God Can Resurrect Your Marriage from the Ashes Part 2 - Girlfriends in God

February 4, 2015
God Can Resurrect Your Marriage from the Ashes
Part 2
Sharon Jaynes

Today’s Truth

“So I prophesied as he [God] commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army” (Ezekiel 37:10 NIV).

Friend to Friend

I can hardly wait for you to read the rest of the story from my last devotion. If you missed it, please go back and read it first. Here’s where we left off…Don and Jona were divorced.

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 when Jona and Don went on his program talking about “life change”? Grab a cup of coffee and keep reading.

God took Jona to a place of repentance and began to soften, remold and remake her very heart. That’s what God does. He doesn’t try to cover up our flaws; He starts from scratch and makes us new. While the divorce was final, God was only just beginning to work on Jona’s heart.

“God took me to a place of repentance,” Jona explained. “For the first time, through a support group, I saw clearly what I had done to destroy my marriage. I had always blamed our problems on Don changing jobs so often, but the real problem was my lack of respect for the God appointed leader of my home. I was the real problem and Don simply couldn’t take it anymore. I had rejected Don with my words, my appearance, and my withdrawal of physical touch.”

Whether or not God could salvage the marriage, Jona made a commitment that she would allow God to salvage her. She immersed herself in Bible study, prayer, and getting healthy.

“I began to understand what God’s Word said about the relationship between a husband and wife. I was not Don’s Holy Spirit. I was not the leader of my home. God had called me to respect Don as the leader, to honor him as a child of God, and to love him with my all. One day when Don came to pick up our two boys, I shared with him what I had been learning.”

“That’s fine,” he told me. “But you need to know I’m moving on with my life.”

“You can move on,” I said. “But I’m staying right here.”

Jona continued to encourage Don and give him her BEST—bless, edify, share and touch.

Some people told him she was trying to trick him and that he should ignore her. But it wasn’t a trick; it was a miracle.

“God had changed my heart” she said, “and I was committed—no matter what happened between us in the future—to never go back to being that bitter woman I had been before.”

Don was confused at times and a bit leery of the change. “Why do you think I’m wonderful, all of a sudden?” he asked her.

“Because now I see you through God’s eyes,” she explained. “I see that you are a wonderful man.”

Don fell in love with Jona all over again. God has given them a second chance. They were remarried eighteen months after their divorce was final. Oh how I love God! He is the God of second chances.

Dear friends, Jona has so graciously allowed me to tell you her story because she has decided that she will do anything to help one woman not make the same mistakes she has made. She cried and cried all through the recounting of the story, and relived the pain…for you. “God allowed me to go to a terrible place,” Jona explained. “My prayer is that others will not have to go to that place before they wake up and realize what they are doing to their men.”

And that…is what Dr. Phil did not tell you.

Let’s Pray

For Married GiGs

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.

For Single GiGs

Dear Lord, help me be a woman who is committed to building other up and not tearing others down, to speaking words of encouragement and not words of discouragement, and see each person as creation fashioned in Your image.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Now It’s Your Turn

You know, Jona did not destroy her marriage by herself. Don made his fair share of mistakes too. But here’s the thing—we cannot change another person. We can only change ourselves. And sometimes…that is enough.

Want to memorize a very strange and extremely powerful Scripture with me today? Here is it. Today’s Truth: “So I prophesied as he [God] commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army,” (Ezekiel 37:10 NIV).

If you’ll join me, click over to my Facebook page and say, “I’m in!”

God can turn the dry bones of your situation into a vast, powerful, mighty army!

More from the Girlfriends

Today’s devotion was taken from my book, Becoming the Woman of His Dreams: Seven Qualities Every Man Longs For. Put a little pizzazz back in your marriage, and become the woman you’ve always wanted to be—the wife God created you to be. You can find it on Amazon.com or SharonJaynes.com. And if you’re ready for extra sizzle, check out The 14-Day Romance Challenge.