Hi Rhonda,
Thank you for sharing your joy with us, as we shared your sorrow. May you
and Ben have a most beautiful and fullfilling time together.. You are a
testimony of the Lord's work and triumph. If the enemy can destroy a
marriage, he destroys the visible type of Christ and his church.
Vinny
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rhonda Partain" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 8:13 PM
Subject: 25th anniversary coming up soon
> Ben and I will cellebrate 25 years together on January 26th 2010. He asked
> me if I would like to renew our vows. Here is a message I sent to our
> pastor when he replied to me that he would be honored to help us do just
> that.
> I am sure some of you may remember the rough season Ben and I had about 8
> or so years ago.
>
> You can't possibly know how wonderful it is to have Ben want to renew our
> vows, to have him going to church with me, He said he would never.....ever
> go
> to a church again!
> I remember many nights crying myself to sleep asking God how in the world
> I could possibly reach Ben, he seemed to be growing more and more distant
> each
> day. He had computer friends and didn't seem to need me. I remember
> telling God that He showed David how to fight the giant, he showed him
> which stones
> to use. What was I to use? I felt God saying I should just love
> Ben.....not the answer I wanted. not an easy thing to do......what I
> wanted was permission
> to leave my marriage. to just end it all, this was just too hard and
> certainly not what I had signed up for. But memories of my wedding vows
> came to mind,
> for better or worse....this was worst all right.....words of being
> faithful, and true. I knew I had made a promise not just to Ben but to God
> as well.
> If it had been a promise to Ben only I think I might have more easily
> broken it, but then there was God right there in the middle of all this
> anger,
> hurt, and disappointment! I am sooo glad God wouldn't give me what I
> wanted, but insisted I stay!
> I am truly blessed and as our 25th year together comes to an end I realize
> more and more how wonderful the love of God truly is! just as God directed
> David
> in choosing the five stones, so too He directed me in loving Ben when
> that was not what I wanted to do.
> I couldn' understand why God would want me to stay in a situation where I
> was so hurt, where angry words criticised everything I did or
> said......why???
> But God can see the future, and He knew if I would only stick it out, be
> strong through the rough patches I would have what I had prayed for such
> a long
> time for, a husband who loved me, who used his words to encourage and
> support me, who talked to me about everything, someone who held me close
> and made
> me feel loved and secure.
> Thank You Father....for your love that is soo much greater than mine, for
> never giving up on your children, even when we have temper fits!
> for showing me how to forgive and how to love again!
> This is truly a beautiful picture of what your love can do.
> I thank you for Ben, for his lovve, and that he stayed too when I wasn't
> the most aggreable to live with. We are so blessed to have a marriage of
> three!
> Rhonda
>
>
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