God - Promise Keeper

God keeps his promises

After 26 years of marriage and having had 4 children the wrecking ball of divorce crashed into my marriage. I’m not going into details, except to describe my own challenges and how the Lord put me back together with the hope that this story will inspire those in the “pit of despair” to find strength and hope knowing the Shepherd of our Souls knows exactly where we all are and the good news is - there is a plan. He will not be defeated by our enemy, but, there’s always a but, the plan needs faith. Don’t worry we only need a mustard seed’s amount.

I went to see a lawyer and all though we ended up settling things ourselves in a non-contested divorce one bit of advice he gave me that’s valuable to pass on is to find a friend to weather the storms that are coming, you’ll need a shoulder to cry on, a restrainer to hold you back, a fighting coach, you get the picture.

Really there is only one foundation that can withstand this level of destruction and that is the God who calls you “friend”, Jesus. So, you need at least two friends, and earthly companion and our Heavenly one as well. It is of paramount importance to fortify yourself with daily, hourly reinforcement that comes through our physician God – Jesus Christ, for through him you can be redeemed, forgiven, and ultimately restored, maybe not to what you had, but something similar and just maybe a version of something better than the you that used to be. He saves the best wine for last.

I was 59 nine when my wife moved out. We had raised the children and homeschooled them on a small farm that provided an ideal location, I thought, to have a small goat dairy, our joint art studios, and an adventure land for the kids.

But when there is discontent it can fester and without marital devotion to each other and God, it can get away from you. I thought everything was percolating along just fine. There were stresses, mostly financial, an artist’s life is sacrificial, however, we never missed a meal, I worked more than one job and God met our needs.

Not having a mate when there used to be one has taken years to come to grips with and the scripture tells us the lord collects our tears…let’s just say I made frequent deposits. I’m more sensitive than most, being an artist, and the fact that I was given up on, as a mate, artist, and spiritual head on my family was too much to bear. So, I began after the second year of being divorced to try to reconnect mainly through dating apps. I went out a couple of times and with great alarm, I noticed there were no sparks of interest on my part and I began to believe that I was damaged beyond repair. I was severely damaged both physically, mentally, and soulfully, true, but not beyond the healing of Jehovah – Rafa, (the God who heals).

I pressed into the Lord by finding a smaller more personalized church, morning Bible studies and prayer, praise music in the studio, and even a midweek bible study. But no romantic sparks. “Is it true Lord, am I yesterday’s news, too damaged, maybe you don’t want me to complicate someone else’s life?” Then the Lord spoke to my spirit, he said, stop looking, when the time is right, I will present the woman I have made for you. She is going through her own refinement just as are you”.

So, the story of Arise My Beloved begins with its important subtitle, “Sojourning together into Kingdom Romance”. May it be a source of the reminder of God’s steadfast love and purpose. In Ephesians, chapter 2 verse 10 we are called God’s craftsmanship, in the Greek the word “Poesia” is used. As an artist, it resonates more with me that we are God’s poems created expressly for worship. When we are in this mode, we are the most aligned with his will for our lives.

Stayed tuned - pass along to anyone who needs encouragement