the problems in her marriage. Her marriage had still not been restored at that point. She still had struggles, doubts, and mixed messages from her husband that kept her from seeing the final outcome. But she was more at peace as God lead her one step at a time on her difficult journey.
But today, her story has a happy ending. Letting go and pressing on with God gave her back her marriage. It also was a witness to her children and a testimony of faith she shares with others.
Last Christmas as I saw their smiling faces, my heart danced and sang praises to God. It had been nine years since that first heartbreaking conversation with her. And that happy picture confirmed the end of the story. . . a solidly happy one. A praise-God-for miracles-and-restored-marriages one. God is our miracle working God who loves happy endings and restored marriages.
In her words, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) was the foundation of turning my marriage around. I am thankful I was able to allow God to guide me though this because I couldn’t have done it without Him. It’s all God. My husband and I now know God is our foundation and we know our marriage is restored because our marriage is built on God.”
IT ONLY TAKES ONE
The first story I want to begin with is a popular blog post I know many of you have read. It Only Takes One To Begin the Reconciliation of a Marriage.
This story begins with an encounter with my friend who reported to me in tears that her son-in-law had decided to divorce her daughter. Although she thought everything was hopeless and there was nothing she could do, I assured her that one person who wants to save the marriage has a good chance of doing so.
So what happened? Did her son-in-law get the divorce?
The short answer is, “No, he didn’t.”
The long answer is a little more nuanced.
My friend (I’ll call her Sandy) didn’t know how to approach the problems with her daughter, who was now separated from her husband. As a result, Sandy and her husband decided to seek Christian counseling for themselves to get advice on how to get through it. Sandy knew she was a control freak and was afraid of interfering.
Soon afterwards her husband started having conversations with his son-in-law. They went on walks and talked about what was going on. At first Ron wanted a quick divorce and was not interested in reconciling. On one of their walks, her husband said to Ron, “Is there any reason to rush into this?” He knew his daughter had issues. In fact, he knew they both had issues.
Meanwhile, Sandy had some one-on-one conversations with her daughter.
When Ron encountered a difficult situation and turned to Melanie for emotional support, he began to realize he had issues too—some from his background.
Deciding to trust God with their circumstances, Ron and Melanie began counseling. Several months after their initial breakup, they got back together as a family. They are continuing to work hard on their individual issues through counseling. Their issues haven’t gone away at this point, but they realize now there is hope if they seek help.
