[Faith-talk] FW: [thefamilyoffaith] Girlfriends in God - February 6

Mon Feb 6 18:32:45 UTC 2012


Original Message: 
From: "thefamilyoffaith" <TheFamilyofFaith at tampabay.rr.com>
To: <thefamilyoffaith at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [thefamilyoffaith] Girlfriends in God - February 6
Date: 
Mon, 6 Feb 2012 05:24:53 -0500


           February 6, 2012

                                God Can Resurrect Your Marriage From the
Ashes

                                Part 1

                                Sharon Jaynes

                                Today's Truth

                                "Then he [God] said to me [Ezekiel],
"Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the
LORD!' This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make
breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you
and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in
you, and you will come to life.  Then you will know that I am the LORD,'"
(Ezekiel 37:4-6 NIV).

                                Friend to Friend

                                It was January 7, 2005 when a group of
friends gathered at Don and Jona's house to watch the Dr. Phil show. Jona
had written in to a contest that Good Housekeeping, in conjunction with Dr.
Phil, had on "life change." Of fifteen thousand applicants, Jona was the
grand prize winner! As the winner, Don and Jona were guests on the Dr. Phil
Show to tell their story. But I didn't need Dr. Phil to tell me the story,
I lived it with them. Let Jona and I share how we remember it ...

                                Don was twenty-seven-years old when Jona
first met him on a spring church beach retreat.  Immediately, she knew he
was exactly what she had always dreamed of in a husband. Don had a strong
faith in God, a good job, a college degree, drive, and dreams for the
future. He was physically fit, witty, adventurous, sexy, and "just plain
gorgeous." On top of that, he was constantly surrounded by women at the
retreat that were vying for his attention.

                                When they returned home, Jona could
hardly believe her good fortune when Don asked her to dinner. Don and Jona
dated only three months before he asked her to marry him, and on March 30,
1985, before the next spring beach retreat, they were husband and wife. 

                                Their first year of marriage was a
blissful blur of candlelight dinners, spontaneous lovemaking, and endless
conversation. The icing on the one-year anniversary cake was the purchase
of their first home. By their second anniversary, Don quit his job to start
his own business. Life was clicking along at a steady pace toward acquiring
the American Dream. By their fourth anniversary, Jona had their first child
and joined the ranks of "stay-at-home-mom." But, after twenty-four months
of Don's new business venture, the couple faced a second mortgage, a
dwindling bank account, and a looming cloud of debt. Jona was forced to go
back to work and seeds of discontentment, disrespect, and disenchantment
began to take root. 

                                "I was so mad at Don for the mistakes I
felt he had made," Jona explained. "Deep down, I wanted him to be God and
to fulfill all my needs. He made a poor God. When my mother died in 1993, I
sank into a clinical depression. I spent most of my time at home in bed.
And even though I had two children by this time, I withdrew from being a
mom, as well as being a wife. I then began to eat...and eat.  I went from
140 pounds to 240 pounds."

                                "Don and I had the perfect engagement, a
beautiful wedding, and a fantasy honeymoon. But when the obstacles came
along, I wasn't prepared to maneuver over, around, or through them.  I
thought, this is not the way the story goes. What happened to the fairy
tale?"  

                                "Don changed jobs about every other year,
however, he always provided for our needs. It just drove me crazy that he
couldn't stay put."

                                "I remember one day Don said, 'Why are
you eating and gaining all this weight?' I shot back, 'I'm doing this
because I don't want you to touch me. Besides, I can lose the weight if I
want to, but you'll always be a loser.' Little by little, word by word,
angry look by angry look, rejection by rejection; I began the process of
destroying my husband. Comments like 'You're so stupid,' 'duh,' and 'can't
you do anything right?' were constantly spewing from my mouth. I was in
pain and I wanted Don to be in pain too. One day, I made a list of all of
Don's faults. He found the list, but I didn't even care."

                                Jona always thought that since Don was a
Christian, he would never leave her. However, there came a point where he
could not take the emotional turmoil any longer. On May 6, 2001, Don left.
Jona had destroyed her marriage and her man. On January 31, 2003, the
divorce was final.

                                "A couple of months after our divorce, I
woke up to God's still small voice," Jona explained. "He seemed to say, 'Is
this what you wanted? Did you want a divorce? Do you want Don to marry
another woman and have your children torn between spending time in two
different households? Do you want to be alone? Were you the wife I called
you to be?'  Oh God," Jona cried, "What have I done?"

                                Now friends, the next part of the story
is what Dr. Phil did not tell you. God began working on Jona's heart. She
didn't change because of a self-help book or a ten step program, but
because of the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. Do you want to know what
really happened? Do you want to know what Dr. Phil did not tell his
viewers? Grab a cup of coffee and join me tomorrow for the rest of the
story.

                                Let's Pray

                                Dear LORD, help me be the woman my
husband needs for me to be. Help me to stop concentrating on his faults and
failures, but start looking at my own. Show me. Teach me. Empower me.  

                                In Jesus' Name, 

                                Amen.

                                Now It's Your Turn

                                I know Today's Truth seems like a strange
verse. It is! It is one of the strangest stories in the bible. Go back and
read Ezekiel chapter 37. If God can do that with a bunch of dry bones, just
think what He can do with your marriage! Your broken life! Your broken
dreams!

                                Do you see yourself in Jona?

                                Is God telling you there is something you
need to do differently in your marriage? In your relationships?

                                Let's chat, visit
www.facebook.com/sharonjaynes and tell me how one little change has made a
difference in one of your relationships. 

                                More from the Girlfriends

                                Today's devotion was taken from Sharon's
book, Becoming the Woman of His Dreams: Seven Qualities Every Man Longs
For. Sharon interviewed hundreds of men to see what they really wanted in
the woman of their dreams, and their answers are there for you to see!  If
you would like to have a husband who is sorry to leave home in the morning
and eager to return, then this book is for you! And if you know someone who
is struggling in her marriage, this would be a great gift.

                                Seeking God?  

                                Click here to find out more about 

                                how to have a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ.

                                Girlfriends in God

                                P.O. Box 725

                                Matthews, NC 28106

                                info at girlfriendsingod.com
                                 www.girlfriendsingod.com
                                 
                             
                        Explore Further

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