“I can’t imagine my life without my bride.” A powerful testimony of a broken marriage restored.
We thank our Father in Heaven who loves us with an everlasting love and whose loving kindness is able to triumph over weakness, in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.
Before the Holy Spirit moved upon my life, my time as a husband and father was very misguided. When I compare who I was, to who the Lord has transformed me into, it is clear to see that God is not only living and active, but loving and merciful beyond human comprehension. When I entered into the union of marriage to my wife, I was unenthusiastic about life and didn’t care to foster a relationship where love could grow. My spouse was just another thing that I “acquired” along the way, in my journey through life. I took her for granted, which was no secret to her as I spent more time with the television than I did with her. This state of indifference lasted twenty three years.
My selfishness had no boundaries. It was all about me. I lived my life as though I were a bachelor with no responsibility to provide emotional support for my wife or my girls. In my stubbornness, I would fail to have meaningful conversations with my wife about responsibilities concerning bills, saving, or our financial state. I refused to be questioned because in my pride I believed that there was nothing I did not know. During our first ten years of marriage, I had a job in which my salary was solely based on commission. We never knew how much money was going to come in, but for the most part, it was never enough. My wife was always working where she could, just to make a few extra bucks. Our marriage, if you could call it that, was in all sorts of a mess. By the twenty-first year, my bitterness, resentment, anger and bad attitude was so out of control, only an act of God could have kept us together.
Upon attending United Faith Church, we both discovered that a loving God wanted to draw us both toward Himself. It was at United Faith Church that the Lord Jesus Christ began the process of showing me that my anger, resentment and pride were first against Him, and then against my family. During this process of restoration, we began marriage counseling with Pastor Jerry and Pastor Janeth Santiago at United Faith Church and my true feelings on marriage were exposed. It was here that I voiced my belief that a happy marriage was impossible. I could not have been more wrong! Praise the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth! Through much prayer and with the counsel of the word of God, these feelings were eradicated and replaced with the hope of what could be.
Today, I can’t imagine my life without my bride. “My” journey through life has been translated into “our” journey through life. My past attitude of indifference has turned into a blazing fire of zeal, with which I seek the will of God for our marriage and family. The fire within me also burns for all those who are not aware that there is new life in Jesus Christ to find him. New life is just waiting to be activated by calling on His name and learning all about Him in the bible. To Jesus Christ be all the Glory. Amen.
To learn more about the one and only true Bride and who she is, read The Bride of Christ – United Faith Church Barnegat. For information on marriage ministries go to Discipleship Ministries United Faith Church.