IF YOUR HUSBAND IS STRUGGLING WITH PORN ADDICTION, IF YOU ARE WONDERING HOW WOMEN CAN WORK IN THAT INDUSTRY, IF YOU ARE TRYING OR WONDERING HOW TO GET YOUR HUSBAND TO UNDERSTAND HOW PORN IS FAKE, HURTFUL AND KILLS, GO TO THE SHELLEY LUBBEN WEB SITE. SHE HAS THE MOST POWERFUL MESSAGE OF THIS HORRIBLE INDUSTRY.
SHELLY LUBBEN IS A RECOVERING PORN ACTRESS AND PROSITUTE. SHE HAS A POWERFUL MESSAGE OF THE TRUTH BEHIND THIS SEX INDUSTRY. HER STRENGTH AND WISDOM IS SO FAR REACHING IN THIS INDUSTRY THAT HER MINISTRY IS A MUST TO SEE AND HEAR. GOD HAS GIVEN HER THE GIFT OF COURAGE. I CAN NOT IMAGINE HOW HARD IT HAD TO BE FOR HER TO STAND UP AND ADMIT TO THE THINGS SHE HAD CHOOSEN TO DO WITH HER LIFE.
SHE HAS THE MOST INSIGHTFUL, POWERFUL, LIFE CHANGING MESSAGE.
IF YOU CAN, HAVE YOUR HUSBAND WATCH THIS WITH YOU. IF HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT DAMAGE HE DOES WHEN HE VIEWS PORN, HE MOST CERTAINLY WILL AFTER HEARING HER MESSAGE OF THE ABUSE AND LIES BEHIND THE CAMERAS THAT ARE FILMING THESE ADULT MOVIES.
I THINK ONE OF THE MOST SHOCKING THINGS SHE TELLS IS THAT THE HIGHEST VIEWING NUMBERS ARE THOSE BETWEEN 12 AND 17.
HER WEB SITE IS:
www.shelleylubben.com
THAN GO TO THE LEFT SIDE AND CLICK ON (THE TURTH) GO TO HER VIDEO THAT SAYS, "SHELLEY AMAZING STORY"
SHELLEY ALSO HAS A MY SPACE SITE, WHERE SHE HAS MANY OTHER VIDEOS AND EVERY ONE OF THEM IS AMAZINGLY TRUE.
IF YOU TRULY WANT YOUR SPOUSE TO GET WHAT THE PORN INDUSTRY REALLY IS, TAKE THEM ON THIS JOURNEY WITH SHELLEY. IF THEY DO NOT GET IT AFTER HEARING THIS IT WOULD ABSOLUTELY AMAZE ME.
GOD BLESS:
KATE
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
BOOK OF LIFE
Have you ever looked at life like a book? We are all born with a front and back cover. We are even born with the title to our book, once our parents give us our name, it is embossed on the front cover. It becomes our very own BOOK OF LIFE.
Most of us have already written many chapters. In some of our chapters we have written in many life changing mistakes but we have also written in many wonderful life changing victories. With each chapter we hopefully have grown. In some of our chapters we may have made the same mistakes multiple times, maybe to a different degree, such as it might have been worse the first time we made it, than it was the second or third time, it might have even been worse the second or third time. Even if we have made the same mistakes over, we still have learned something about ourselves. Maybe we found out we do not learn good enough or fast enough, or maybe we learned we got stronger every time we have made the same mistake and we start noticing the warning signs earlier, to stop us from repeating it again. It truly is not important what the mistakes are or even how often we have repeated them. The most important issue is that we recognize we have made mistakes, we accept responsibility and take accountability for them, this is where our pages start to change from mistakes to victories, where true change begins in our life and new pages are being written. I have made many mistakes going through this journey. Who really knows, I mean truly knows, how to write this kind of chapter. The chapter titled: A Spouses Ultimate Betrayal.
All of us going through this, will be writing our own pages to the next chapter of our Book. Some of us will not make as many mistakes as others will, we may repeat mistakes over and over, while others will not. Some will make a decision based on their emotions of the moment, others will wait to see how time does at healing the wounds. Some will put blinders on and pretend it did not happen, while others will take theirs off for the first time in years. Others may forgive immediately or over time, while others may never forgive. Words, from anger, pain, resentment, even from love, will be spoken, or they may never be spoken and possibly regretted later. The pages to each of our chapters, are ours to write and we must live with each page, once we write it, it can not be rewritten. We can most certainly change and write our pages to the next chapter differently, but the ones we have already written can not be deleted, erased, removed or redone as they are now a page in a chapter of our Book of Life.
Books are usually written with a subject matter. Whether it is fiction or non fiction, it has a beginning, a middle and an ending. The author usually gets to pick what he/she wants their characters to go through. Most of the time there is a hero and a villian with other characters mixed into the plot, the author can take them anywhere he wants them to go, have whatever personality he wants them to have, make them rich or poor, strong or weak. The characters of a book do not get to decide what happens to them, where they go or even what they do, the author has free rein over them. Some books are so good, you just can not put them down until you have finished the whole story, while others are so boring that reading one chapter puts you to sleep. There are those that get you so caught up that you start to fantasize that you are the hero in the story line. When you have finally finished reading the book you will have decided whether it was worth reading or a waste of time. When asked, you will tell others what you thought about the book, "it was great, the best book I have read in years,", "it was a tear jerker and I cried the whole way through", "it was the most boring, puts you to sleep book ever written," or maybe just a simple, "it was okay, but I would not read it again." It is always up to the reader if the author of the book was good or not and it is the reader who determines if the author's book will make money or be on the Best Sellers list.
________________________________________________
Every minute of every day, you are writing a page in a chapter of your Book and on some of those pages will be lifes you have touched along the way. (How would, or will your Book read when these questions are asked?)
How did I conduct myself when others mistreated me, did I handle it with dignity and Grace?
When I made mistakes, did I take responsibility for them, did I learn and grow?
When life beat me down, did I stay down or get up, did I continue on with myself respect and self value in tact, or did I throw it out the window and hurt others with gossip and back stabbing to feel better, "I'll do unto you, what you did unto me" mentality?
Did I live to the best of my ability, using a moral compass to guide me, or did I have the careless, it's my life and I will do what I want regardless of who it might hurt, attitude?
Did I share and give thanks for my victories? Did I appreciate those who helped me acheive my successes?
Did I honor my word? Keep my promises or did I just not care?
Did I build up or tear down someone else's life? Was I a positive or negitative influence in the lifes of others?
Did I work hard to bringing peace and joy, or just cause conflict in the lives of those I love, work with, or met in the World?
___________________________________________
How are you writing your Book? What will the readers remember about it when it is finished? Will your Book be a Top Seller? One where others will say:
"That was the Best Book, I want to write one just like that, it left me feel like I can do anything".
"Yes the Book was full of mistakes but their victories completely outshined their mistakes, it left me feeling like I might make some wrong choices but there is hope for me, I can redeem myself by making better ones."
"That was the absolute worst Book I have ever read, do not buy it, you will be filled with anger and hatred at the end."
____________________________________________
We get to write our own Book, we get to choose what goes on our pages and how the chapters will read. Remember our Book of Life, does not have an edit button, we do not have the rewrite option, once the WORDS ARE SPOKEN, ACTIONS DONE, THOUGHTS ARE PROCESSED and CHOICES ARE MADE, it is forever written on a page in a chapter of your Book.
Unlike the author of a book we buy or read in a Library, who gets to design the cover of their book and decides what is going to happen with the story, the characters of his book have no choice, they are what he makes them, than the author has the ability to edit the pages and rewrite a paragraph if they do not like how it reads, we do not get that luxury. We do not know what will happen in our life. We do not know what is coming, good or bad. The only thing we get is the choice on how we handle whatever it is that comes our way and that is what makes up the pages, in the chapters of our Book of Life.
I believe that God designed our covers, He knows our ending and He knew our story before we even wrote it. God is the designer of our Book and we are the author. We get to write our own story. Sometimes our story lines are not by our choosing, but we get to chose how it will be written. God gave us a magnificent and powerful gift, the honor of making our own choices.
When we give our lives to Chirst, He should be the author of our Book, I think of all the pain and suffering I could have spared myself had I of just let God be the complete author of my Book, but I am just a human being and I always have hung on to parts of my own story line and it has been through those times that I have made my greatest mistakes and pages were written with great regret. Christ knew I was going to do this and that is why is sent His Son to die for us. Although God forgives us for those pages, (sins), it is in forgiving ourselves, that I beleive, we write our most painful pages. Since we can not forgive ourself we unfortunately make the mistake again and another page is written. Everyone's Book will have mistakes, bad decisions, poor choices, but it is those who can forgive themself and move on to better decisions and choices that will start writing new pages filled with a more positive story line.
Tomorrow, when you first wake up in the morning, think about the fact that you can start to write a whole new page and possibly a new chapter to your Book of Life. The past is already written, its over and the pages are full. How do you want to start this fresh new page? How do you want the rest of your Book to read? What do you want your readers to say when your Book is finished? It is your Book, it is your choice what you write.
WHAT DO YOU WANT THE PAGES AND CHAPTERS OF YOUR LIFE TO SAY WHEN YOU FINISH YOUR BOOK?
Most of us have already written many chapters. In some of our chapters we have written in many life changing mistakes but we have also written in many wonderful life changing victories. With each chapter we hopefully have grown. In some of our chapters we may have made the same mistakes multiple times, maybe to a different degree, such as it might have been worse the first time we made it, than it was the second or third time, it might have even been worse the second or third time. Even if we have made the same mistakes over, we still have learned something about ourselves. Maybe we found out we do not learn good enough or fast enough, or maybe we learned we got stronger every time we have made the same mistake and we start noticing the warning signs earlier, to stop us from repeating it again. It truly is not important what the mistakes are or even how often we have repeated them. The most important issue is that we recognize we have made mistakes, we accept responsibility and take accountability for them, this is where our pages start to change from mistakes to victories, where true change begins in our life and new pages are being written. I have made many mistakes going through this journey. Who really knows, I mean truly knows, how to write this kind of chapter. The chapter titled: A Spouses Ultimate Betrayal.
All of us going through this, will be writing our own pages to the next chapter of our Book. Some of us will not make as many mistakes as others will, we may repeat mistakes over and over, while others will not. Some will make a decision based on their emotions of the moment, others will wait to see how time does at healing the wounds. Some will put blinders on and pretend it did not happen, while others will take theirs off for the first time in years. Others may forgive immediately or over time, while others may never forgive. Words, from anger, pain, resentment, even from love, will be spoken, or they may never be spoken and possibly regretted later. The pages to each of our chapters, are ours to write and we must live with each page, once we write it, it can not be rewritten. We can most certainly change and write our pages to the next chapter differently, but the ones we have already written can not be deleted, erased, removed or redone as they are now a page in a chapter of our Book of Life.
Books are usually written with a subject matter. Whether it is fiction or non fiction, it has a beginning, a middle and an ending. The author usually gets to pick what he/she wants their characters to go through. Most of the time there is a hero and a villian with other characters mixed into the plot, the author can take them anywhere he wants them to go, have whatever personality he wants them to have, make them rich or poor, strong or weak. The characters of a book do not get to decide what happens to them, where they go or even what they do, the author has free rein over them. Some books are so good, you just can not put them down until you have finished the whole story, while others are so boring that reading one chapter puts you to sleep. There are those that get you so caught up that you start to fantasize that you are the hero in the story line. When you have finally finished reading the book you will have decided whether it was worth reading or a waste of time. When asked, you will tell others what you thought about the book, "it was great, the best book I have read in years,", "it was a tear jerker and I cried the whole way through", "it was the most boring, puts you to sleep book ever written," or maybe just a simple, "it was okay, but I would not read it again." It is always up to the reader if the author of the book was good or not and it is the reader who determines if the author's book will make money or be on the Best Sellers list.
________________________________________________
Every minute of every day, you are writing a page in a chapter of your Book and on some of those pages will be lifes you have touched along the way. (How would, or will your Book read when these questions are asked?)
How did I conduct myself when others mistreated me, did I handle it with dignity and Grace?
When I made mistakes, did I take responsibility for them, did I learn and grow?
When life beat me down, did I stay down or get up, did I continue on with myself respect and self value in tact, or did I throw it out the window and hurt others with gossip and back stabbing to feel better, "I'll do unto you, what you did unto me" mentality?
Did I live to the best of my ability, using a moral compass to guide me, or did I have the careless, it's my life and I will do what I want regardless of who it might hurt, attitude?
Did I share and give thanks for my victories? Did I appreciate those who helped me acheive my successes?
Did I honor my word? Keep my promises or did I just not care?
Did I build up or tear down someone else's life? Was I a positive or negitative influence in the lifes of others?
Did I work hard to bringing peace and joy, or just cause conflict in the lives of those I love, work with, or met in the World?
___________________________________________
How are you writing your Book? What will the readers remember about it when it is finished? Will your Book be a Top Seller? One where others will say:
"That was the Best Book, I want to write one just like that, it left me feel like I can do anything".
"Yes the Book was full of mistakes but their victories completely outshined their mistakes, it left me feeling like I might make some wrong choices but there is hope for me, I can redeem myself by making better ones."
"That was the absolute worst Book I have ever read, do not buy it, you will be filled with anger and hatred at the end."
____________________________________________
We get to write our own Book, we get to choose what goes on our pages and how the chapters will read. Remember our Book of Life, does not have an edit button, we do not have the rewrite option, once the WORDS ARE SPOKEN, ACTIONS DONE, THOUGHTS ARE PROCESSED and CHOICES ARE MADE, it is forever written on a page in a chapter of your Book.
Unlike the author of a book we buy or read in a Library, who gets to design the cover of their book and decides what is going to happen with the story, the characters of his book have no choice, they are what he makes them, than the author has the ability to edit the pages and rewrite a paragraph if they do not like how it reads, we do not get that luxury. We do not know what will happen in our life. We do not know what is coming, good or bad. The only thing we get is the choice on how we handle whatever it is that comes our way and that is what makes up the pages, in the chapters of our Book of Life.
I believe that God designed our covers, He knows our ending and He knew our story before we even wrote it. God is the designer of our Book and we are the author. We get to write our own story. Sometimes our story lines are not by our choosing, but we get to chose how it will be written. God gave us a magnificent and powerful gift, the honor of making our own choices.
When we give our lives to Chirst, He should be the author of our Book, I think of all the pain and suffering I could have spared myself had I of just let God be the complete author of my Book, but I am just a human being and I always have hung on to parts of my own story line and it has been through those times that I have made my greatest mistakes and pages were written with great regret. Christ knew I was going to do this and that is why is sent His Son to die for us. Although God forgives us for those pages, (sins), it is in forgiving ourselves, that I beleive, we write our most painful pages. Since we can not forgive ourself we unfortunately make the mistake again and another page is written. Everyone's Book will have mistakes, bad decisions, poor choices, but it is those who can forgive themself and move on to better decisions and choices that will start writing new pages filled with a more positive story line.
Tomorrow, when you first wake up in the morning, think about the fact that you can start to write a whole new page and possibly a new chapter to your Book of Life. The past is already written, its over and the pages are full. How do you want to start this fresh new page? How do you want the rest of your Book to read? What do you want your readers to say when your Book is finished? It is your Book, it is your choice what you write.
WHAT DO YOU WANT THE PAGES AND CHAPTERS OF YOUR LIFE TO SAY WHEN YOU FINISH YOUR BOOK?
Monday, June 8, 2009
NEVER STOP TALKING
"I think we should just get a divorce", " I could not agree more". These are words that are going on in marriages everyday all over the World. I have two very good friends who are going through this, after 23 and 13 years of marriage. I would give anything to have the opportunity that both of these couples have to fix their marriages. See, their marriages do not have the damage mine does. They are divorcing because they just do not want to do the work involved to save their relationships and families. "It's his fault", "It's her fault", is all I hear.
I think of those of us who are trying to save our marriages after the absolute worst damage has been done. The struggles we deal with on a daily basis, the pain we face every minute, the fears we feel, especially the fear of, "Will they do this to me again?" My Pastor/Counselor told me, not that long ago, that it is not a matter of "IF, but WHEN". That is scary and the thought never leaves my mind. So I put it in God's hands and let it go. One thing I know, if he does it again, I will know and I will go. If my Pastor is right, than I have to ask myself if I am wasting my time trying to salvage a marriage that is already gone. The only thing that keeps me here, still fighting every day for my family, is this time I am aware of the man that is in my life, I know what he is truly capable of, this time I have boundaries set so high he could never jump them and the accountibility is, in one word, "GONE", I'm GONE, no looking back a second time. Now, if I say it, I'll do it, no more maybe's, no more ignoring, no more looking the other way, no more shuting up. This time I am wide awake and willing to move on. The greatest damage there is to marriage has happened, over and over in mine, yet every day I face it. While so many marriage, with so little damage are ending up in the divorce court. WHY? I believe I have found the answer to my question:
I heard the most powerful message on: http://www.puresexradio.com/ the other day, it was called the "HURTING CYCLE", it described my marriage so absolutely, incredibly dead on, prior to my discovery day. The world I was living in, was on that show. The hurt and pain, prior to discovery that I felt could not have been better explained than how Jonathan and Stephen said it. I am positive if you went and listened, you would hear your own life in it. In fact I would wager that in 95% of marriages this is happening.
In all the marriages that I am hearing about and watching disintegrate, as far as I know there has been no infidelity in them, yet they are ending in divorce. Families are separating and children are being hurt. I have asked myself why. Why would they want to end their marriages when they have so little damage. Maybe I see it as little damage because mine has such great damage. Here I am working at saving my marriage, my family, after the absolutely worst storm hit it and others are just throwing theirs away. WHY? After listening to Pure Sex Radio, I got it. There is hurt, with to much pride and an unwillingness to TALK to each other. It is just to much work. Wow, if they could just see how much work it takes after your marriage has been hit by a tornado, (sex addiction, infidelity) maybe they would realize just how easy it would be for them to salvage their relationship. Sometimes I just want to scream, TALK TO EACH OTHER, how hard does that have to be. Yell, scream, get mad, but do something, say something, throw your darn pride out the window and humble yourself. What does God say about pride? "A proud man is a stupid man but a humble man is wise." Where is the wisdom is breaking up your family?
I remember when I stopped talking to my husband. I had tried for years to get him to hear me, to listen to my concerns over our marriage, to get help for himself and our marriage, yet no matter what I said or did, he would refuse and after awhile I stopped asking. In fact I stopped talking all together to him. I only spoke when speaking was necessary. I can not tell you how many times my friends would say, "talk to your husband" and I would say back, "why, it will do no good, he won't hear me, or he'll just lie to me, so why should I waste my time and energy." When I think back to those times, I get extremely angry with myself, because I should have spoken up regardless, I should have screamed it from the mountain tops. Instead I buried it inside myself and began the journey to resentment and totally distancing myself from him. Both physically and emotionally.
One Sunday afternoon, about four years prior to discovery, I felt so lonely in my marriage, I felt like I had this man who was nothing more than a body sitting in my living room. I took a walk alone, listening to music on my - walkman radio - cassette player, (no, I had not heard of the Ipod yet, lol) a song started to play called, "It Matters To Me" by Faith Hill and I started to cry, that song said so much of how I was feeling at the time, it stirred up so many emotions in me. After that song was over another one came on by Patti Loveless called "I Don't Want To Feel Like That", after Patti's was over another one came on, "Whatever You Say", by Martina McBride, I could not believe that these songs were playing one after the other and each one described emotions I was dealing with in my marriage. When I got home, I went to my collections of tapes and found all three songs, I walked down stairs and put them in the player, turned up the volume and said to Wayne, "Please listen to these three songs, they say so much about what I feel and how our marriage is failing, we have to do something to change, I can not take it anymore, please listen with an open heart and mind". I turned them on and while Wayne and I sat in that room together listening to these songs, I cried the entire time as he sat there stone faced, saying NOT ONE WORD. I sat there in tears and he showed NO emotions, is that Love? Is that even an ounce of Care? NO Yet I stayed. I had no boundaries, I had no accountability to how he treated me or our marriage. He would not TALK and I did not push for answers. SHAME ON ME, SHAME ON ME.
Today, I have boundaries and let me tell you the accountability is harsh. Never again will I allow someone to disrespect me like that, never will I give and give while receiving absolutely nothing in return, NEVER again will I disrespect myself. My God, wants me to be my very best and I can only be my GREATEST by living OUT LOUD. I will never be SILENT again. If I could only teach this to others. If I could wrap up everything I have learned the past 2 years and hand it out as a gift to every marriage in this world, I would do it, I would scream it from the highest mountain. TALK, TALK and TALK some more, SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT and than STAND UP, STAND TALL, STAND STRAIGHT, STAND STRONG, SPEAK UNTIL YOU HAVE BEEN HEARD, IF NOT BY WORDS THAN BY ACTIONS, DO NOT STAY QUIET, DO NOT KEEP IT INSIDE, DO NOT IGNORE IT, DO NOT FEAR IT, DO NOT ACCEPT HIS/HER SILENCE.
Why are marriages falling apart today? Because no body wants to, or is willing to Talk, Listen or do the Work it takes to make it. It is to easy to walk away, it's the simple way out. It's to hard to be honest to face our own issues and change, it is to much to face the pain of who we have let ourselves become. Empty, lonely, afraid, resentful, angry, frustrated, hurt, unforgiving or cheap forgiving, self pitying, judgemental individuals. It takes a STRONG person to face them self. It is so EASY to see the faults in others, to blame others for our pain, our misfortune, its so Easy to judge someone else for what they do and don't do. Its EASY to give advice on how someone else should live. IT'S EXTREMELY HARD TO LOOK IN OUR OWN MIRROR, IT'S HARD TO STAND UP TO OURSELVES AND TAKE OUR OWN ADVICE. THIS IS WHERE A PERSONS TRUE COURAGE SHINES THROUGH, WHEN WE TAKE COMPLETE RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY TO WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO. IT TAKES COURAGE TO CHANGE AND IT TAKES COURAGE TO SPEAK UP, TO ACTUALLY FACE THE HARD BLOWS IN THIS LIFE AND DO THE EXHAUSTING WORK TO CHANGE. We have all gotten to lazy and divorce is just to EASY of a way out anymore, its EASY to walk away. The saddest part of that walk is that every time we walk away from the fight, we walk away from ourselves. A part of us dies right there. Even though we do not recognize it at the time, something dies in us every time we choose the EASY way out. A part of our self esteem goes, our self respect, our integrity, our self worth and we do not even realize it.
The next time someone tells me a weak person stays in a marriage that has been damaged either by infidelity or just a disconnection, I am going to scream. IT TAKES MORE STRENGTH TO STAY AND DO THE HARD WORK, IT TAKES MORE COURAGE TO FACE YOUR PAIN EVERYDAY, IT TAKES BOTH STRENGTH AND COURAGE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE, THAN IT WOULD EVER TAKE TO WALK AWAY. (Let me make this very clear, it takes NO strength to stay and look the other way, it takes NO courage to stay and do no work on your self, that's just another easy way out. This really is not a way out, this is just a way into more pain.)
To those of you who have choosen divorce over working on your marriages, those who have been dealt the greatest blow, infidelity, do not take me wrong. You have a right to divorce and move on with your life. God Bless You for it. I am not saying that you are weak for chosing divorce if your spouse was unwilling to change or if your spouse gave you no choice and left. I just hope that if you have chosen divorce, you are still working on yourself. I am going to share a story of a lady who divorced her husband. She does not believe in forgiveness. She was extremely angry with her ex husband for the choices he made during their marriage, her anger stemmed over to the other woman as well and after four years of so called trying to salvage her marriage, she chose divorce. Although she divorced her husband she was still having sex with him, she would still call him up at night, yell and scream about what he did and why. The pain of his infidelity was still there, even after she divorced him. She was so afraid of being alone. She is 47 years old and her fears of growing old alone caused her to make a choice that cost us our friendship, worst than that, it cost her so much more. Instead of working on and through her fears, she jumped. 7 months after her divorce, she met someone on the internet, someone who she knew in school, 30 years ago, within one month, they are living together. Let me tell you what ended our friendship, mine and hers, this old friend she met online had been living with a woman for 15 years and was still living with her when my friend started seeing and talking to him, she excused and justified her behavior as not being the same as infidelity because they were never married. My old friend does not put herself in the same shoes as the other woman, I do. Instead of working on her issues and changing her life for the better, she allowed her fears and self esteem issues to take her integrity and self respect away. I have lost all the respect I had for her. I am not judging her, its through my own changes that I now will only allow those who value their character, into my life. If someone can justify in anyway that hurting someone else is okay, they can not be a part of my life, it is just that simple. Trust me, I told her exactly how I felt about how she conducted herself through this. It saddens me to the deepest part of my heart.
If you have chosen to divorce, please continue to do the gut wrenching work on yourself. Know who you are and what you stand for. Never let what you have been through take your self worth and self respect away. Be proud of who you are and your strengths.
For those of you still fighting for your marriages, stay strong, believe in yourself and let know one tell you, that you are weak for staying. If they have been where you have been, they will understand, if they have not, they should hit their knees right now and Thank God and start doing the work they need to do in their own marriages, like TALKING so they may know the pain we have endured.
For those of you who are struggling to just connect with your spouse, start TALKING and do not stop until you have been heard. Scream it, Yell it, put it on a Bill Board, just do not stop TALKING. TALK, TALK than TALK some more, TALK everyday of every year and NEVER STOP. Communication is what bonds us together.
I think of those of us who are trying to save our marriages after the absolute worst damage has been done. The struggles we deal with on a daily basis, the pain we face every minute, the fears we feel, especially the fear of, "Will they do this to me again?" My Pastor/Counselor told me, not that long ago, that it is not a matter of "IF, but WHEN". That is scary and the thought never leaves my mind. So I put it in God's hands and let it go. One thing I know, if he does it again, I will know and I will go. If my Pastor is right, than I have to ask myself if I am wasting my time trying to salvage a marriage that is already gone. The only thing that keeps me here, still fighting every day for my family, is this time I am aware of the man that is in my life, I know what he is truly capable of, this time I have boundaries set so high he could never jump them and the accountibility is, in one word, "GONE", I'm GONE, no looking back a second time. Now, if I say it, I'll do it, no more maybe's, no more ignoring, no more looking the other way, no more shuting up. This time I am wide awake and willing to move on. The greatest damage there is to marriage has happened, over and over in mine, yet every day I face it. While so many marriage, with so little damage are ending up in the divorce court. WHY? I believe I have found the answer to my question:
I heard the most powerful message on: http://www.puresexradio.com/ the other day, it was called the "HURTING CYCLE", it described my marriage so absolutely, incredibly dead on, prior to my discovery day. The world I was living in, was on that show. The hurt and pain, prior to discovery that I felt could not have been better explained than how Jonathan and Stephen said it. I am positive if you went and listened, you would hear your own life in it. In fact I would wager that in 95% of marriages this is happening.
In all the marriages that I am hearing about and watching disintegrate, as far as I know there has been no infidelity in them, yet they are ending in divorce. Families are separating and children are being hurt. I have asked myself why. Why would they want to end their marriages when they have so little damage. Maybe I see it as little damage because mine has such great damage. Here I am working at saving my marriage, my family, after the absolutely worst storm hit it and others are just throwing theirs away. WHY? After listening to Pure Sex Radio, I got it. There is hurt, with to much pride and an unwillingness to TALK to each other. It is just to much work. Wow, if they could just see how much work it takes after your marriage has been hit by a tornado, (sex addiction, infidelity) maybe they would realize just how easy it would be for them to salvage their relationship. Sometimes I just want to scream, TALK TO EACH OTHER, how hard does that have to be. Yell, scream, get mad, but do something, say something, throw your darn pride out the window and humble yourself. What does God say about pride? "A proud man is a stupid man but a humble man is wise." Where is the wisdom is breaking up your family?
I remember when I stopped talking to my husband. I had tried for years to get him to hear me, to listen to my concerns over our marriage, to get help for himself and our marriage, yet no matter what I said or did, he would refuse and after awhile I stopped asking. In fact I stopped talking all together to him. I only spoke when speaking was necessary. I can not tell you how many times my friends would say, "talk to your husband" and I would say back, "why, it will do no good, he won't hear me, or he'll just lie to me, so why should I waste my time and energy." When I think back to those times, I get extremely angry with myself, because I should have spoken up regardless, I should have screamed it from the mountain tops. Instead I buried it inside myself and began the journey to resentment and totally distancing myself from him. Both physically and emotionally.
One Sunday afternoon, about four years prior to discovery, I felt so lonely in my marriage, I felt like I had this man who was nothing more than a body sitting in my living room. I took a walk alone, listening to music on my - walkman radio - cassette player, (no, I had not heard of the Ipod yet, lol) a song started to play called, "It Matters To Me" by Faith Hill and I started to cry, that song said so much of how I was feeling at the time, it stirred up so many emotions in me. After that song was over another one came on by Patti Loveless called "I Don't Want To Feel Like That", after Patti's was over another one came on, "Whatever You Say", by Martina McBride, I could not believe that these songs were playing one after the other and each one described emotions I was dealing with in my marriage. When I got home, I went to my collections of tapes and found all three songs, I walked down stairs and put them in the player, turned up the volume and said to Wayne, "Please listen to these three songs, they say so much about what I feel and how our marriage is failing, we have to do something to change, I can not take it anymore, please listen with an open heart and mind". I turned them on and while Wayne and I sat in that room together listening to these songs, I cried the entire time as he sat there stone faced, saying NOT ONE WORD. I sat there in tears and he showed NO emotions, is that Love? Is that even an ounce of Care? NO Yet I stayed. I had no boundaries, I had no accountability to how he treated me or our marriage. He would not TALK and I did not push for answers. SHAME ON ME, SHAME ON ME.
Today, I have boundaries and let me tell you the accountability is harsh. Never again will I allow someone to disrespect me like that, never will I give and give while receiving absolutely nothing in return, NEVER again will I disrespect myself. My God, wants me to be my very best and I can only be my GREATEST by living OUT LOUD. I will never be SILENT again. If I could only teach this to others. If I could wrap up everything I have learned the past 2 years and hand it out as a gift to every marriage in this world, I would do it, I would scream it from the highest mountain. TALK, TALK and TALK some more, SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT and than STAND UP, STAND TALL, STAND STRAIGHT, STAND STRONG, SPEAK UNTIL YOU HAVE BEEN HEARD, IF NOT BY WORDS THAN BY ACTIONS, DO NOT STAY QUIET, DO NOT KEEP IT INSIDE, DO NOT IGNORE IT, DO NOT FEAR IT, DO NOT ACCEPT HIS/HER SILENCE.
Why are marriages falling apart today? Because no body wants to, or is willing to Talk, Listen or do the Work it takes to make it. It is to easy to walk away, it's the simple way out. It's to hard to be honest to face our own issues and change, it is to much to face the pain of who we have let ourselves become. Empty, lonely, afraid, resentful, angry, frustrated, hurt, unforgiving or cheap forgiving, self pitying, judgemental individuals. It takes a STRONG person to face them self. It is so EASY to see the faults in others, to blame others for our pain, our misfortune, its so Easy to judge someone else for what they do and don't do. Its EASY to give advice on how someone else should live. IT'S EXTREMELY HARD TO LOOK IN OUR OWN MIRROR, IT'S HARD TO STAND UP TO OURSELVES AND TAKE OUR OWN ADVICE. THIS IS WHERE A PERSONS TRUE COURAGE SHINES THROUGH, WHEN WE TAKE COMPLETE RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY TO WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO. IT TAKES COURAGE TO CHANGE AND IT TAKES COURAGE TO SPEAK UP, TO ACTUALLY FACE THE HARD BLOWS IN THIS LIFE AND DO THE EXHAUSTING WORK TO CHANGE. We have all gotten to lazy and divorce is just to EASY of a way out anymore, its EASY to walk away. The saddest part of that walk is that every time we walk away from the fight, we walk away from ourselves. A part of us dies right there. Even though we do not recognize it at the time, something dies in us every time we choose the EASY way out. A part of our self esteem goes, our self respect, our integrity, our self worth and we do not even realize it.
The next time someone tells me a weak person stays in a marriage that has been damaged either by infidelity or just a disconnection, I am going to scream. IT TAKES MORE STRENGTH TO STAY AND DO THE HARD WORK, IT TAKES MORE COURAGE TO FACE YOUR PAIN EVERYDAY, IT TAKES BOTH STRENGTH AND COURAGE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE, THAN IT WOULD EVER TAKE TO WALK AWAY. (Let me make this very clear, it takes NO strength to stay and look the other way, it takes NO courage to stay and do no work on your self, that's just another easy way out. This really is not a way out, this is just a way into more pain.)
To those of you who have choosen divorce over working on your marriages, those who have been dealt the greatest blow, infidelity, do not take me wrong. You have a right to divorce and move on with your life. God Bless You for it. I am not saying that you are weak for chosing divorce if your spouse was unwilling to change or if your spouse gave you no choice and left. I just hope that if you have chosen divorce, you are still working on yourself. I am going to share a story of a lady who divorced her husband. She does not believe in forgiveness. She was extremely angry with her ex husband for the choices he made during their marriage, her anger stemmed over to the other woman as well and after four years of so called trying to salvage her marriage, she chose divorce. Although she divorced her husband she was still having sex with him, she would still call him up at night, yell and scream about what he did and why. The pain of his infidelity was still there, even after she divorced him. She was so afraid of being alone. She is 47 years old and her fears of growing old alone caused her to make a choice that cost us our friendship, worst than that, it cost her so much more. Instead of working on and through her fears, she jumped. 7 months after her divorce, she met someone on the internet, someone who she knew in school, 30 years ago, within one month, they are living together. Let me tell you what ended our friendship, mine and hers, this old friend she met online had been living with a woman for 15 years and was still living with her when my friend started seeing and talking to him, she excused and justified her behavior as not being the same as infidelity because they were never married. My old friend does not put herself in the same shoes as the other woman, I do. Instead of working on her issues and changing her life for the better, she allowed her fears and self esteem issues to take her integrity and self respect away. I have lost all the respect I had for her. I am not judging her, its through my own changes that I now will only allow those who value their character, into my life. If someone can justify in anyway that hurting someone else is okay, they can not be a part of my life, it is just that simple. Trust me, I told her exactly how I felt about how she conducted herself through this. It saddens me to the deepest part of my heart.
If you have chosen to divorce, please continue to do the gut wrenching work on yourself. Know who you are and what you stand for. Never let what you have been through take your self worth and self respect away. Be proud of who you are and your strengths.
For those of you still fighting for your marriages, stay strong, believe in yourself and let know one tell you, that you are weak for staying. If they have been where you have been, they will understand, if they have not, they should hit their knees right now and Thank God and start doing the work they need to do in their own marriages, like TALKING so they may know the pain we have endured.
For those of you who are struggling to just connect with your spouse, start TALKING and do not stop until you have been heard. Scream it, Yell it, put it on a Bill Board, just do not stop TALKING. TALK, TALK than TALK some more, TALK everyday of every year and NEVER STOP. Communication is what bonds us together.
Friday, May 15, 2009
THE OTHER WOMEN
The other person, man/woman in an affair can be a complex person to understand. I have read on other forums how the betrayed spouse wants to or has confronted the OM/OW. I have been asked what I thought, should they be contacted. I am going to write down my journey, what it was that I needed to do to help with my own closer. Some of you will judge me, some of you will think I got the ultimate revenge and others of you will just understand why I did what I did. (LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS, UNLESS YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH AND SKILL TO COMPLETELY TAKE IT FOR WHAT IT IS, CLOSURE FOR YOU.)
If you have read my story, than you know there were many Other Women in my husbands life. Some with whom I knew personally. When I finally was able to get their names from my husband, at least all the names he could remember, I called each and every one of them. Here is what happened on those calls.
1.) Mrs. Taylor, Yes this was a married woman who had gotten her husbands approval to sleep with my husband early on in our marriage. They were swingers. When I called her, she laughed at me, telling me that it had happened so long ago, that my husband might be a "cheat" but at least he was not a "liar". I completely kept my composer. I got NO apology, there was no remorse, no guilt. Her and my husband had only had sex once and all I could do was feel sorry for her. What a pathetic way to live, hurting others. At that moment that door closed for me. You can not give morals to someone who does not have even a small portion of morals. She laughed throughout our entire conversation. This affair took place just 6 months into our marriage. This conversation took place after discovery.
2.) Carla: This is the one who denied everything. Nothing happened, my husband loved me, talked about how great his family was. My husband would never do anything to hurt any of us. They never had sex, only meals together. They were just friends. Talked at work. She knew everything about my life and my husbands life before me. This conversation took place with in the first 6 months of our marriage. I choice to believe her, not my husband, but this woman. This was his first affair partner on me. Had she of told me the truth than, I could have saved myself years of pain and heartache. Remember, if you talk to the Other person, they will LIE! Be careful as to what you believe and who you believe is telling the truth.
3.) Tracy: This was one of my ex employees. She was going through a divorce and had three children, I was helping her by paying rent and day care when I could. We than gave her a job on our construction site. This affair took place about 5 to 6 years into our marriage. I did not know about this affair either until after discovery. In fact this was the last one my husband told me about. I have video's of this woman, mixed in with family functions now. Of course I was going to call her. She is a prostitute in Las Vegas, she has not seen her children in 12 years, she has a drug problem. Her life must absolutely be horrible. Her and my husband had sex one time. According to both stories. She did apologize to me, she had remorse, only because I was her friend. I forgave her, I even offered to help her change her life. Nothing came of that offer.
4.) Roxanne: This woman had a 3 year affair with my husband. She to was married, is still married to the same husband. Their affair ended in 1997, only because my husband left a message on the windshield of her car asking if she needed her kitchen remodeled, her husband retrieved the message and it scared her to death, she did not want to lose her marriage. She told me she never knew my husband was married until I came to the job site one day. After she found out he was indeed married, she said they had sex twice afterwards. She told me that she had lost her mother and her husband was not supportive, that my husband made her feel better about herself at the time, after it ended, it has haunted her, she has to live with the fear of her husband finding out. She said my husband was a horrible person and that she felt like she was now on his level in this life. She started crying, apologizing, begging me to forgive her. "It was the biggest mistake of my life." "I wish I could go back and undo what I did." Her remorse was all I needed, once I had that, I was able to shut that door. She told me that my husband never said a word about me, not one negative or positive word. During their affair, my husband was working out of town, I would take time to plan surprises for him, like go to a motel where he was working, call him up and give him clues to find me. After discovery, I found out how after I would leave, he would call her to come over. He begged her to come, she never did. The knowledge of that, now takes away all the memories of those times. They once were special and wonderful memories. Now they will live forever in the Trash compartment of my mind.
5.) Maryann: This was a 7 month affair in 2004. While my husband was working on a Skiing Resort, he met this woman at the bar in the small town he was staying in. I had moved up there with him to start with, but my gut kept telling me that something was very wrong and I went home and stayed. Within a few days of my leaving he was with her. When I spoke with her, she to was remorseful, apologized, she said my husband was empty and did nothing for her. She was in her early 30's my husband in his 50's. She was my/our daughters age. She told me some of the things my husband said about me. She as well told me about another lady up there named Katrina that wanted to talk to me, I told Maryann to give her my number. I was able to close the door to this woman as well. When you hear true remorse or heartfelt apologies it is so much easier to forgive, let go, understanding how my husband manipulated every woman around him.
6.) Cindy; I never spoke to Cindy directly. She worked for the company that did our payroll, back in 1994 to 1997. I spoke with her ex boss, Elaine, who I knew well. Elaine told me that it was the gossip of the office. That none of the women in there liked my husband, they thought he was a pig. He hit on every woman in there and they all talked about telling me, they just never had the heart to do it. How I have wished they would have. I could hear them saying, "the poor thing" whenever I left the office. Elaine told me that Cindy was married at the time of her and Wayne's affair, that she had a great husband and they all really liked him. Cindy divorced him, during her affair with my husband and it broke his heart. Elaine informed me that Cindy had remarried and divorced, her life now is extremely messed up and that has far as she was concerned, it started with my husband and him manipulating Cindy into divorcing her first husband. Cindy's kids were neglected after that by her, it was sad and hard for them to watch. I have now been able to forgive her and close that door.
It amazed me just how many others knew about my husband. He thought he was so sneaky, so good at what he was doing that these other women were telling no one else, they were guarding their secret. Yet, in reality, a lot of other people knew. The only one it was kept secret from was ME.
The benefit of me talking to these women? To let them know, I now knew. I did not name call, I did not get angry, I did not in any way try to make them feel guilty, I did not do it for any reason other than, I wanted them to know, I knew. I as well wanted to know what kind of women had been in my life without me knowing it. I got to understand how they were manipulated in the same way I was, the only difference was he ask me to marry him. I guess in some way, I saved one of them from going through what he had put me through. He most likely would have married one of these other women had he not already been married. Not for love, just for someone to use, someone to be there for him, picking up after him, cleaning up his messes, I was just the unlucky victim who said YES! For my YES, I received, herpes, years of emotional abuse, possibility of AIDES, lies and more lies, absolutely NO appreciation for all I had done. No support during hard times in my life. For my Yes, I received nothing positive, sacred, good, honorable. I received Emptiness, loneliness, cruelty, laughs behind my back, my life was made into a joke.
The women I spoke with above, were just a pin drop into all the women my husband was with, all his one night stands, etc...,to me they are nameless victims of his. This is something HE has to live with now, not me.
There is one more woman in this mix. This woman was my husbands, 9 year affair partner. 9 years out of 18, one half of my "pretend" marriage, (as she called it), was given to her. I am going to share this story with you a little differently and will be coming on another post. I have so much to enlighten you with on an affair partners mind. If you are wondering what kind of person can be the other man or woman in an affair with someone who is married, I may be able to help you understand it through the messages I received from this woman.
Please keep this in mind if you are wanting or planning on speaking with the affair partner. You WILL be lied to. You WILL hear very negative things about you, these will be stories and lies your spouse shared with them and it will hurt. Hang On to your anger, keep it in check, if you call and immediately start yelling and name calling, if you want them to have remorse you may not get it, if you try to make them feel guilty they will get defensive and you will get NO WHERE. If speaking with the other person is something you feel you must or have to do to bring closure for you, do it, but keep your dignity, your integrity. Even if they say hurtful things to you, keep your head up and remember, they have been hurt and their anger is coming from their own pain. YES, I agree with you, they did this to themselves, but that is something they will have to live with for the rest of their lives. Do not do or say something you will regret down the road. Here is one more very important bit of advice, DO NOT GIVE OUT ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOURSELF OR YOUR MARRIAGE, EVEN IF YOU HEAR SOMETHING YOU KNOW IS UNTRUE, JUST TAKE THE INFORMATION FOR WHAT IT IS AN LET IT GO, DO NOT DEFEND IT, IF THEY CAN GET YOU UPSET, IF YOU LET THEM SEE YOU ANGRY, YOU WILL MAKE THEM BELIEVE THAT EVERYTHING YOUR SPOUSE SAID ABOUT YOU IS TRUE AND THEY WILL JUSTIFY THE AFFAIR USING YOUR BEHAVIOR. BE CALM, BE STRONG, ASK QUESTION, GIVE NO ANSWERS, DO NOT LET YOUR ANGER OR PAIN SHOW, KNOW WHAT IT IS YOU WANT TO ASK PRIOR TO SPEAKING WITH THEM, DO NOT GO INTO IT WITHOUT PRE PLANNING, BUT MOSTLY, STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF!
If you have read my story, than you know there were many Other Women in my husbands life. Some with whom I knew personally. When I finally was able to get their names from my husband, at least all the names he could remember, I called each and every one of them. Here is what happened on those calls.
1.) Mrs. Taylor, Yes this was a married woman who had gotten her husbands approval to sleep with my husband early on in our marriage. They were swingers. When I called her, she laughed at me, telling me that it had happened so long ago, that my husband might be a "cheat" but at least he was not a "liar". I completely kept my composer. I got NO apology, there was no remorse, no guilt. Her and my husband had only had sex once and all I could do was feel sorry for her. What a pathetic way to live, hurting others. At that moment that door closed for me. You can not give morals to someone who does not have even a small portion of morals. She laughed throughout our entire conversation. This affair took place just 6 months into our marriage. This conversation took place after discovery.
2.) Carla: This is the one who denied everything. Nothing happened, my husband loved me, talked about how great his family was. My husband would never do anything to hurt any of us. They never had sex, only meals together. They were just friends. Talked at work. She knew everything about my life and my husbands life before me. This conversation took place with in the first 6 months of our marriage. I choice to believe her, not my husband, but this woman. This was his first affair partner on me. Had she of told me the truth than, I could have saved myself years of pain and heartache. Remember, if you talk to the Other person, they will LIE! Be careful as to what you believe and who you believe is telling the truth.
3.) Tracy: This was one of my ex employees. She was going through a divorce and had three children, I was helping her by paying rent and day care when I could. We than gave her a job on our construction site. This affair took place about 5 to 6 years into our marriage. I did not know about this affair either until after discovery. In fact this was the last one my husband told me about. I have video's of this woman, mixed in with family functions now. Of course I was going to call her. She is a prostitute in Las Vegas, she has not seen her children in 12 years, she has a drug problem. Her life must absolutely be horrible. Her and my husband had sex one time. According to both stories. She did apologize to me, she had remorse, only because I was her friend. I forgave her, I even offered to help her change her life. Nothing came of that offer.
4.) Roxanne: This woman had a 3 year affair with my husband. She to was married, is still married to the same husband. Their affair ended in 1997, only because my husband left a message on the windshield of her car asking if she needed her kitchen remodeled, her husband retrieved the message and it scared her to death, she did not want to lose her marriage. She told me she never knew my husband was married until I came to the job site one day. After she found out he was indeed married, she said they had sex twice afterwards. She told me that she had lost her mother and her husband was not supportive, that my husband made her feel better about herself at the time, after it ended, it has haunted her, she has to live with the fear of her husband finding out. She said my husband was a horrible person and that she felt like she was now on his level in this life. She started crying, apologizing, begging me to forgive her. "It was the biggest mistake of my life." "I wish I could go back and undo what I did." Her remorse was all I needed, once I had that, I was able to shut that door. She told me that my husband never said a word about me, not one negative or positive word. During their affair, my husband was working out of town, I would take time to plan surprises for him, like go to a motel where he was working, call him up and give him clues to find me. After discovery, I found out how after I would leave, he would call her to come over. He begged her to come, she never did. The knowledge of that, now takes away all the memories of those times. They once were special and wonderful memories. Now they will live forever in the Trash compartment of my mind.
5.) Maryann: This was a 7 month affair in 2004. While my husband was working on a Skiing Resort, he met this woman at the bar in the small town he was staying in. I had moved up there with him to start with, but my gut kept telling me that something was very wrong and I went home and stayed. Within a few days of my leaving he was with her. When I spoke with her, she to was remorseful, apologized, she said my husband was empty and did nothing for her. She was in her early 30's my husband in his 50's. She was my/our daughters age. She told me some of the things my husband said about me. She as well told me about another lady up there named Katrina that wanted to talk to me, I told Maryann to give her my number. I was able to close the door to this woman as well. When you hear true remorse or heartfelt apologies it is so much easier to forgive, let go, understanding how my husband manipulated every woman around him.
6.) Cindy; I never spoke to Cindy directly. She worked for the company that did our payroll, back in 1994 to 1997. I spoke with her ex boss, Elaine, who I knew well. Elaine told me that it was the gossip of the office. That none of the women in there liked my husband, they thought he was a pig. He hit on every woman in there and they all talked about telling me, they just never had the heart to do it. How I have wished they would have. I could hear them saying, "the poor thing" whenever I left the office. Elaine told me that Cindy was married at the time of her and Wayne's affair, that she had a great husband and they all really liked him. Cindy divorced him, during her affair with my husband and it broke his heart. Elaine informed me that Cindy had remarried and divorced, her life now is extremely messed up and that has far as she was concerned, it started with my husband and him manipulating Cindy into divorcing her first husband. Cindy's kids were neglected after that by her, it was sad and hard for them to watch. I have now been able to forgive her and close that door.
It amazed me just how many others knew about my husband. He thought he was so sneaky, so good at what he was doing that these other women were telling no one else, they were guarding their secret. Yet, in reality, a lot of other people knew. The only one it was kept secret from was ME.
The benefit of me talking to these women? To let them know, I now knew. I did not name call, I did not get angry, I did not in any way try to make them feel guilty, I did not do it for any reason other than, I wanted them to know, I knew. I as well wanted to know what kind of women had been in my life without me knowing it. I got to understand how they were manipulated in the same way I was, the only difference was he ask me to marry him. I guess in some way, I saved one of them from going through what he had put me through. He most likely would have married one of these other women had he not already been married. Not for love, just for someone to use, someone to be there for him, picking up after him, cleaning up his messes, I was just the unlucky victim who said YES! For my YES, I received, herpes, years of emotional abuse, possibility of AIDES, lies and more lies, absolutely NO appreciation for all I had done. No support during hard times in my life. For my Yes, I received nothing positive, sacred, good, honorable. I received Emptiness, loneliness, cruelty, laughs behind my back, my life was made into a joke.
The women I spoke with above, were just a pin drop into all the women my husband was with, all his one night stands, etc...,to me they are nameless victims of his. This is something HE has to live with now, not me.
There is one more woman in this mix. This woman was my husbands, 9 year affair partner. 9 years out of 18, one half of my "pretend" marriage, (as she called it), was given to her. I am going to share this story with you a little differently and will be coming on another post. I have so much to enlighten you with on an affair partners mind. If you are wondering what kind of person can be the other man or woman in an affair with someone who is married, I may be able to help you understand it through the messages I received from this woman.
Please keep this in mind if you are wanting or planning on speaking with the affair partner. You WILL be lied to. You WILL hear very negative things about you, these will be stories and lies your spouse shared with them and it will hurt. Hang On to your anger, keep it in check, if you call and immediately start yelling and name calling, if you want them to have remorse you may not get it, if you try to make them feel guilty they will get defensive and you will get NO WHERE. If speaking with the other person is something you feel you must or have to do to bring closure for you, do it, but keep your dignity, your integrity. Even if they say hurtful things to you, keep your head up and remember, they have been hurt and their anger is coming from their own pain. YES, I agree with you, they did this to themselves, but that is something they will have to live with for the rest of their lives. Do not do or say something you will regret down the road. Here is one more very important bit of advice, DO NOT GIVE OUT ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOURSELF OR YOUR MARRIAGE, EVEN IF YOU HEAR SOMETHING YOU KNOW IS UNTRUE, JUST TAKE THE INFORMATION FOR WHAT IT IS AN LET IT GO, DO NOT DEFEND IT, IF THEY CAN GET YOU UPSET, IF YOU LET THEM SEE YOU ANGRY, YOU WILL MAKE THEM BELIEVE THAT EVERYTHING YOUR SPOUSE SAID ABOUT YOU IS TRUE AND THEY WILL JUSTIFY THE AFFAIR USING YOUR BEHAVIOR. BE CALM, BE STRONG, ASK QUESTION, GIVE NO ANSWERS, DO NOT LET YOUR ANGER OR PAIN SHOW, KNOW WHAT IT IS YOU WANT TO ASK PRIOR TO SPEAKING WITH THEM, DO NOT GO INTO IT WITHOUT PRE PLANNING, BUT MOSTLY, STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
IT IS NOT SELFISH
It has been quite awhile since I have posted here on my blog. The reason is because I needed time to reline myself with me. I had discovered how easily I was being distracted from my own healing and growth. I was suddenly being bombarded by emails. Everyone it seemed was wanting me to answer questions they had. I am certainly no expert, I am just a woman who has walked through the fire and brimstone of adultery. It is at times a gut wrenching, absolute core exhausting journey of discovery, not only into my marriage but also into myself. I personally believe there is no greater lesson taught, than the lessons we learn through infidelity.
I have discovered that I need to make sure I live by the three C's rule: Remembering that I,
have not CAUSED my husbands issues, I have no CONTROL over it and I most certainly can not CURE him.
There is a big difference in healing from an affair, than healing from sex addiction. When you discover your spouse has been unfaithful, it changes your world, if it only happened once, you can look back at times where no infidelity took place and remember the man/woman they were to you than. When you are a spouse of a sex addict, there is no looking back, PERIOD. You truly discover you DID NOT know, have NEVER known who they are/were. The looking back for a spouse of a sex addict is extremely painful. Painful to the extreme that you can not find a moment of where there was truth in your marriage, your dream. All the sacrifices, the love, the hope, all the plans for your future, were yours and were never going to be carried out to the end. The forever, was never going to be.
When asked by someone how long my husband and I have been married, he will immediately respond with 20 years. Not me, not any longer. I had to finally understand and face the truth, my husband, was not my husband and I was not his wife. Legally, YES! Spiritually, NO! Marriage is a vow given, a promise, your word to love, honor and cherish. In my marriage, that never took place. He did not keep his word for more than 6 months. I was living a married life, as a single woman. What I say now when someone asks me, is I am just getting to know him, although legally wed 20 years ago, we have not been married. Of course I get the funny looks, but I can actually laugh at it now. I owe NO ONE an explanation of my life.
I am now (LOOKING IN THE MIRROR OF MY LIFE), My beliefs, My actions, My needs, My desires, My hopes, My wants, My health, and My world. Some will tell me how selfish I am. I have learned, this is the LEAST selfish someone can be. When we are healthy and happy with who we are, we can LOVE others, honestly and openly. We can FORGIVE with a true forgiveness. We can ENJOY others around us and bring positive things into their lives. When we live in the dark, such as I was living after my wedding 18 years ago, maybe longer. We can not Love, Forgive or bring Enjoyment to our lives, yet alone someone Else's. My mother's, views or belief is you forgive, you just flat forgive and get on with it. In her opinion that is what Christ wants us to do. I believe God calls us to Forgive, he does not call us to just accept and get on with it.
I have struggled with my FAITH, so much the past few months. If what my mother said is true, forgive and just get on with it, I did not want to be a Christian anymore. PERIOD ! If I am worshipping a God who would want me to be abused over and over, than what kind of GOD am I worshipping. If I am worshipping a God where judgement, cruelty and just flat mean spiritless actions is okay, who am I exactly worshipping? My God loves me, He loves me and when I love someone, I want the very best for them, I want them to strive in this life, achieve Joy and Peace, be loved and appreciated by others, not used and abused. When we allow people that abuse us into our lives, they steal from us and what they steal is PRICELESS. Our Joy, Our Peace, Our Self Love. This is where my personal walk with Christ has come into play, I no longer completely believe has my mother taught me. Love and forgive unconditionally while remaining right beside the abuser, no matter how many times they offend, you keep going back for more, NO! I believe now that I am to Love unconditionally, with boundaries and if those boundaries are crossed I am to hold them at a distance, so they can not steal from me. To me, there is a big difference in the People of Christ time and those of mine. Saints walk a little differently now. Sin is so wide spread in the world now, it is every where, TV, Radio, Magazines, Game players, Cell phones, Computers, the list goes on. I can only imagine what my grandchildren will face. As the world changes, so must we. We have to stand, stronger with more armor, we must grow with wisdom continually, we must be careful who we allow into our lives. We have to hold those who harm us accountable. No one should steal our Joy, our Peace. That is how we as Christians should show Gods Grace, His Love, is through our lives and how we live it.
When I see people now and I see the misery in them. When I hear their voices of judgement. When they speak with gossip. When they take advantage of and use others for their own purpose and they call themselves Christians, I want to run from Faith. A Faith I believed in for 51 years. It is called Hypocrisy! The deadliest Sin of all. I believe that Christ is calling us to:
Love, with a firm hand.
Stand on stone, not on sand.
Be true to who you are, Christ does His best work through the brightest star.
Forgive, do not forget, forgetting will lead to regret.
To be God's human Temple, you must make your life simple.
Do not stand with Judgement, Anger and foolish Pride, instead let Joy and Peace be your guide.
Christ is seen in a joyful, peaceful heart, do not let the wars of life take that apart.
Beware of what you hear, look and say, there will be a judgement day.
To be forgiven we must forgive, through our Grace, Christ does LIVE.
What I know for absolute fact, is that I must love myself before I can love back.
When we are beaten down, we can not live our greatest life. My Christ is calling me to Live My Greatest Life. That means with Joy, Peace, and Love. To offer someone a healthy person, to offer them, Joy, Peace and Love, we must have it for ourselves first. That is not selfish. That is true Love, for ourselves, others and Christ.
To Love, we must first receive Love. Let Christ Love You and Learn to Love Yourself Unconditionally. It is NOT selfish.
I have discovered that I need to make sure I live by the three C's rule: Remembering that I,
have not CAUSED my husbands issues, I have no CONTROL over it and I most certainly can not CURE him.
There is a big difference in healing from an affair, than healing from sex addiction. When you discover your spouse has been unfaithful, it changes your world, if it only happened once, you can look back at times where no infidelity took place and remember the man/woman they were to you than. When you are a spouse of a sex addict, there is no looking back, PERIOD. You truly discover you DID NOT know, have NEVER known who they are/were. The looking back for a spouse of a sex addict is extremely painful. Painful to the extreme that you can not find a moment of where there was truth in your marriage, your dream. All the sacrifices, the love, the hope, all the plans for your future, were yours and were never going to be carried out to the end. The forever, was never going to be.
When asked by someone how long my husband and I have been married, he will immediately respond with 20 years. Not me, not any longer. I had to finally understand and face the truth, my husband, was not my husband and I was not his wife. Legally, YES! Spiritually, NO! Marriage is a vow given, a promise, your word to love, honor and cherish. In my marriage, that never took place. He did not keep his word for more than 6 months. I was living a married life, as a single woman. What I say now when someone asks me, is I am just getting to know him, although legally wed 20 years ago, we have not been married. Of course I get the funny looks, but I can actually laugh at it now. I owe NO ONE an explanation of my life.
I am now (LOOKING IN THE MIRROR OF MY LIFE), My beliefs, My actions, My needs, My desires, My hopes, My wants, My health, and My world. Some will tell me how selfish I am. I have learned, this is the LEAST selfish someone can be. When we are healthy and happy with who we are, we can LOVE others, honestly and openly. We can FORGIVE with a true forgiveness. We can ENJOY others around us and bring positive things into their lives. When we live in the dark, such as I was living after my wedding 18 years ago, maybe longer. We can not Love, Forgive or bring Enjoyment to our lives, yet alone someone Else's. My mother's, views or belief is you forgive, you just flat forgive and get on with it. In her opinion that is what Christ wants us to do. I believe God calls us to Forgive, he does not call us to just accept and get on with it.
I have struggled with my FAITH, so much the past few months. If what my mother said is true, forgive and just get on with it, I did not want to be a Christian anymore. PERIOD ! If I am worshipping a God who would want me to be abused over and over, than what kind of GOD am I worshipping. If I am worshipping a God where judgement, cruelty and just flat mean spiritless actions is okay, who am I exactly worshipping? My God loves me, He loves me and when I love someone, I want the very best for them, I want them to strive in this life, achieve Joy and Peace, be loved and appreciated by others, not used and abused. When we allow people that abuse us into our lives, they steal from us and what they steal is PRICELESS. Our Joy, Our Peace, Our Self Love. This is where my personal walk with Christ has come into play, I no longer completely believe has my mother taught me. Love and forgive unconditionally while remaining right beside the abuser, no matter how many times they offend, you keep going back for more, NO! I believe now that I am to Love unconditionally, with boundaries and if those boundaries are crossed I am to hold them at a distance, so they can not steal from me. To me, there is a big difference in the People of Christ time and those of mine. Saints walk a little differently now. Sin is so wide spread in the world now, it is every where, TV, Radio, Magazines, Game players, Cell phones, Computers, the list goes on. I can only imagine what my grandchildren will face. As the world changes, so must we. We have to stand, stronger with more armor, we must grow with wisdom continually, we must be careful who we allow into our lives. We have to hold those who harm us accountable. No one should steal our Joy, our Peace. That is how we as Christians should show Gods Grace, His Love, is through our lives and how we live it.
When I see people now and I see the misery in them. When I hear their voices of judgement. When they speak with gossip. When they take advantage of and use others for their own purpose and they call themselves Christians, I want to run from Faith. A Faith I believed in for 51 years. It is called Hypocrisy! The deadliest Sin of all. I believe that Christ is calling us to:
Love, with a firm hand.
Stand on stone, not on sand.
Be true to who you are, Christ does His best work through the brightest star.
Forgive, do not forget, forgetting will lead to regret.
To be God's human Temple, you must make your life simple.
Do not stand with Judgement, Anger and foolish Pride, instead let Joy and Peace be your guide.
Christ is seen in a joyful, peaceful heart, do not let the wars of life take that apart.
Beware of what you hear, look and say, there will be a judgement day.
To be forgiven we must forgive, through our Grace, Christ does LIVE.
What I know for absolute fact, is that I must love myself before I can love back.
When we are beaten down, we can not live our greatest life. My Christ is calling me to Live My Greatest Life. That means with Joy, Peace, and Love. To offer someone a healthy person, to offer them, Joy, Peace and Love, we must have it for ourselves first. That is not selfish. That is true Love, for ourselves, others and Christ.
To Love, we must first receive Love. Let Christ Love You and Learn to Love Yourself Unconditionally. It is NOT selfish.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
A MUST READ
This was written by a man, about what a good man should look like to us women!
A friend of mine read an immensely popular book that claims to disclose secrets about men every woman should know. As I listened to my friend divulge the book's "secrets," I could not help feeling that there isn't anything secret about its "secrets" and that it is little more than commonplace drivel about appeasing emotionally disturbed, controlling, and abusive males who just are not recognized as such.
I later perused the book and reached the same conclusion as a reviewer who stated succinctly, "If that does describe your relationships, much better advice to you is: Stop hanging out with losers!" Excellent advice, I thought, because a real man is not a little boy trapped in a grown man's body looking for a mother-figure. Neither is his highest aspiration is to be a "benevolent dictator" or King Kong of his so-called castle. He does not need his ego stroked by subservient women nor his alleged manhood validated by engaging in violence.
Indeed, as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Alas, our society is one in which a man is far more frequently measured by his looks, job, status symbols, gift-giving, sex appeal, or tough-guy exterior. As noted in that venerated anthology called the Bible, people are all too inclined to look on the outward appearance when trying to decide what manner of man someone is. Consequently, it is nearly always the case that little more is expected of a man than that he has "good" looks, a "good" wardrobe, a "good" job, some or all of the most fashionable material "goods," and that he is a "good" provider, a "good" sex partner, a "good" fighter, or just able to show a woman a "good" time. It is long after a man has been judged on the basis of such 'cryteria' that serious consideration (usually too little too late) is given to whether his inner man is as good as his public image.
Few people are wise and patient enough to measure a man by "where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Most people are content to see that a man is "cool" merely when he is self-indulged and self-satisfied. Even women seeking male partners do little or nothing to learn how a man might hold up under the weltering heat of adversity. Despite the problems and perils of having a fair-weather friend or fair-weather "lover," most of a man's so-called friends and lovers will have forged relationships with him without tarrying to observe his character while he is enduring trials and tribulations.
Regardless, the most important things about a man are revealed by how he conducts himself when he is displeased, distraught, or distressed. It is easy for a man to get along with others and project strength of character when he thinks the going is good. It is easy for him to have a great attitude when he thinks life, kith, and kin are treating him well. It is easy for him to be Mr. Right when he does not perceive that there is anything wrong (with him!). And it is easy to allow ourselves to think that favorable circumstances is the best light under which to see a man for who he is. But a man who is always at his worst during the worst of times doth not a good man make. A man at his best gives the best of himself even during the most trying times of his life - even when he is suffering and struggling with the issues of life. A good man, that is, brings forth good things from the good treasure of his heart regardless of the situation.
Such is not common sense. Most people believe that hard times are excuses for exhibiting character flaws and weaknesses rather than opportunities to (show that one has) overcome them. Besides, the logic continues, no one is perfect, so it is only realistic and far more likely that a man will "not be himself" under the stress and strain of difficult and demanding situations. So a man's acting "out of character" is constantly overlooked and forgiven inspite of the other lives he wounds and wrecks. He is a "good man," they say, even though he can be counted on to make poor decisions when he is under pressure or just downright peeved.
Abusive men and their victims tend to think that way. And in the most severe cases, both the abuser and his victim completely disassociate the man who commits domestic violence from the same man who at times does not. In pleading his case, the abuser might say something like "that wasn't me," and his victim, for a time at least, might agree. The problem in such cases is not just cognitive dissonance, but a misunderstanding of the positive roles conflict and crisis can play in the maturation and manifestation of a man's character. Not only do we need to understand that hardships and personal issues are no excuse for putting others or ourselves through hell. We also need to understand that it is more desirable and constructive for us to learn ways of transforming the same into growing pains and experiences through which we empower ourselves to exhibit integrity, sagacity, inner strength, and noble intentions.
For most men in our society this is a revolutionary approach to conflict resolution and character recognition, especially since it demands of each of us a thorough and ongoing reassessment of our sense of self. We grew up thinking that a "real" man does not take any stuff and gets his way by almost any means necessary. We also grew up thinking that the more imposing, intimidating, impervious, and independent we are, the more people, especially women and children, would think of us as "the man." However, a man who can only resort to aggression is not any more resourceful and redoubtable than an insecure ignoramus who attempts to use vituperation to cloak his vacuity and limited vocabulary. That a man must coerce others into letting him have his way does not mean he is strong. It means that he is too weak and insecure to meet them on the level playing field of equality and mutual respect.
Dr. King's words of wisdom behoove us to remake and renew ourselves as men who are magnanimous even when our lives and relationships are not magnificent - as men who are charitable, courteous, and chivalrous not just when it is convenient, but even when it takes all the positive energy we can muster. He is attempting to open our eyes to the realization that true men of stature are strong enough in mind and spirit and secure enough in ourselves to be compassionate and considerate of others even in the midst of confusion, crises, and the crucible of unrequited love; to admit and amend our own faults as well as forgive others; to repay evil with good; to be insulted but insult not; to be angry and yet sin not; to dialog rather than dictate; to be deep enough to delight in diversity and enlightened enough to live and let live.
Adopting such an approach to dealing with adversity, a man distinguishes himself from the great mass and majority of misguided males who believe kindness is a weakness. He joins the company of courageous men from around the world who are no longer fearful of being friendly and fair through thick and thin. He becomes one with the true men of distinction who recognize and respect the dignity of others, especially women and children. He becomes a man worthy of honor because he consistently honors the worth of others. He becomes outstanding because he never leaves a man, woman, boy, or girl standing out in the cold of injustice and insensitivity. He becomes one of a few good men who have learned to seek the good of others as well as themselves. He becomes a light in dark places because he is now part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
MY BELIEF IN GOD'S DESIGN
I was asked a very sincere and good question, after my last posting. I was also asked to ponder this question before answering it. The question was asked through email, here is the question, "Now that you know all the carnage to the other families left by your husband, what do you think God wants you to do with it?"
I have decided to answer this here on my blog. I want everyone who read my last posting to truly understand what I believe God is telling me, especially at this juncture of my life.
I believe God has been telling me to STAND UP for years. Here's the thing, I believe God gave us our instincts for a reason. I believe that is how He speaks to us. Each and everyone of us, whether we have an addiction or not, we know RIGHT from WRONG. We all know that hurting others, especially those that love us, is WRONG. No excuses. For years, I mean years, I have chosen to believe my husband over God. I have believed his words over those of my own gut, my instinct. God told me for YEARS that things were not right with my husband and I chose to ignore his warnings. I chose a man and his words over my OWN and most importantly My FATHER.
What is He, my God, my High Power telling me now, He is telling me to rise above, to show His Grace. Not just to my husband but to all mankind.
Is he telling me that to do this, to show His Grace, His Mercy, His Love that I have to stand with or beside my husband? NO
You say that "Most couples don't make it through this type of wreckage because they don't have the strength to do the work required." I don't believe your greatest strength is in supporting someones decision to sin and hurt so many in the process, forgiveness yes, supporting absolutely NOT. I don't believe that the greatest strength is in maintaining or remaining in your marriage.
I believe it takes your greatest strength in maintaining your Faith in God and in yourself. I believe it takes more strength in rebuilding your own life after someone, you believed in, trusted, respected, loved and depended on to keep you safe, decided to abuse it for their own selfish reasons. This is why Christ gave us the choice or freedom to divorce for unfaithfulness. He knew this type of betrayal would test OUR faith in Him.
Do I believe that adultery is the only act that is unfaithful? NO. I believe there are many ways be unfaithful. The word adultery is used in Scripture throughout the Bible, in this particular versus, He uses the word UNFAITHFUL. Why not Adultery? To me, unfaithful is not just the act of sex alone, it is lying, secrets, any type of deception, to me, this all describes unfaithful. Doesn't God see this type of behavior as unfaithful to Him?
Tell me what sin is greater? The sin of turning others from God or the sin of adultery? My husbands actions, decisions, turned many from God. There is NO greater way to bring His lost children to Him than through our actions. Through the Grace of our lives.
Do I believe that God is calling me to carry the cross of my husbands sin? NO, that is why HE died on the cross. He is not calling me to die there. I am his child, his daughter, He loves me unconditionally and He wants me to be filled with Joy and Peace.
Throughout this whole ordeal with my husband I pictured myself carrying the cross through the streets of Jerusalem, as Christ did, beat, battered, bloody, with people cursing at me and I was determined to get my cross to the top of the hill as Christ did His. I was determined to die there next to the sinner, than I remembered, that is why Christ died, so we, I would not have to. He died to forgive us of OUR sins, not the sins of others. He only calls us to forgive them, not support them, not to excuse them, not to Judge, but He also calls us not to let others, including our spouses, steal our Joy, our Peace and most importantly our Belief in Him. Its through our Joy and Peace which allows us to show Gods Grace to others. When we allow someone to attack that part of us, it allows depression and negative thoughts to rule our lives, God calls us to guard against this.
I truly believe that Christ is not calling me to stay with my husband, nor is he calling me to leave. He is calling me to be my best, do my best and not to waver in my FAITH. To be true to who I am in Him. Not who I am in or with my husband. My Father, God or Higher Power is asking me to LOVE HIM, BELIEVE in HIM and TRUST in HIM.
Although my husband was a nonbeliever prior to discovery, it does not excuse his behavior. It does not mean that he didn't no what he was doing was WRONG and it does not make it RIGHT in anyway, we learn very early in life that this type of behavior is inexcusable and WRONG. The prostitute at the well was a nonbeliever, until she met Christ. He did not say, "Because you did not know me, you have not sinned." No, what He said was, "Go and Sin No More." Christ did not excuse her sin, He forgave it. My husband has found forgiveness through his new found Faith in Christ. He has found what I have known for years. He now has truly seen God's Grace through my actions, which is strictly because Christ put that Grace in my heart. If I did not believe in or have Christ in my own life, as a human being standing alone, I could in NO WAY be anywhere near him. I do wonder though, how my husband will do in his Faith, as it has not been tested yet, especially the way mine has. What will he do when his Faith is tested and we all as Christians know that Faith will be tested.
My Faith has been tested many times, at times I think of JOB in the Bible, how often his Faith was tested. How he screamed out to God. I have battled my Faith through the loss of Loved Ones, both young and old, through being raped at a young age as a virgin and being told, even by my parents that it was my own fault, "I shouldn't have walked home that night." "I shouldn't have talked to this man." on and on, than at 41 a physical illness took over my life, at times taking me to a point where I would get up in the middle of the night in such pain I would vomit and beg God to just take me home and the next night asking for His will to be done. Telling Him, Please Lord let me live to see and enjoy my grandchildren. Altough my suffering went on for over a year before my doctor was able to stablize my condition it was three months later that my daughter told me she was pregnant and before the first year was gone, my first grandchild was born. 6 grandchildren in 10 years, isn't GOD great. My Faith has been put to the test many, many times but this has been the most extreme test of all.
What is God telling me? Nothing more than to Believe in Him, Love Him and make Him center of my life, keep my Faith in Him strong and He will reward me, whether here on earth or in Heaven, my reward will not come to me through my husband, it will come to me through Him, my Father. My husband is nothing more than a child of God. God is not telling me to stay or go. He is not requiring me to do either, all he is asking of me is to LEAN ON HIM, not my husband.
What is He telling you? Do you honestly know, the test, the heart wrenching, gut twisting, extremely painful thing that one can do to another, infidelity, the test of Faith, both in Christ and in herself that you have put your wife through? Forget everything else you have done, do you truly understand the battle your wife goes through now on a daily basis? If you now know how you have put your wife's Faith to the test, What is God telling YOU?
I have decided to answer this here on my blog. I want everyone who read my last posting to truly understand what I believe God is telling me, especially at this juncture of my life.
I believe God has been telling me to STAND UP for years. Here's the thing, I believe God gave us our instincts for a reason. I believe that is how He speaks to us. Each and everyone of us, whether we have an addiction or not, we know RIGHT from WRONG. We all know that hurting others, especially those that love us, is WRONG. No excuses. For years, I mean years, I have chosen to believe my husband over God. I have believed his words over those of my own gut, my instinct. God told me for YEARS that things were not right with my husband and I chose to ignore his warnings. I chose a man and his words over my OWN and most importantly My FATHER.
What is He, my God, my High Power telling me now, He is telling me to rise above, to show His Grace. Not just to my husband but to all mankind.
Is he telling me that to do this, to show His Grace, His Mercy, His Love that I have to stand with or beside my husband? NO
You say that "Most couples don't make it through this type of wreckage because they don't have the strength to do the work required." I don't believe your greatest strength is in supporting someones decision to sin and hurt so many in the process, forgiveness yes, supporting absolutely NOT. I don't believe that the greatest strength is in maintaining or remaining in your marriage.
I believe it takes your greatest strength in maintaining your Faith in God and in yourself. I believe it takes more strength in rebuilding your own life after someone, you believed in, trusted, respected, loved and depended on to keep you safe, decided to abuse it for their own selfish reasons. This is why Christ gave us the choice or freedom to divorce for unfaithfulness. He knew this type of betrayal would test OUR faith in Him.
Do I believe that adultery is the only act that is unfaithful? NO. I believe there are many ways be unfaithful. The word adultery is used in Scripture throughout the Bible, in this particular versus, He uses the word UNFAITHFUL. Why not Adultery? To me, unfaithful is not just the act of sex alone, it is lying, secrets, any type of deception, to me, this all describes unfaithful. Doesn't God see this type of behavior as unfaithful to Him?
Tell me what sin is greater? The sin of turning others from God or the sin of adultery? My husbands actions, decisions, turned many from God. There is NO greater way to bring His lost children to Him than through our actions. Through the Grace of our lives.
Do I believe that God is calling me to carry the cross of my husbands sin? NO, that is why HE died on the cross. He is not calling me to die there. I am his child, his daughter, He loves me unconditionally and He wants me to be filled with Joy and Peace.
Throughout this whole ordeal with my husband I pictured myself carrying the cross through the streets of Jerusalem, as Christ did, beat, battered, bloody, with people cursing at me and I was determined to get my cross to the top of the hill as Christ did His. I was determined to die there next to the sinner, than I remembered, that is why Christ died, so we, I would not have to. He died to forgive us of OUR sins, not the sins of others. He only calls us to forgive them, not support them, not to excuse them, not to Judge, but He also calls us not to let others, including our spouses, steal our Joy, our Peace and most importantly our Belief in Him. Its through our Joy and Peace which allows us to show Gods Grace to others. When we allow someone to attack that part of us, it allows depression and negative thoughts to rule our lives, God calls us to guard against this.
I truly believe that Christ is not calling me to stay with my husband, nor is he calling me to leave. He is calling me to be my best, do my best and not to waver in my FAITH. To be true to who I am in Him. Not who I am in or with my husband. My Father, God or Higher Power is asking me to LOVE HIM, BELIEVE in HIM and TRUST in HIM.
Although my husband was a nonbeliever prior to discovery, it does not excuse his behavior. It does not mean that he didn't no what he was doing was WRONG and it does not make it RIGHT in anyway, we learn very early in life that this type of behavior is inexcusable and WRONG. The prostitute at the well was a nonbeliever, until she met Christ. He did not say, "Because you did not know me, you have not sinned." No, what He said was, "Go and Sin No More." Christ did not excuse her sin, He forgave it. My husband has found forgiveness through his new found Faith in Christ. He has found what I have known for years. He now has truly seen God's Grace through my actions, which is strictly because Christ put that Grace in my heart. If I did not believe in or have Christ in my own life, as a human being standing alone, I could in NO WAY be anywhere near him. I do wonder though, how my husband will do in his Faith, as it has not been tested yet, especially the way mine has. What will he do when his Faith is tested and we all as Christians know that Faith will be tested.
My Faith has been tested many times, at times I think of JOB in the Bible, how often his Faith was tested. How he screamed out to God. I have battled my Faith through the loss of Loved Ones, both young and old, through being raped at a young age as a virgin and being told, even by my parents that it was my own fault, "I shouldn't have walked home that night." "I shouldn't have talked to this man." on and on, than at 41 a physical illness took over my life, at times taking me to a point where I would get up in the middle of the night in such pain I would vomit and beg God to just take me home and the next night asking for His will to be done. Telling Him, Please Lord let me live to see and enjoy my grandchildren. Altough my suffering went on for over a year before my doctor was able to stablize my condition it was three months later that my daughter told me she was pregnant and before the first year was gone, my first grandchild was born. 6 grandchildren in 10 years, isn't GOD great. My Faith has been put to the test many, many times but this has been the most extreme test of all.
What is God telling me? Nothing more than to Believe in Him, Love Him and make Him center of my life, keep my Faith in Him strong and He will reward me, whether here on earth or in Heaven, my reward will not come to me through my husband, it will come to me through Him, my Father. My husband is nothing more than a child of God. God is not telling me to stay or go. He is not requiring me to do either, all he is asking of me is to LEAN ON HIM, not my husband.
What is He telling you? Do you honestly know, the test, the heart wrenching, gut twisting, extremely painful thing that one can do to another, infidelity, the test of Faith, both in Christ and in herself that you have put your wife through? Forget everything else you have done, do you truly understand the battle your wife goes through now on a daily basis? If you now know how you have put your wife's Faith to the test, What is God telling YOU?
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