Faithfulness

My husband and I were both brought up in the church; I would probably say him even more so than me, but we were definitely taught about God and knew much about Him.  Throughout our lives and growing up we fell from God or at least surely didn't place Him first like we knew we were supposed to.  We'd come back only to fall away again and so on and so forth. 

Throughout my most of adult life my faith and belief in God has been pretty strong.  Now there have certainly been times of ups and downs; times when I fell from Him or maybe better put turned my back on Him, but He's always weighed pretty heavily on my mind.  Over the last four years or so I would say that my faith, obedience and trust in Him have grown.  For most of those years it's been me seeking Christ for our marriage, our children and our lives instead of my husband and I as a unit. 

Through these years I have prayed diligently for my husband, my family and my faith.  God has taught me that patience, obedience and trust in Him will get me…us through anything that comes our way.  There have been some really hard and trying times, but He never left me and with each trial we came through and sometimes even stronger than when we went in. Because of His faithfulness to me and my family I have seen some prayers that I thought were hopeless answered and I have seen some things come to pass even better than I could have ever imagined them myself.  I am close to Him and He is close to me. 

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT) 1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

One of those prayers was for my husband to return to God and place Him at the forefront of His life; therefore being at the front of ours with unity in Christ. Some days I would see some light and others I felt like God wasn't listening because it wasn't happening right now or the way I wanted it to.  Some days the wedge between us, him and God felt so long and so wide that nothing could restore it, but my God is a faithful God!  I never allowed myself to give up or give in and I never lost all hope!

Over the last month or two my husband has had such a transformation in heart and a fire that burns inside him for Christ that it's not only amazing, but beautiful!  He's hungry for His word and wants to be filled with His Spirit.  It makes me reach back to something my granny used to say all the time….my cup runneth over.  I'm overjoyed and blessed beyond words.  I can honestly say that I have been close to God, but because my husband is coming back to Him and stepping into his place in God's kingdom I feel closer to Him than I ever have before!! Not only am I joined together as one with my husband, but we are joined together in and for Christ. 

God knew what was needed to bring him back to Him and He knew just what he needed to go through to make his testimony as powerful as it's going to be.  For that, even when I couldn't understand, I am grateful for God being God! His time, His will and His way are my sincere prayers for my husband, children and me.  We still have a ways to go, but we surely aren't what we used to be and through God we will continue to grow and reach out to as many people on His behalf as we can.

Psalm 115:1 (NIV) ¹ Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.