More Testimonies
More Testimonies
https://www.facebook.com/RejoiceMarriageMinistries/videos/1429243160499937/
Cari and Ryan’s Testimony – posted on “Rejoice Marriage Ministries”
Another testimony below:
Dear all, as some of you know I posted a long while ago regarding my marriage situation. A bit of back ground – I have been standing since August 2015 when my wife left with our 3 daughters. The day they left 400 kilos away from me was the day I met Our Father, the one and only. Please take note that unfortunately I abused my wife verbally, emotional and all other ways possible. Treated her like a rubbish bin. With all of this I did the same to our oldest daughter…which I wish I could change. My wife did not believe in God but also found her way to Him after a few months. Last year I had a break down and was booked into hospital for depression etc – I got up after a week and fought for what I believe (not by saying you will stay married but put my total faith into Gods hand and let His will be done no matter what comes my way. I have been visiting a lot and we spend December holidays together due to the children and because I knew I love her and I made a promise before God. Anyway after lots of ups and downs, fights, crying, temptation, divorce papers been given etc. – I was at work today and the sheriff arrived with papers – it read as follows – RCR – Withdrawal of divorce proceedings! I did not know what to say and what to do, so I signed and said God bless. Awaiting for the sign or call or anything from God on what to do next. A few minutes later I get a text…can I phone? She phones and says do I have time to have a discussion. Me answer – yes off course. She then said come on outside…and there they are – my wife and 3 daughters. She comes up to me and says she is sorry for giving up but she wants this to work as she made a promise and she keeps to promises. After lots of tears from all sides I can now officially say that my marriage is on its way to be restored. We are now planning on where how what to do next as we live in different cities far from each other but as I know God has already spoken to me to move and He knows the way. I will be staying on this page for a while to post my journey to restoration and would like to call on all men on this group to contact me should you need a praying partner for your marriage as I feel God has put it on my heart to assist men where possible. Be blessed everyone and remember our God is faithful to his promises and our Father!!
|
Click on the link below for an understanding that God is able to change the hearts of many when just one spouse humbles themselves before the Lord in genuine repentance and turns from their wicked ways, they will recieve blessings from the Lord.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Z5tgU0LjM
We here at Hosea’s Cry have also gone through a life altering experience when our covenant spouses divorced us and went seeking their happiness in the arms of someone new.
Therefore we know through first hand knowledge the pain Hosea felt, as he watched his children suffer the same pain of rejection as our children did. No one would wish this kind of pain on anybody, not even our worst enemies. It feels like your heart is being ripped right out of your body, ravished beyond repair! You feel like you’re going to die the pain is so bad. You’re bleeding on the inside where no one can see. God is the only one who can heal this deep ripping wound. Death is all around, but nobody died. Your mind struggles to make sense of it all, but nothing makes sense anymore. You feel like you’re going crazy.
“Therefore, behold I will allure her/him, will bring her/him into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her/him. I will give her/him vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; she /he shall sing there. . .as in the day when she/he came up from the land of Egypt.”
Hosea 2:14-15
When I ( Marilyn ) turned to God in my time of troubles God wrapped me in a blanket of His love just so I could survive the pain. I could actually hear the sound of singing over me each morning when I awoke. This gave me hope and encouragement for the days ahead so I could just hang in there. It was good to know I was not alone. I cried out every night asking God to save my family, and to my great surprise He did so suddenly! I watched in awe my 7 adult children who never went to church suddenly come into God’s Kingdom. A deeper work is still being done in all of us especially my husband because he is running away from God as fast as he can, but God is Sovereign so I have nothing to fear.
I believe my prodigal will return but in God’s timing not mine because this battle is not about me or my family but about the image and power of an almighty God and His plan of restoration for saving families every where!!! All He needs is a Covenant spouse to obey His command not to take the marriage apart, and know that Divorce has no power over a blood bought child of God. It takes two to agree to the marriage but if one of you doesn’t agree with man’s plan to take it apart agree with God’s plan instead you give God an open door to intervene on your behalf.
Isaiah 65:1 I was sought by those who did not ask for Me, I was found by those who did not seek Me.
Act 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved . . you and your household”.
Let me tell you what happened. I was standing believing God for the salvation of my whole family. I made my decision to stand no mater how long it took. Then two months later four Prophetic men were sent by God to our church. I volunteered to put them up for the time they were in town.
One of them said, “Marilyn go call your children“, They were grinning from ear to ear, like a cat who swallowed the canary, They apparently knew something I didn’t. God was about to do a new thing in my life. Suddenly my seven children who were living in the world, sleeping with their boyfriends and girlfriends and had never gone to church before began to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Each of them were experiencing God in different ways. Some were seeing visions, others were getting words of knowledge, they were all speaking in other languages, or uttering prophetic proclamations etc. I realized God was making Himself real to my wayward adult children who were struggling because their family was falling apart, and were seeking the truth in this matter. God answered my cry. He was calling out to them so they came when I called out to them. They came to my church that week because of these experiences they were having wanting to know more about this God that was speaking to them. They wanted to know Him better, so He gave them a deep hunger for His Word!!!
Now you can see why it is real easy for me to believe God is able to make Himself real to my wayward husband who is not as yet looking for the truth that will set him free. So I stopped worrying about him and left him in God’s capable hands. . . (well most of the time anyway)
I was so excited I had a hard time containing myself. I couldn’t stop thanking God for answering my prayers so quickly. He brought all seven of them into His kingdom just like that. Suddenly POW!!! God You are so awesome!!!
Matthew 16: 16 -18 . . . Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God’. . .then Jesus said. . . and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not over come it.
I realized soon after I left my husband that ‘forgiveness’ was one of Christ’s requirements, this wasn’t an option if I wanted my heart to get back into wholeness again I would have to forgive him. I found this extremely hard to do in the beginning because the betrayal and anger went so deep. I knew I couldn’t do it in my own power, so I cried out to God from the very depths of my soul asking Him to help me to forgive my husband, at first I did this just hoping the pain would go away, but later I realized this would bring God much pleasure. The pain began lifting as I began to see I too shared in some of the blame for my family’s destruction. I saw the iniquity in my own heart and realized it wasn’t all my husband’s fault! My stubborn pride had also been involved. Once I got there God began to do a deeper work of healing in my heart. All the bitterness left me when I began to embrace my own sinful nature and started taking what God was revealing to me to the cross. The peace of Christ began filling my heart with joy as I not only was able to forgive my husband, but myself as well. I now walk in that place where I know I am loved for eternity. It is a very good place to be in!
Today after many, many years of standing in faith for my whole family to the fullness, there of; to the fullness there of. God said that twice to me, my husband has quite running around and has turned his heart back to his children and his grandchildren who love him unconditionally like their grandma does. The last girlfriend kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for being kind to her before she left. That was over five years ago. Today my husband and I are building a friendship, he knows we are all praying for him but he is not yet ready to commit himself to a God he has a hard time believing in. His dad was very abusive to his mother, and to his brothers and sister, and he may see God that way. I believe God is showing him His kind of love is so different, and once he humbles himself in repentance he will realize he has lost nothing but gained everything.
I’m expecting that to happen pretty soon now!!!
*
Another stander here at Hosea’s Cry:
Carole G: Wow! In an email I received were a few lines of text and our marriage was over.
Was all that prayer for nothing?
Didn’t God hear me?
I knew He could change things. I was searching, I was praying.
I wanted to be more like Him and I wanted a family that could share His love. There was so much I was learning. Why didn’t they want it too? Couldn’t they see?
That same morning, God had filled me with so much love for A—-. I had poured out my heart in an email and couldn’t wait to hear his voice so that I could share it with him, all that God had just done in me.
Now I was devastated. My life turned over.
This isn’t what I wanted for my marriage, for my kids. I believed in commitment and sticking through thick and thin. How did we get here? Why didn’t God answer my prayers?
Now what? How did God want me to handle this? The kids were heart broken, I was having a hard time sorting through my own feelings and how to be there for them. Each one of them were so different. They thought they were strong, could handle it on their own, except one. She wept. She clung to me in fear. Fear that I might leave too.
I never felt like there was enough of me to go around and they refused my attempts to share God’s love. There were other ways they felt would ease their pain.
And then my help came, or so I thought.
“He’s not worth it.” “I know a good lawyer.”
“You’ve been through enough, you’ve been through this before.” “You need to protect yourself and the kids” “Get on with your life. You deserve better.”
But why did I feel different? Why did I want to love him still? That gentle prodding that kept coming back. Was I crazy to feel this way? To still love him, no matter what? To take a different road? What was I hearing?
“Lord show me! What is right? What do you want me to do? And what does Your word say? Then He did.
Around 3 a.m., after lots of tears, I began searching websites, only ones I had heard were “good”.
What if he wants out and I don’t?
God knew how much I loved him. I had no doubts about that. After reading a lengthy article about how sometimes we have no choice when our marriage ends, there was one line at the bottom, in BIG, BOLD letters.
“BUT GOD ISN’T FINISHED WITH YOUR MARRIAGE YET.”
There it was. That’s what I needed to hear. 3 months of crying out to Him and searching His word for the answer and I finally got it. Tears came flooding down.
Then a picture filled my head. It was a wedding and it was all good. I was the bride and I sensed that A— was there. A large pitcher floated by itself in the air. My arm was extended and I was holding a goblet that the pitcher was pouring into. It kept pouring into my cup and it was spilling over. Hey “my cup was overflowing.” Good things would come.
Now I had direction, now I knew. It didn’t change my situation or the pain, but now I knew what God wanted.
He wanted me to love my husband, no matter what. We were joined as one, and the nights that I struggled with sadness, I would be reminded by a wedding gift that hung on our bedroom wall.
“On this 22nd day of August, 1981, Carole and A— were joined in marriage. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
***
Marilyn: I’m back again to say that we here at Hosea’s Cry have all experienced first hand God’s ability to restore our broken hearts. Actually He is able to restore any broken relationship, you just have to give it to Him and walk in reconciliation towards that person. Restoration takes time, in some cases even years. I believe it has a lot to do with our willingness to reach out in unconditional love to those who have hurt us, some times just confessing our sins to them, gives them a place to confess their sins to you, or at lease a place where they might look at where they might have gone wrong as well.
I soon found myself at a cross roads. Which road was I to take? What did God want of me now? I was wondering how I was ever going to represent Christ to my family and others now with this shameful divorce thing was hanging over my head. A divorce that I didn’t even seek or want.
Fearing God because I didn’t want to blow it again. I sought Him for my answer, and He showed me this Ancient Covenant Path He wanted me to walk on. His word says this is a very good path where I would find rest for my soul. As I started to walk on His path God began to reveal the secrets of His covenant to me. He also made it clear that this path though narrow was a sure thing, but I was warned this path would cost me everything, but it would also bring much joy to many. I didn’t want my heart to harden against God and His ways so decided this ancient path was worth investigating.
On this Ancient Path I met up with Trent, then Carole, then Jody, then Gerry, then Stevie, and then many others world wide who were also walking on this path. We were all experiencing freedom like we never experienced before. It is truly a good path because you soon realize that God is never going to leave you or forsake you there. He is not like man. With God on our side we had absolutely nothing to fear. God’s perfect unfailing love cast out all our fears because His love doesn’t have conditions attached to it. He was knitting His kind of love into our hearts. We didn’t earn it. He freely gave it to us, so we could continue walking in it and give it to others.
I believe that those who choose to walk in this more modern path of contract thinking instead of covenant thinking after a divorce have a harder time believing God is on their side, because they feel so lonely and need to look for someone who will love them so they wouldn’t feel so lonely. They may even fear this Covenant Path because it seems so narrow, and the cost so high, and the way looks so long; but in the end any other path they take will never bring the satisfaction and joy that comes from knowing God as your covenant friend and partner. This modern path may look a whole lot easier, but in time you will realize that that just another one of Satan’s lies.
We’ve all failed God, and we will probably do so again; but just knowing God’s grace and mercy follow us everywhere we go gives us great hope for our future. Any time we sin and genuinely repent God just moves us further along this His covenant path. His glory is being revealed to us continually as we press in to attain the high calling to which God has called us to.
I can still remember the day when God personally reminded me of the Covenant Vow I made to my husband back in 1961 . . . “until death do us part” He was showing me that I was not to break my holy vows for any reason no matter what Satan or man threw at me, because my words were Sacred to God, and He would honour them if I chose to honour them because He was a Covenant keeper standing with me so I had nothing to fear with God on my side.
I believe nothing is too hard for my God. Marriage is God’s idea. He designed it to be a Holy ‘one-flesh’ Covenant Relationship for His Kingdom pleasure and purpose, not only for mine. He wants this one-flesh creation of His to multiply and fill the earth with godly children for Him. That is why it is so important that men and women are equally yolked with Christ as their center when they marry.
In my case the multiplying had taken place first in our marriage, but the our being equally yolked part is not there yet. Christ is in me and our kids now, and we believe with Christ all things are possible.
Our children, and their mates are having to work God’s glory out in their own personal lives and relationships because of the damage we their parents, along with this fallen world we live in has done to them in the past, but I believe God will finish the work He started in them because they have stepped across and entered into a Blood Covenant relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ and it is His resurrection power that will do the job not theirs.
Satan works hard to keep us ignorant of this fact that God is faithful even to the unfaithful. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, to give us willing hearts, to empower us, and to chasten us because He loves us. He will bring us all back on track when we begin to wonder off like dumb sheep because He promised He would finish the work He began in us. God promised He will reveal His glory to all mankind so every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He, Jesus Christ is Lord.
His plan is to prosper us, not to harm us, and to give us hope, and a good future.
I know only the death of my covenant partner, or myself, will put an end to our covenant of marriage. God designed it that way so our children, and grandchildren would be secure in the knowledge that God is faithful even to the unfaithful. God’s ‘holy name’ is at stake here!
All God wants is for us to humble ourselves so that He can lift us up. He doesn’t want to have to humble us, but He will in order to repair the damage we do to one another, and He will bring us to repentance. Sometimes for our safety as we live apart while God works separately on each one of us, but nothing is impossible for God. He is a restorer, and a refiner. Satan has no power over Jesus blood bought children unless we give Satan that power.
We at Hosea’s Cry have joined forces with others all over the world, to whom God has given this revelation; and we are now committed to repairing the breach made in the our Covenant wall so God’s image of faithfulness will be a blessing to our children, and to their children’s children so they too will receive their inheritance.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve been divorced, or if your spouse has made a legal man authorized contract with someone other than you. You are the Covenant spouse, God was a witness to you making your vows. He doesn’t recognize the second or third unions put together by mere men, the Lord allows you to divorce yourselves from these legal sexually immoral unions because He didn’t put them together in the first place man did.
God will reveal this truth to you personally, if you are willing to listen to Him, then you will be able to ‘Stand’ on His promises alone for they are Yes and Amen. All you need is to come in His strength not your own, because this battle really belongs to Him not you.
God is able to redeem any impossible complex situations we put ourselves in, because He is God; besides God likes showing off for our benefit. If for no other reason than to let us know that He is God, and we’re not!
We just have to be willing!!!
Gomer, found that Hosea’s God was not only powerful, but Hosea’s God loved her with the same everlasting love he was demonstrating to her.
Hosea was demonstrating God’s kind of love to her in a very practical way. He went and bought her back to take her home with him like Jesus did for us, He bought us with plans on taking us home with Him.
Separation, divorce and remarriage are just one big scheme of Satan’s designed to destroy God’s image of faithfulness and power to our children. . . that’s all it is. . .one big fat lie!
We at Hosea’s Cry are not alone in this, we are among many pastors and lay people in the church who believe Satan has no real power over God’s plans for our marriages, unless we of course through our own selfish will give Satan this kind of power over us, but we believe God will have the final say in all this!
Here is something to think about. . . It takes two to agree to a marriage right, what happens then when only one agrees to a divorce, and the other doesn’t want it? What can the ‘one in Christ’ do about that?
God searches all over the world for that ‘one’ who is loyal and promises to intervene and strengthen that ‘one’ who is seeking to please God when they cry out for His help. He will be found by them. God has in the past made the sun to stand still in order to help the Israel keep their sacred covenant vows even when they made them in error. Our motive must be right, and our hearts broken and contrite or our covenant stands will not be strong. We are not to idolize our stand, or our mates. There must be no other gods before us except God alone.
Jesus calls any sexual relationships out side of His original plan “before” marriage ‘fornication’. After marriage He calls it adultery. We believe many in the church today have been deceived into sanctifying their adulterous relationships by calling them holy, when they are not.
With God on our side we have nothing to fear from man. So we gladly stand in the gap for our loved ones who have fallen and can’t get up in their own power, we come in God’s ‘Supernatural Love’ bending low so we can be an instrument for God’s use so our spouse can stand up straight again. God gives us favour on their behalf. It’s His desire that none should parish.
God has power to raise the dead, there are no limits to His resurrection power. He can redeem and restore anything He wants too, even relationships that have been dead for many years.
God will open the eyes to the error of our ways. We just need to make ourselves available to Him, because it’s not about us, but about His image to our children and those watching that we answered this call to pick up our cross and follow him. We’ve taken up our positions on the wall as living stones, and stand in the way of any man made loop holes; and say no to Satan’s plans for our family, and “Yes” to God’s plans for our family, for His Kingdom Glory.
Hosea and Gomer are a prime example of God’s intervention in a troubled marriage. Gomer, a prostitute, became an adulteress, but God didn’t condemn her. Sin did that. Sin took her further than she wanted to go, cost her more than she wanted to pay, and kept her longer than she wanted to stay. Sin will only bring death and destruction. God showed Gomer His merciful loving kindness by sending Hosea to bring her back from slavery, and to love her again. God allured her in the wilderness, speaking tenderly to her to go and sin no more, giving her vineyards she knew she didn’t deserve in the Valley of Achor her door of hope. This beautiful love story represents Christ and His church and Israel as well. Watch and see what God will do with His covenant promises He made with Israel in these last days. He plans on making us all one new man!
Absolutely nothing is impossible for our God, so why do we give up so easily. We throw in the towel and act as though God’s not able to influence our prodigals into coming to their senses. God is in the business of changing hearts is He not? Nothing is too difficult or impossible for Him, right? So what’s the problem?
You may ask, Marilyn but your spouse is not even saved? Why should you lay down your life for him? Scripture says, “I was sought by those who did not ask for Me. I was found by those who did not seek Me” Isaiah 65:1
Criag Hill a pastor who is fighting for families ever where had this to say: “Without realizing it we’ve slowly over time began to compromise the word of God and have adopted the ways of the world around us instead. We’ve done this by structuring our morality not according to our belief system, but we have structured our belief system according to our morality.”
When this No Fault Divorce Law came into effect many began searching the scriptures looking for a loop hole to get out of their troubled marriages. And of course they found what they were looking for. . the ‘except for clause’. . or so they thought!!! They really wanted to believe in Satan’s lie so they grabbed it!
Today the church is experiencing the full effects of our looking for a way out of what we deemed an impossible situation. We act as though God is not able to do the impossible!
These loop holes appearing all over the marriage covenant wall today is making this wall look like a block of Swiss cheese instead of an impenetrable fortress that God put in place to protect our families we aught to be ashamed of ourselves, but we are not.
Once our protective wall crumbles and look like a pile of rubble in our lives Satan laughs because now he is able to come at will into our buildings we call church. Sad to say many of our leaders have lost the understanding of why God put that wall there in the first place, so now we’ve become a people who are again strangers to the Covenant promises of God. How very sad that is!
But thank God, He never changes. He still is faithful even when we are not. Right now He is stirring up His people. Many are beginning to wake up and beginning to discerning the times we are living in. We’ve come into the reality that we must shed our worldly views and get back to God’s heart, and raise up His standards once again in “marriage”. By getting God’s perspective on things, our eyes will be made open to these false teachings we have been taught so Satan will no longer be able to deceive us again in this area.
We don’t condemn those who are divorced, or remarried, but humbly stand in the gap interceding for them, because we’ve all been deceived by Satan at one time or other. We’re asking God to come with His powerful breaker anointing and help us bust through this deception once and for all that Satan has put on the church body regarding Covenant understanding, and open every ones eyes to the Truth of God’s wonder working power that is there waiting for us.