He Stayed

I married an Army guy when I was 19. We were high school sweethearts. A week after our wedding he was shipped out to Europe. I followed him six weeks later, and joined him in Rodenbach Germany, where he was stationed for three years.

Sixteen months later our son was born in Frankfurt, Germany. Nineteen months later my husband’s tour ended and we returned home to Georgia.

A year later we both became Christians. My husband was top salesman for a large food service company and we were able to buy our first home in an Atlanta suburb. We found an awesome little church full of other young couples and began our new life as Christians.

Our daughter was born three years later. Life was grand.

I loved being home with my kids. I had worked while we were in Germany, and off and on after moving back to the states, so being able to stay home with them was a huge blessing.

Everything was going according to plan. My plan.

A year after our daughter was born, we left our church in search of a larger one, hoping for more involvement.

We never found that church. 

Three months later my husband moved out and we were divorced the following year.

I was single again at 28, with two small kids. No job. No church home. Turns out my best friend and husband were having an affair, so along with losing my husband, I lost my best friend too.

What about you? Are you single again? What happened to bring you to that place? Death? Divorce? Never married, but you split up? 

Have you been tossed onto a path you would never have chosen, wondering how you got there and why?

Whatever it is, I’m sure it wasn’t in the plans you had for your life.

The abrupt changes in my life that set me on my unchosen path were a result of others’ choices. After I quit blaming God, I realized I still had choices too.

I knew Jesus as Savior, but was still learning to make Him Lord prior to my life becoming a shattered

mess. I had to decide if I was going to bring Him all the shards of broken pieces that were left or go my own way, away from Him.

I chose to continue letting Him be my Lord.

When my husband and best friend left, Jesus stayed.

HE STAYED.

Not only did Jesus stay, but He became my Husband and Best Friend. For 19 years I became personally acquainted with His ways and provision. I learned He would never betray or leave me.

His word (The Bible) was tried and proven in my life over and over and over, as my circumstances left me with no other option but to trust Him.

I’m no more special than anyone else. I just leaned heavy on God, and found out that’s exactly what He wanted me to do.

God’s specialty is broken lives.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and 

saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

Little by little, day by day and through many dark nights, the Lord Almighty grasped and held tight to my surrendered brokenness and formed it into something I could never have imagined.

He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

He plopped me down in a close-knit church family, gave me not one, but two new best friends. We’ve stuck like glue for more than 25 years.

God did a complete rewrite of my plan. I eventually remarried and a lot of my struggles ceased.

God is still writing.

If your circumstances have taken a turn onto a path you would never choose and is not in your plans, you still have choices. God has a grand plan.

I encourage you today to choose Him. Lay down all the broken pieces of your life and let Him rewrite your story.

I promise you that you won’t regret it.

I invite you to share in the comments below or if you prefer, feel free to send a personal email by completing the form on the right.

Next week is Memorial Day. We’re going to have a very special guest, who knows all too well what it’s like to be a military wife. 

As we remember all our military men and women on Memorial Day, I want to also hold up the spouses and family members who are alone while their loved one serves abroad.

Until then, stay the course,

Terri