I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
Jeremiah 32: 27
As I conclude my Thanksgiving series, I’m thankful that nothing is too hard for God, and I’m grateful God intervened so I would never have to be a divorced woman. I know that may sound strange to some readers but the thought of getting divorced when my husband left me was something I prayed would never happen. I certainly had biblical grounds for obtaining a divorce but I felt I was to stay committed to my marriage, regardless of what my husband had done.
My husband did file for divorce, but it was never meant to be. God intervened in the most amazing way. Below is a copy of an email I sent to the women at my church who had been praying for my marriage. It gives a detailed account of what happened when I traveled to Ohio for our divorce to be finalized. Following this interesting turn of events, the hearing was rescheduled a second time and got canceled again. The court date was reset a third time, and two weeks prior to the date, my husband texted me in the middle of the night and told me he contacted his lawyer and stopped the divorce because he needed time to think.
My attorney called me the next morning and said she received notice from my husband’s attorney that we had reconciled. Since we hadn’t reconciled, I just assumed his attorney misunderstood the turn of events. My husband said he never stated that we reconciled, but when the papers from the court arrived it stated the divorce was terminated because we had reconciled. I still have a copy of the paper to remind me of the mysterious ways God intervenes in our lives.
Email:
I would like to thank everyone who has been praying for me regarding my marriage and pending divorce. I traveled to Ohio this past weekend for our scheduled divorce settlement hearing. We were supposed to sign our final papers Monday morning at 10:00. The weekend was grueling for me emotionally. I was dreading walking into that court room on Monday. I had not seen my husband in almost 2-1/2 years since he left to live with his girlfriend in Ohio. I was wondering if she would be there. I felt like I was on an emotional roller coaster. I cried most of the weekend. I prayed God would stop the hearing, but it seemed hopeless. It was a day away, everything was going as planned, and I kept telling myself I had to accept that I was going to be driving back to Pennsylvania as a single woman after the court hearing.
I was reading 1 Samuel on Saturday morning and a verse stood out to me:
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” (1 Samuel 17:45)
I thought about how the other woman had called several months ago and screamed obscenities at me because I sent my husband a text message. When I told her I was praying for our family to be reconciled, she screamed, “Pray all you want, it won’t work.” There were other verbal attacks that I won’t elaborate on. The enemy was using her words as weapons to try and destroy my faith. I felt this was a spiritual battle from the beginning. Satan was waging war against my home, marriage, and family.
I continued to meditate on I Samuel 17: 45 throughout the weekend. Monday morning I took a piece of the hotel stationary out and wrote the verse on it. I folded it up and put it in my pocket. I was nervous and scared, but I kept thinking that I was going to face this difficult time in the name of the Lord Almighty. I kept repeating the verse as I finished getting ready. I felt strengthened and prepared as I drove the 30 minute commute to the city.
I was minutes from the court house when my cell phone rang. It was my attorney telling me there was a problem. The judge had canceled the hearing because we were all “no-shows.” They asked me to find a place to stop and wait until they called to see what was going on. They soon called back and said apparently there was a mix up with the time. The court had our hearing set for 8:30 AM, but all of our papers said 10:00 AM. The judge and the attorneys didn’t understand how the time got changed, as everything is computer generated and the time listed in the computer system was still 8:30 AM. Yet it printed on our copies as 10:00 AM. They said they had no explanation regarding how the time had printed differently and they never had that happen before. The judge refused to reschedule the hearing that day, because it would delay all the other hearings.
My husband called shortly after and we decided to meet and talk. We were able to spend about 30 minutes together. It went well. He hugged me several times and said he loved me. He said he just couldn’t bring himself to return home because of what he has done and the fear of facing everyone is more than he could ever take. He is a very prideful man and admitted he misses his family but knows he could never face friends and family again due to the humiliation. He said fear is the only thing keeping him away from home.
God intervened and stopped the hearing on Monday for a purpose. I don’t know if he is going to bring my husband home, or if it was just delayed so I would have that time alone with my husband to have some sort of closure. I do know it was divine intervention and for some reason it was not meant to happen that day. We were minutes away from signing our final divorce papers.
I ask you to please continue to pray for our marriage. At this time we are waiting for a new date to be set. It could be weeks or months depending on how backed up the court system is. I don’t know what God’s plans are, but I am praising him for this divine delay. Thanks again for your prayers! They are greatly appreciated.
Blessings, Joni
God is in control. As most of you know, there was never a happy ending to my marriage story. My husband died suddenly of a heart attack in a truck stop several years ago before we ever had a chance to reconcile. I’m not sure why things turned out the way they did, but God has a reason for all things. I have no regrets for honoring my marriage vows and standing by my husband.
I’m grateful God heard the cries and prayers of a woman who never wanted to be divorced. I keep a copy of the scripture verse I wrote on hotel stationary in my Bible as a reminder of the power of God’s work and his sovereignty over my life. Nothing is ever too hard for God.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34: 18
As I continue my series of thanksgiving posts, I am grateful for God’s promise to be near to the brokenhearted. What a comfort to know we never have to go through anything alone. This doesn’t mean sorrow is easy, but knowing he is near can help us endure the difficult times.
One of the most difficult things I ever went through was my mom’s unexpected death. She was only 55 years old and was healthy most of her life. She had a heart attack while sitting on the couch watching the news one evening in the spring of 1992.
I became a new Christian about a year prior to mom’s death. My husband got out of the Marines after 14 years and we had just moved back home and had our fourth child. I was far from home when my first three children were born. Trips home were infrequent. I was excited I was going to have more time to spend with mom and see her enjoying living near her grandchildren for the first time in 14 years.
My phone rang at 10:00 the night mom passed. It was dad telling me something was wrong with mom. As we followed the ambulance to the hospital, I prayed God would save mom’s life. As a new Christian, I trusted he was going to answer my prayers. I imagined walking into the ER and telling mom what a scare she gave us all. Instead, upon our arrival at the hospital, we were taken to a small room where the doctor told us mom had died of a massive heart attack.
I felt the life drain out of me. Mom was my best friend, and I couldn’t imagine life without her. Suddenly, the arrival of spring didn’t seem like much to celebrate. My baby girl had just started to walk and I was planning to surprise mom the next time we visited. The plans I had to spend more time with mom and see her enjoying her grandchildren were erased in one sentence spoken by a doctor I didn’t know.
What happened over the next few days was difficult to explain. I felt a supernatural peace and comfort that to this day I find difficult to put into words. God did not answer my prayer to spare mom’s life, but God did reveal his power and strength to me in my time of need. What an incredible blessing it was to experience that feeling as a fairly new Christian who had a lot to learn about faith.
I felt like God picked me up and carried me close to him in the weeks and months following mom’s passing. One of the verses of scripture that really spoke to me during that season of life was Isaiah 40: 11.
He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those who have young.
Losing a loved one is never easy, but God promises to be near to those who are brokenhearted. I’m so thankful he gathers us in his arms and carries us close to his heart when our world seems to be crumbling around us and we wonder how we will go on. I’m grateful that God revealed his amazing comfort and strength to me as a wobbly-legged baby Christian, crushed in spirit, who desperately needed to be gathered into his loving arms. Praise his name!
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
Deuteronomy 7: 9
As I promised last month, I’m going to be doing a series of posts this month regarding God’s faithfulness and how he’s worked in my life in miraculous ways. I can’t think of any better way to celebrate the season of Thanksgiving than to ponder God’s faithfulness and recall how much I have to be thankful for on this journey of life.
To start off the month, I’m going to share a series of events that happened in November/December of 1995. My husband started a new job out of state with a trucking company in early November. Direct deposit wasn’t available back then and paychecks were sent by mail. Since he was paid every other week, it would be more than a month before we received his first paycheck. I was a stay-at-home mom and we depended solely on my husband’s income.
We had very little money in savings and it was depleted in a few weeks. Since my mom’s death, I always hosted Thanksgiving dinner for my family each year. I was too embarrassed to admit we were broke, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell my dad and other family members that I couldn’t afford to host dinner that year.
I continued to pray God would provide a way, but it seemed hopeless as Thanksgiving day grew closer and closer. I figured a day or two before Thanksgiving I would have to fess up and tell the family what was happening, but God had other plans. My dad won a turkey at our local grocery store and called to see if I wanted to use it for the dinner. My aunt won a ham and offered to bring it. My cousin showed up with a big bag of fresh potatoes from her garden a few days prior to Thanksgiving. Another friend gave me a bag of yams from the garden. Without going into a ton of details, I can tell you God provided every single item for my Thanksgiving meal down to the canned cranberry sauce.
Shortly after Thanksgiving, my dryer broke and the transmission went out of our car. My cousin’s mother-in-law bought a new washer and dryer and wanted to know if anyone could use her old ones. I got a nice dryer for free. The local garage agreed to take payments for repairing our car, which they normally don’t do.
December was financially rough and Christmas was fast approaching. Our kids were still pretty young at that time, and I was wondering how I was going to tell them there would be no Christmas. Two days before Christmas, we still had no paycheck. I was heartbroken. On Christmas Eve day, the paycheck and an entire month of back pay showed up in the mail. There’s nothing as crazy as shopping on Christmas Eve at the last minute, but I’m so thankful God provided and my kids were able to wake up to find gifts under the tree Christmas morning. God is faithful!
Too often, I find it easier to focus on the difficult times, get consumed by the here and now, and forget all the times God showed up in miraculous ways when things seemed dismal and hopeless. Remembering God’s miracles is the perfect remedy for doubt and uncertainty when prayers are many and answers are few.
I pray my recollections of God’s faithfulness will encourage you to pray without ceasing, trust God in all circumstances, and remember your own stories of how God intervened in miraculous ways in your life.
Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of symbols, praise him with resounding symbols. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
Psalm 5: 3
There’s something sacred about praying in the wee hours of the morning before the daylight breaks over the mountain and peeks through the window. The solitude, the honor and privilege to call upon the Most High, and giving the first part of the day to the one who makes it possible to access the throne of grace. What a blessing it is to meet with God in the quietness and stillness of the morning before the pressures of the day captivate my attention and drag me away.
I’ve always found the first hour of my day to be the most important time to pray. Distractions are less likely to jolt me from my prayer time. The phone is silent and I’m not consumed with work responsibilities. Praying later in the day feels hurried, and I find it difficult to stay focused.
Praying early in the morning gives me a chance to cover all my children and grandchildren in prayer before they head off to school or work. I get to ease into the day instead of rushing, and it gives me a chance to seek God’s strength for any challenges I’m facing.
Psalm 5: 3 has always been one of my favorite verses about prayer. I love the fact that God hears our voice when we pray. I also love the image of laying our requests before God. How freeing it is to partake of the humble act of just putting down our fears, anxiety, worries, and cares at the feet of Jesus!
And what does it mean to wait expectantly? We know God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we want them answered and sometimes the answers may not come for a long time. I believe waiting expectantly is an act of trusting God for the outcome of what we bring to him in prayer. He will answer our prayers in his perfect timing. We don’t need to doubt but can patiently wait in anticipation of what he is going to do in our lives.
Do you meet with God in the early hours of the day? If not, it’s never too late to start. Whether it’s a few minutes or an hour isn’t important. Seeking God first in your day is the best way to get your day off to a great start.
Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.
The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.
I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.
Psalm 143: 5
Looking back is something we’re often told not to do. Dwelling on mistakes we’ve made or thinking about how someone wronged us can be detrimental, as it can keep us imprisoned to the past rather than moving forward.
However, looking back can be beneficial in certain circumstances. Remembering the uncomfortable consequences of past sins can prevent us from engaging in those sinful habits again. Looking back is also helpful when we need a faith boost or when we feel as if our prayers aren’t being answered.
Sickness, stress, loss, and dealing with an onslaught of bad news can blind us to all the good we’ve experienced throughout the course of our lives. We can become so focused on our uncomfortable and painful circumstances that we can’t see beyond them.
Even if we’re not in a season of suffering, the aging process can make remembering the details of the past a challenge. The older I get, the more I realize the importance of writing things down. I’m often surprised when I glance back over my journals and see the things I’ve forgotten.
In scripture, we see God instructing his people to document his divine intervention. In Joshua 4: 4-7, God instructed the people to take stones from the riverbed they had crossed to be used as a reminder of his faithfulness to his people and as a witness for future generations. There are several other examples in scripture where God’s people took care to document his divine provision.
Documenting God’s provision can strengthen our faith in those dry times when we can’t see what God is doing. But more importantly, documenting the greatness of God and his amazing provision can give a future generation a reason to trust God and praise him.
Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.
Psalm 102: 18
I encourage you to start writing down your God moments in a journal or in your Bible. I often come across prayers in my Bible that were written years ago. They strengthen my faith and remind me to keep walking with God, no matter what. Nearly a decade ago, when my husband abandoned me and our family, I made a timeline to document God’s faithfulness. This timeline reveals a beautiful tapestry of God moments woven throughout my sorrow in the most unusual and unexpected ways to provide for my needs. Looking at that timeline gave me hope when all hope seemed lost.
From my smallest desires to my most desperate needs, I’ve recorded God’s faithfulness in journals and in various bibles I’ve used. Some are even recorded on scraps of paper. One of the prayers I jotted down while at work one day was for a selfish desire. I wanted to work from home. Going to an office to work was difficult for a homebody like me. I felt like I was imprisoned in a cubicle, and the clock seemed to never move. My heart’s desire was to write for a living, but I just didn’t have the courage to make the move. I was afraid I would fail. One day at work, I wrote the following prayer in my notebook.
Lord, I’m sitting here at my desk while the rain falls outside. I keep thinking about my home office – cozy, inviting, warm, familiar. I imagine the colorful leaves falling outside my window in the mountain. I imagine how the splattering of rain against my home office window would sound as I gazed out over the mountain. A pot of soup would simmer downstairs on the stove, wafting up the steps. I would be sipping my tea, writing stories – content, happy, free. Lord, how I long to be there. How I miss my little home office in the woods.
Journal excerpt, 10-23-12
About a year after I wrote that, God intervened and brought me home. As the result of an injury, and being wheel chair bound for three months, I lost my job. The loss of my job was scary. I had no idea how things would work out, but God did. I had little money, and being unable to drive I had to find a way to make money from home. My husband had left me, I lived alone, and my job was terminated. Things looked pretty dismal.
However, my freelance writing career was launched at that time. The road was long and difficult, but God provided. I remember one morning, as I was typing an article for a very low paying job, I felt the craziest sense of joy and contentment. Not only did being at home allow me to spend more time with God in prayer and scripture reading, I was doing a job I loved, even if the money wasn’t much in the beginning.
Many other testimonies of God’s faithfulness are written in my journals and Bible. They span decades of life. Looking back fills me with joy, as I’m once again astounded by the magnitude of God’s love and provision. During the month of November, I’m going to share a few of these documented accounts of God intervening in my life in a Thanksgiving series of blog posts. Stay tuned…
It’s never too late to start documenting your personal miracles. No God moment is too insignificant. Whether you decide to make a timeline, write in a journal or your Bible, or even on a scrap of paper, keeping a record of God’s blessings can give you the courage to keep going when life falls apart and you struggle to see anything good.
What will you document today that may encourage a future generation to believe and trust in the God you love?