Wow, I had a very moving experience tonight. On some Saturday evenings I go to a church service at a church about 15 minutes from me. Tonight the Pastor was talking about restoration. At the end of the sermon he took a stool and an elder joined him on stage. They had a conversation where the Pastor told the congregation that he was taking a leave of absence. Apparently, and this is public knowledge already, he lost his marriage 2.5 years ago.He told the congregation that he was in pain and now was the time to come to terms with where his life was and to restore himself. He said that he'd always been one of those people who thought that if you followed God's word and did all the right things, nothing bad would happen. He compared himself to Job. He said that when life didn't work out that way he'd planned and he had a lot of soul searching to do. He's in counselling now and is taking time off to come to peace with his life and his faith. he said in the last 2.5 years he's pushed a lot of feeling stuff aside but now it's time to deal with it head on. Wow! I felt very emotional while listening to him. He said "I can hug you and tell you God loves you and mean it with all my heart but I can't do the same thing for myself right now" Here is a man who got up in front of the whole congregation (and he will do it again twice tomorrow) and says "I lost my marriage and I'm in pain". Afterwards I approached him, holding back tears and said "Pastor, I lost my marriage four years ago. I know the pain you're going through. It's one of the most horrible pains you'll ever feel. I just want to give you a hug, wish you the best and let you know that it will get better" He thanked me, we hugged and I said goodnight. God works in mysterious ways, I hope I gave that Pastor something tonight, I know he gave me something. Pray for this man Dbers, he's one of us!
