Angel in Blue Jeans

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It can be anonymous. Looking forward to seeing how God is working in all of our lives.

Angel in Blue Jeans

Frances Wilcox Matheson

For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.

Psalm 91:11-12 (NLT)

We were on our way by bus from Brasilia to Cuiaba in central-western Brazil to spend Christmas with friends. My over-stuffed shoulder bag hung on my left shoulder. Our nine month old son was balanced on my left hip. My right shoulder was weighted down with the carry-on bag and I had our five year old son’s hand firmly gripped with my right hand. My husband had gone to the other end of the crowded station to check two suitcases.

Vendors of tangerines, candied apples, popcorn, and cotton candy lent a circus-like atmosphere. Beggars leaned against the walls, or shuffled through the crowd. My eyes were drawn to two beggars. One had a crutch, but was neither using it nor limping as she pushed her way towards me. The other’s legs were wrapped in stained bandages. Beggars are not unusual, but what startled me was the malice in their look. In all of our travels, we had met with nothing but friendliness. Now I was afraid, for our belongings and for our blond boys. I glanced behind me, a three foot drop off the edge of the platform. Theft they might try in the crowd, would they be so bold as to attempt a kidnapping? I breathed a quick prayer, as they came closer. The sense of danger grew. 

“Don’t be afraid. Those two mean you evil, but they won’t harm you while I’m here,” said a pleasant voice in Portuguese. Surprised, I turned. Beside me stood a college age girl in blue jeans and a white blouse. I hadn’t seen her come. I looked back at the two beggars. When they saw my glance, they shook their fists at me, turned, and melted into the crowd..

“My husband’s coming now.” I said, as I turned to thank her. No one was there.

We boarded our next bus with no further adventures. As I watched the moon-silvered fields of rice unwind past my window, I wondered. Do angels ever wear blue jeans?

How God Held My Marriage Together

We encourage you to submit your own stories to chris@spiritofjoy.us.

It can be anonymous. Looking forward to seeing how God is working in all of our lives.

How God Held My Marriage Together

Anonymous

Love bears all things, believes all things, 

hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (ESV)

On an ordinary Friday, there is a knock on the door and a person I have met once or twice asks me to step outside for a minute. He has proof that my husband is having an affair with his wife. This is the last thing I expected to happen to me on this day or ever! The memory is still quite vivid and still gets my heart racing when I relive that day in my head. Did I think of 1 Corinthians 13:7? No. I thought and said as I cried, “Lord, I cannot handle this! You only give us what we can handle, and I cannot handle this!” and I prayed.

What happened next was God’s hand. I turned to Christian friends and family for advice. The advice they gave me helped to save my family and my marriage. These friends suggested I not tell my kids – who were young and at home at the time – that I only tell a select few friends whom I could trust, not watch the proof I had been given, and seek a Christian marriage and family counselor. Now, I am thankful for this advice. Then, I wanted to let the world know how badly I had been hurt and I wanted to run as far away from my husband as possible. I was mentally numb and yet trying to swim through a raging river of emotion, while appearing calm and in control in front of my kids and “the world.” I didn’t know what to do at this time so I listened to their advice. There is no rule book or steps to follow, so what do you do? Through prayer, the one thing I knew I had to do was keep my family together. I was not sure what that would look like or how I would do it but I had to try for the sake of my children.

My husband confessed his sins to me. He was truly sorry for his sins. He wanted to keep our family together. He was willing to do whatever it took to keep our marriage together. He found a wonderful Christian counselor, through the help of our pastor. These counseling sessions proved to be a glimmer of hope in an otherwise dreary roller coaster ride. I began to see that love can bear all things and does endure all things. Was it easy? No! It took years, and we are still working on making our marriage better to this day. I do remember one thing the counselor said on our first visit. “I know it is hard to see right now, but your marriage can be better and stronger in the future.” I did not really believe her, but I hoped it was true. At first, I hoped it was true for my children, as I told myself I was doing this for them. I did not want them to grow up with divorce as I did. As months went by, I realized I was not alone in my trial; and I was doing this for many reasons, including myself. Jesus said to His Heavenly Father, in His humanity in strong crying, “I don’t want to go through this trial but I’m willing to if it is Your will.” Hebrews 5:7.

God had always been in my life. I prayed, I went to church, I read my Bible and I always tried to “do the right thing.” So why would God allow this to happen to me? What had I done that I deserved this? It was not fair, why did I have to go through this trial! Insert here anything - why does God allow brain tumors, cancer, disease, etc! What I learned is “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1Corinthians 13:7. Did my marriage miraculously change? Did forgiveness come easily? Did my husband turn into Prince Charming? No! Our marriage changed through lots of hard work, counseling and determination. It took me months and months to even be able to think about forgiveness. It took me 2 years to know I had forgiven and to understand you can forgive but you will not ever forget. Our marriage will always be a work in progress, but it is better and different than it was before. Through this trial, God showed me He is real, and love can endure as God’s love endures all things for me. This knowledge sustains me. Before I would sometimes doubt, but now I have the peace of knowing He is there on the sunny warm beaches and in the hurricane. He is light, and He will not forsake me. He has shown me how to love, how to forgive and how to live. Infidelity is crushing, but it can be overcome. It can be overcome if both people are willing to forgive, work, trust God and love each other as Christ loves us. 

Pray for South Sudan

We encourage you to submit your own stories to chris@spiritofjoy.us.

It can be anonymous. Looking forward to seeing how God is working in all of our lives.

Pray for South Sudan!

Bobby Bender

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

Colossians 1:9-14

In many ways, life is going well in South Sudan. God is definitely working in this place.

At the same time, however, the people and politics keep getting in the way. 

I keep wondering how God still loves us (mankind) after all the atrocities that we allow to occur to one another. Mostly it just makes me sad that people allow business, money, and greed to swallow our call to love and care for others. But this is nothing new. It has happened throughout the ages. 

For me, however, it would just be really nice go back (even occasionally) to being naïve. Honestly, I don’t like realizing how the world really works. Everything is so contradictory to what is right in the eyes of God.

On the positive side, I am realizing more and more how great God’s forgiveness is!

I am also learning that to help fix something that is broken, we must understand how it became broken in the first place. The answer goes back to sin. It broke us. It continually destroys our world. Therefore, since we are sinful by nature, the only fix is our humble acknowledgement of our own sin and our faith-filled acceptance of the incredible sacrifice that was made for us by Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

This world needs to know this now more than ever!

In the midst of this storm that we call life, it’s getting hard and harder to discern the right direction. We must remember that God is the lighthouse and Jesus is our light. This is the only true guidance we have. Indeed, this is our only hope to make it safely back to HIS shores. 

My only hope in this place of hunger and corruption is to hold true to these facts. I can’t be blissfully naïve anymore. My sanity depends daily on my ability to realize how crucial Christ is to my life. I must conduct myself according to his truths, if I am going to be of any lasting help as I try to help others.

Remember the silver lining — or perhaps gold lining: God loves us! I don’t think I will ever fully understand his love and forgiveness, but I rejoice every day that I am loved. 

I may not be able to fix or help everyone, but God hasn’t asked me to. Instead, he takes my burdens and asks me to simply reflect his love toward the people he puts in my life.

I love you guys! Pray for us in South Sudan.