Heartaches at Christmas

Dear Sheryl: 
My dad and my sister haven't spoke to each other for seven months, and it's breaking our family bond. He says that she cannot enter his house anymore, and she is not welcome for the holidays. I pray that my sister will apologize and that my father will forgive her and let her spend the holidays with us. Every year, there's always a conflict going on in my family during the holiday season. I've lost hope for having a great end of the year due to my family's problems. Hopefully, God will bring our family back together, and we'll have a great bond with no arguing or issues. All I want is God to send a kind heart to my sister and dad so they can speak again and love each other with no issues. I hope, too, that my other sister doesn't bring another conflict in the house. I just want a great holiday. It's not to much to ask.

Dear Rebecka:
No, your heart's desire for a healed family is not too much to ask! Thank you for reaching out to me and trusting me with your heartache, Rebecka. I don't normally share letters from hurting people who find this blog. But I thought yours might help others who share similar circumstances. Christmas can be such a difficult and painful time of year, especially when families like yours (and mine, too) are fractured. Sometimes all we can do is pray for those we love and live as joyfully unto God as we can. That sounds so lame, but it's true. We are powerless to change other people. 

In answer to your letter, Rebecka, I pray in the precious name of Jesus that God touches your wounded family and that your father and sister reconcile and find peace. I also lift up all the many hurting people on this blog's Prayer List and Special Requests and ask in His Son's name that God bless and strengthen each and every one of you. My heart breaks for the multitude of broken bonds that affect so many families in our society. It seems that estrangement is becoming more and more common.

Rebecka, here's a Bible blessing that I found just for you: May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in Him, so that your hope fill continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Christmas blessings to you, dear friend. You and your family are in my prayers.

With love, sheryl

What if.........

This past week, I received a letter from a hurting mother in South Africa. Her son has turned against her, and her heart is broken. Would I pray for her? 

Thank you for reaching out to me across the miles and trusting me with your pain, I wrote back. Yes, I will pray for you, your family, and your son. It seems that Satan is breaking up so many families these days, near and far. That's part of his plan in his war against God.  

It's true, you know. Satan HATES God with a mighty vengeance, and one crafty way to battle against Him is to shake and destroy the very foundation of the people who love and worship Him–the family. I have witnessed that within my own life and in the lives of those around me. I've read about the ongoing destruction in the painful stories that come in emails from wounded people, mostly women, who find this blog. I am touched, humbled, and honored every time someone reaches out to me. Yes, I will pray for you, I tell each one.

If only we would restore to God. As a nation. As a people. 

For a moment, I'd like to play the What If game. 

What if....

Men everywhere gave their hearts and lives completely to God. What if they put Him first in every way. What if, in their marriages and every facet of their lives, they lived unto God, read His Word, and led their families as true men of God. What if they cherished their wives, treated them gently with words of love, compassion, and understanding, no matter what, and respected them as women and human beings. What if they loved their wives with an unconditional love that mirrors the kind of love that God has for each of us. What if they shunned the ways of the world, such as pornography, alcohol, drugs, affairs, and other temptations. What if they loved their children with all their hearts and raised them with firm yet gentle discipline. What if they set the example of how Godly, loving husbands, fathers, and men are to live. 

Oh, yes, they'd still make mistakes. They wouldn't be perfect by any means. Their marriages would still be rocky at times. They'd be unhappy. So would their wives. But their mutual love, respect, and commitment would ward off destruction of their bond.

If that were the case, if men gave their hearts to God and loved their wives as God intended, then wives would feel that love and respond back. Their children would see their parents' love and feel secure within their family circle. They would grow and flourish, then transition from childhood into adulthood, and begin their own lives, choose their own mates.

Sounds too naive, too pie-in-the-sky, right?

But just think about it and play What If with me.

If more marriages were rooted in God's ways, then there'd be far fewer divorces AND FEWER HURTING PEOPLE WOUNDED BY THE PAIN OF SPLIT MARRIAGES.

I speak from my own experience and from observing the pain of others I know and from those who have written to me via this blog.

God knew what He was doing when he set out His divine guidelines for marriage in Ephesians 5:21-33.

In my former life, I was often reminded that "wives must submit themselves completely to their husbands...." If I called myself a Christian, he'd ask me, then why didn't I abide by that commandment? But what he didn't get and didn't do was the huge part about "husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it."

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if he'd lived his life as a true man of God, then I believe our marriage would have remained intact. Our children wouldn't have been deeply scarred by a divorce. Nor would we have been wounded as well. 

Don't get me wrong–I definitely wasn't perfect myself. 

These are not easy words to write. 

But they are true.

My What if fantasizing doesn't include all cases of estrangement. By no means at all! There are many exceptions. Like the South African woman who wrote me this week. Her son has turned against his family's traditional ways and broken her heart by refusing to speak to her. I understand there are very different circumstances everywhere. But still, fundamentally, I stand by my What if thoughts. 

Perhaps your thoughts are different. Or perhaps they're much the same. Either way, if you are here, reading this blog, then you are hurting in some way. And my heart goes out to you, dear friend. Please give your pain to God and ask Him for strength, wisdom and guidance. The wounds of divorce run deep and never completely go away. They ripple out and impact the coming years, though in less painful ways.

I am very, very happy now with my new husband, who  loves and cherishes me as God does. My son and daughter are finding their own way and happiness in their lives. I hope and pray very much that you do, too.   
  

Dear B.

Happy birthday today! I'm thinking of you! Before noon, I tried calling your house to tell you that (we haven't spoken in such a long, long time),  but no one answered, and I wasn't able to leave a message.

B., I wish so much that things were different. That we could have a relationship and build memories. Please know that there's nothing I can do to change that. I tried, and it's out of my control.

In the meantime, you're growing up! You've got such a bright future ahead, B. I hear about your accomplishments now and then. Good for you! I'm so proud of you!

This is short. Maybe you'll read this. Maybe you won't. But I had to try in some kind of way to reach out. To tell you that I love you, that I think of you so often, and that I wish you a very happy, happy birthday.

With love, me