by Elisabeth | Aug 3, 2023 | Church, difficult marriage, divorce, wholeness
Question: “What should it look like for church leadership to walk a woman through her difficult marriage, and then, if applicable, through a separation and/or divorce?” After nineteen years at the same church, one night something very bad happened in my marriage. The...
by Elisabeth | Jul 6, 2023 | abuse, Church, difficult marriage, heart, judgment
Question: “I have been told over and over by well-meaning Christian friends and church leaders that I need to try harder in my marriage, that I need to do more, that my husband’s infidelity is somehow my fault. How do you deal with fear of rejection or judgment...
by Elisabeth | Sep 16, 2022 | Church, difficult marriage, remarriage
I have never written on this topic before and I’m pretty sure I know why. Because a, no one has asked me to (ha!), and b, it’s a hot-button issue (but oh well). For some reason though, I have some thoughts these days and I’m feeling weirdly fired up about it....
by Elisabeth | Jul 22, 2022 | abuse, Church, difficult marriage
(originally written in 2014) Picture a closet, bursting at the seams. Now picture a girl, back to the door, doing everything she can to brace herself against it to keep the contents from tumbling out all over the place, because what a mess that would be. Hi, I’m that...
by Elisabeth | Apr 29, 2022 | Church, friendship, pain, redemption
I spoke at a retreat a ways back and though I touched on quite a few points in the two talks I gave, one of the topics I broached was one of my sin stories. I think I have this thing with just telling complete strangers all the details of my life and then letting...
by Elisabeth | Feb 18, 2022 | abuse, Church, divorce
Pretty much everyone who has ever been married or found themselves in a hard marriage or on the other side of divorce – in Christian culture – has heard someone tell them that “God hates divorce”, pulling from Malachi 2:16 (NLT) that says, “’For I hate...
