There is hope for your marriage.

If your marriage is on the rocks you might not find it easy to believe. You may not feel it. You may not even want it right now. But it’s true.

There truly is hope for your marriage.

Let’s just get one thing straight right from the start.

Divorce Is not okay with God.

Unless you are in the very, very small section of people for whom divorce is necessary for self preservation, you are not going to be receiving a “get out of marriage free card” from your heavenly Father.

I have heard Christian people who are getting a divorce say something like this:

“God understands my situation and I don’t believe that he wants me to be so unhappy.” God does understand your situation. He is God after all. And of course he does not want you to be unhappy. But He knows something that you don’t know.

Divorce isn’t going to make you happy.

“Yeah, but I am in that very, very small section of people.”

Note: Physical & extreme emotional abuse is not part of God’s plan for marriage. If you are living in fear of your spouse, you need help now. This booklet is not for you. Make an appointment to talk to your Pastor today. Don’t wait.

God created man and woman and He ordained marriage.

In Genesis Chapter 2 it says that man and woman will be joined together and united as one.

Did you know that the Bible tells us that God Himself witnessed your marriage vows? It says so in Malachi Chapter 2.

“But I was married before I became a Christian, it doesn’t count!”

I’m willing to bet that this applies even to marriage vows spoken in parks and in courthouses between unbelievers. God was God before you accepted Him after all.

Unless we are saved when we are very young, we do come to God with a lot of baggage. We have some repenting to do and some old habits to shed, we even have some relationships that will probably need to be dropped, but our spouses are not on that list. Whether you realized it or not, when you got married, you did not just enter into a vow with your spouse. You entered into a vow with Almighty God. *

You may not have married God’s first choice for you. You were living life outside of His will altogether so that can’t be any surprise to you now. But first choice or not—you are married. And God just isn’t in the Divorce business.

He is in the Redemption business!

What you bring to the Father now belongs to the Father. And that includes your marriage. Just as He has redeemed you from sin, He will redeem your marriage from the failure that it is heading for.

Just trust Him.

*Remember, this is for the Christian Couple who is considering divorce. It is not meant to brow beat a divorcee. If you are already divorced, skip this booklet and go directly to the Mercy and Grace of your Heavenly Father.

Let's meet three couples
 

Fred & Tina’s Marriage. Fred & Tina were married right out of high school. There were so in love. They had the biggest plans. Fred was going to be a rock musician. Tina was going to model hands for lotion ads. Sound silly? Hey, remember when you were eighteen? Within a couple years it was clear that hand modeling wasn’t as wide a field as Tina had hoped and she ended up working as a telephone solicitor. Fred’s band broke up as all of the other guys got married and had kids. He went to work in a food processing plant. Two kids later Fred and Tina were facing financial difficulty. No need for details, most of us know how it goes. Tina no longer feels secure and wonders if Fred still loves her. Fred wonders if Tina resents him for not making very good money. Fred is staying out a lot and is drinking too much. Tina is spending more and more time with her single girl friends. Both secretly wonder if there is someone else out there that they would be more happy with. A friend of Tina’s invited her to come to a ladies bible study and she accepts. She enjoys the friendships she makes there and starts to attend church on Sunday morning with the kids. Tina walks the aisle up the alter one morning when her heart feels like it will come out of her chest if she doesn’t. She accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and begins a new life. She joins the church and gets her children involved. She invites Fred again and again until he shouts at her to leave him alone. It breaks her heart that he doesn’t see how much it all means to her.

 

Larry & Lynnette’s Marriage   Larry & Lynette were getting close to their ten year anniversary. Larry had been raised in a church but hadn’t attended since he graduated from high school and left for college. Lynette had accepted Christ while at camp when she was sixteen years old and while she prayed and even read her bible now and then, she hadn’t given church attendance much thought. Larry & Lynette had been seeing a marriage counselor. It wasn’t that they couldn’t stand each other, it was more that they were bored with each other. Lynette spent more time dreaming about her romance novel heroes than she did thinking about her real life husband most days. And Larry had recently started picking up adult magazines again—something he had promised he was done with years ago. They had even brought up the possibility of separation but promised the marriage counselor to give it six months before they made any decisions.

 

Abe & Sheree’s Marriage Abe and Sheree met in church. Abe had grown up in the church and Sheree had begun to attend with her newly saved parents when she came home from college. She wasn’t sure what she thought about God but she sure liked Abe so she continued to come. Before Abe popped the big question, he had another to ask. “Sheree, do you love Jesus?” Sheree had been in church long enough by this time to know the language and she definitely loved Abe so she said yes to make him happy. Attending church on Sunday was no big hassle and she enjoyed the friendships that they had made with other couples well enough. One year and one white wedding later, Abe and Sheree were man and wife. Abe had a good job and Sheree worked part time until she gave birth to their first child. Everything was wonderful and no one could have expected what would come next. Abe and Sheree woke up to find their three week old daughter was not breathing. Sheree had never heard of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome before this and she didn’t know what to do with the terrible pain in her heart as they buried their precious baby girl. She found it hard to get out of bed every day. Abe was grieving as well, but he was seeking solace from family and friends at church. Sheree just didn’t want to hear it anymore. How was it supposed to make her feel better to think that her baby girl was in Heaven? She wanted to have her in her arms again. She started to avoid church gatherings. As time went by Abe went back to work and it was obvious that he was healing. He tried to pull Sheree with him to events at church but she was increasingly sharp with him about it. Abe observed her growing bitterness with sadness and prayed for her often. He just couldn’t understand why Sheree could not find comfort in knowing that they would see their little girl again someday. Sheree pulled back emotionally from Abe, resenting his devotion to God for the first time. She began to make negative comments about his faith and finally in a moment of heated emotions she came right out and said that she didn’t believe in God. She never had. Abe was shattered. Sheree packed a bag and went to her parents. The next day she told him she wanted a divorce.

There is Hope for Your Marriage Continued