An anonymous woman in northern Illinois shared her personal experience of healing in her family. She was a new Christian, but her husband was dead-set against religious people. She wrote:
“When I met Christ, I was 49 years old and had been married to my husband for 17 years. We had two children and lived a quiet suburban life. We were comfortable and respected by our families. But I knew at that moment that everything about my life was going to change. And, if I was to be obedient and follow Christ, I could most definitely lose it all – my marriage, my life the way I knew it, my friends, my family.
“Becoming a Christian was new life for me – a joy and an answer to a life with no real meaning. But becoming a Christian also meant that there was a definite possibility that my husband would cease to love me. How could I know he would stay with me if I was so thoroughly a new person? How could I know that my husband, who was not a believer, would value his vows?
“I was extremely afraid. At times, I didn’t want to have this new life. Honestly, I didn’t think it was worth it – I wanted to give it back to God. I wanted to run the other way.”
She continued:
“Satan immediately began his work, bent on the destruction of our marriage. I cannot describe to you how swiftly he moved. He continued shaping and molding true hatred for the one thing my husband despised: ‘those religious types.’ I was now one of them.
“I weighed my devotion for Christ against my devotion to my kids and family. I asked whether a broken marriage with Christ was better than a marriage without Christ. But gradually, Christ’s words became my words, his love filled me and poured out of me, and I was able to love the man who called me his enemy. I found that I could love my husband with a resolve I had never before experienced.
“In the year and a half that has followed, many blessings have been bestowed upon my family. It may not be apparent to my husband, but our marriage is very different because of Christ. Christ is at the center and is shaping our partnership in a very new and distinctly Christian way.
“Additionally, my husband has changed dramatically from the man he was two years ago. He told me I should go ahead and attend church and gave me his blessing. My children began going to youth group, and now both of my children are worshiping with me weekly. And when I asked my husband if he would support my daughter and me to be a part of a missions trip to Mexico, he responded with, ‘We will make it happen.’
“I have entrusted my husband into Christ’s care. I am okay with that. I have learned many lessons in this past year and a half, but none so much as loving and trusting my Lord.”
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