Directly from my journal, this weekend…(so you don’t feel so alone…)
This is what I know:
You, God, have been faithful and good to me for 45-1/2 years.
You love me.
You have rescued me time and again.
You have brought me back to life over and over.
In this world, we have trouble.
I am in a difficult season, where sadness, confusion, anxiety and defeat are reigning.
I am sick and tired of it.
I cannot change my reality. (There are hard, hard things that are breaking my heart running as the background noise in my life at all times right now, that I can do next to nothing about.)
There are good, good things in my life that I can celebrate and lean into and be so grateful for.
You do not want me walking around defeated. Why? Because I have not been defeated! Because you have overcome the world!
If I keep walking and moving towards you and begging for healing and trying to sow some seeds – like loving my husband, loving all of my children, loving my friends, writing, mentoring, even in my pain – you WILL restore my joy and you WILL bring good from it all.
Today, you are renewing me inwardly, moment by moment, even when I don’t feel it. Thank you.
Therefore, we are not cowards, we faint not, we do not lose heart, we are not discouraged, we do not give up. Though outwardly we are wasting away, our spirits are being renewed every day. –II Corinthians 4:16
Hi Elisabeth, You don’t know me but I am a good, good friend of your sister-in-law, Lori. I just found your website via facebook and wanted to let you know that I think you are a kind, loving and giving woman of God and I so appreciate your website! I am very happy to have found it and hope to hear more from you and about you!!! You are a blessing to women everywhere in their struggle to be the “good Godly wife” that we wives all strive to be!!! I, too, am recently married and my husband and I are having TESTS and TRIALS GALORE and it’s really hard to believe that we and our marriage have even survived the first year!!! So much for being a newlywed, it was UNBELIEVABLE and unfortunately only in a bad way!!!! We are 57 and 62 which makes me believe that it is much harder to join into a family at our age as we are both pretty strong independent types but we both have a very strong desire to be married. Is there any advice you can give us in how to put down our independence and self so that we can start living as a husband and wife, putting each other #2 after God instead of continuing to go back into our “independent mode”??? Thank you in advance and I hope to hear from you. God Bless you and your husband in your new marriage. Warmly, Shari
Thank you for reaching out. I am grateful you found you’re way here. I am so very sorry for your pain.
If you would like to join one my private Facebook groups (difficult marriage, separated/divorced, single moms, remarried), please send me a friend request at http://www.facebook.com/elisabethkleinfisher. (This group is what Facebook calls a ‘secret’ group. Not only will your Facebook friends not see what you post in it, they won’t even know you’re in the group or that exists. You’re safe here.)
I have some other resources for you:
If in a difficult marriage:
Surviving in a Difficult Christian Marriage is available as a PDF/e-book: http://www.elisabethklein.com/store
World Split Open is available in paperback/e-book: http://www.elisabethklein.com/books
If separated/divorced:
Unraveling: Hanging onto Faith through the End of a Christian Marriage is available in paperback/e-book: http://tinyurl.com/phowp95
I’d recommend you find a local DivorceCare group: http://www.divorcecare.org/
If a single mom:
Moving on as a Christian Single Mom is available as a PDF/e-book: http://www.elisabethklein.com/store
If you feel unsafe:
Contact the National Abuse Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
Develop a safety plan: http://www.domesticviolence.org/personalized-safety-plan/
If you need a counselor: http://www.biblicalcounseling.com/counselors
I offer six of my resources for whatever you can afford: http://www.elisabethklein.com/pay-what-you-want
I offer two three-month e-courses, MarriageMentor & DivorceMentor, three times a year (in February, June and September). If interested, go here for details: http://www.elisabethklein.com/store.
And I write for my blog on issues surrounding difficult marriages, separation/divorce, single mothering, dating, remarriage and faith. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox: http://madmimi.com/signups/110066/join
Hope some of these resources can bring you help, comfort, support and hope.
Gratefully,
-Elisabeth