Isaiah 61:7(NLT)
“Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.”
Once you make a commitment to God to fulfill your calling, things happen. You become a magnet, pulling to you those who hear the sound of your willingness to be a blessing in only a way that you can. A woman that I hadn’t known previously felt compelled to share some very intimate details of her struggle. She seemed so relieved to finally find someone she could trust, and with whom she could unload her burden. For the sake of anonymity, I’ll call her Carolyn. She is newly divorced, and was left with three children and a mortgage she could barely afford. Her husband left her for another woman that he’d met in church. The shame and hurt was so overwhelming that Carolyn actually contemplated suicide, but the thought of abandoning her children kept her from going insane.
Her husband had been a good provider, and was quite handy around the house, but he was never the affectionate type, she said. Still, after seeing the difference that church had made in his wife and kids, he decided to join himself. As they continued to attend this church as a family unit, it never dawned on Carolyn that her husband had another ulterior motive as well.
A member, concerned about Carolyn hearing the gossip from someone else, told her that her husband was having an affair with one of the other members. Once she knew the truth, within a small amount of time, Carolyn took steps to close herself off from the situation entirely. She moved to another area that was miles away, and began attending another church. She is so grateful that God has helped her pull it together and regroup, but the whole situation has crushed her emotionally, and she doesn’t want anyone to know that she is barely holding it together.
Our place of worship is the last place we would expect to encounter the type of hurt that would send us spiraling down a well of despair, but let’s face it, it does happen. Christians have different stations and statures in the faith. Some are way more mature and loving than others. And some are just perpetrating, and don’t have a clue about demonstrating the authentic love of Christ. A mature woman that truly loves God, and desires to please Him with her whole heart, would more than likely stop cold if she believed her pursuits were harming children and tearing a family apart. Not all women in the faith hold this view, and as Sisters in the Lord, we have to be real about it.
When your marriage has been injured or broken, and it takes place in a faith environment, it can make the healing process more complicated. The one thing of which you can be sure, is that God will give you the victory, and your stand amid the pain is a great testament to your faith in Him. Deliverance doesn’t come overnight. It takes time, but Heavenly Father has promised in His Word that He will take care of us no matter what we face, and no matter where we face it.
It is a shameful thing to have to see the faces of all who knew you when your family was doing great, and your husband was committed and faithful; to run into them at the grocery store, in the mall, and or at a school function for the kids. Think of the women that endure this and lack the wherewithal to move or isolate themselves from a community and the person they love most; to have to see the two of them together. They’re in the thick of it, having to endure it playing out in their faces. How does one survive it without losing faith in the Lord?
Jesus Christ is our Rescuer. The very nature of this truth tells us that there’s lots to be rescued from. There is no rock we can hide under, no place so remote that he will not come in and bring us out of the shadows of shame and into the glorious light of his victory.
No matter how it is that we came to be under it, Isaiah 61:7 assures us that God will exchange our shame for a double portion of His goodness. When I shared this with Carolyn, she told me that she knows the power of God, and she knows He loves us, but she didn’t think she could hope that big. I reminded her that she absolutely could, and as a matter of fact, she was already doing it. After everything she had gone through, she was still standing and still loving God. The enemy had tried so hard to steal her trust in Heavenly Father, but she had not released it. Instead, she was standing her ground despite the discomfort, pain, and humiliation.
God’s deliverance will come, on this we can always depend; no matter what a situation looks like. But we must also remember that life is lived moment by moment. Yesterday is gone, and this moment is all we have. Faith is fueled and increased by the decision to trust God in this moment. So we have to keep at it—keep standing on His Word, and one day soon, He will give us a blessing and victory that will make all the pain of the past a distant memory. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Still Standing, Still Loving God!”, written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2017. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.