- “I want you to know something” said the man before he left our office with his wife and with tears running down his cheeks.
- “I want you to know that all you have done is not only for us and our marriage, but for two sons. I will be grateful to you both for the rest of my life that our children won’t experience a divorce as i did as a child”.
The husband looks at his wife and smiles and blushes as she wipes of his tears.
-” I just want you to know that”.
The four of us were in tears when they left, not tears by pain and hurt but by hope and joy. That was the first ever couple we coached. That was five years ago. When we closed the door that day and when we saw their car leaving our driveway for the last time a passion started to bubble inside us both. A passion for restoration!
We looked at each other and we both knew that from this day forward we had a new call upon our lives. A calling to encourage and spread the news to every broken, tired and sleeping marriage in existence. To spread hope that there is another answer for broken families. There is restoration and forgiveness. There is hope for everybody. At that time we didn’t know much about how we would do it. But we did say “Yes Lord, let’s do it send us!
The very first couple we coached like this contacted us after the the wife had had a team and inspiration day with work. The theme for the day had been “Nothing is impossible” the talk was hosted by one of the worlds most successful map readers in rally, a woman called Tina Törner. In the afternoon session she discussed her brother and how he and his wife suddenly ripped up their divorce papers and started all over again after they found someone who could help them.
The wife went back home and went online to search for something, someone to help with her situation.
She found our story!.
She identified so many similarities with her own situation and identified greatly with the couple mentioned online. When we met the couple they had been living apart for five months, after the husband discovered his wife’s affair which had been ongoing for almost a year. Everything was chaos. He couldn’t manage his Job which lead to financial problems. Shame, guilt pain and broken hearts were of course part of the circumstances.
But by the Holy Spirit and by God’s insight accompanied by the knowledge of us sharing our own personal experiences we could also give them answers to all questions. We were able to lead them to safe place of understanding when how and why they started to neglect their marriage. Week after week we we gave them a reminder of the future and what we saw ahead of them.
After three weeks her feelings for the other man had disappeared and they where back living together. After another couple of weeks they wrote a letter to this other man. The wife asked the man for forgiveness for every selfish promise she had given to him. The hurt but fighting husband could in writing tell the other man to leave them alone, as he was determined to build up his family again. He even wrote that he knew that one day he will be able to forgive everything. The couple started to plan a holiday, they started to run again and do all sorts of things they loved to do together before they took happiness and each other for granted.They took back ownership of their own future.
All this was made possible by God’s grace. He who makes all things new. All glory to him.
Our own hearts have been marked by God’s longing to release mankind from slavery and to lead them home to the promiced land, the land of milk and honey. We know that God is longing for us as individuals to start to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the temple where God’s power can live and work. God’s first covenant was the covenant between man and woman, husband and wife. Therefore it is not difficult to understand how much energy and how much hate the enemy has for this covenant that means so much and is so loved by God.
This covenant called marriage is a daily target for the enemy. The enemy’s target is to steal, destroy and kill, yet the power from Jesus’s own response and words are more powerful. He says -I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abunantly. (John10:10)
We know more now than we knew five years ago. We know that the globe is our work field. We know that every tv-program, book we write and material we create will be translated into as many language as possible. We also know that God wants us to use peoples ease of access to social media and internet. It is our job to be out there. We know that God wants us to accept opportunities to speak in churches, workplaces and conferences. We know and we want to.
But we also know that we need you and your support. we need your prayers and words of encouragement. We need help to spread the word about Family & Friends International and the work we are called to do. We also need your financial support.
Become our partner and join us when we re-build the walls of Jerusalem. Join us as we lead people out of their broken circumstances. Become our partner and see how we together make the Temple of God a place for worship and dance again.
Join us here! >>
God’s blessings and love,
Johan & Linda
