Am I on the right track? (2)

[Starsky309]

nmwb,

I am sorry you are hurting. I too prayed for my wife during her affair -- every day -- and I'm including the prayer that I wrote at that time. Maybe it will give you some comfort and strength.

Starsky


MY PRAYER FOR MY MARRIAGE:



Father, thank you for my family.
Thank you for giving my children to me to care for, and (wife's first name) to me to help.
Forgive me for the times that I haven’t appreciated them, and done my very best.

Father, I lift up (wife's first name) to you and ask for you to protect her today.
Protect her from physical and emotional harm, and from the enticements of this world.
Strengthen her to be the godly woman and strong mother that you want her to be.
Give her encouragement that there is hope for her marriage, and that her efforts can result in a better, happier life for her, me and our children and grandchildren someday.
Please open her eyes to the painful realities of divorce and separation and infidelity, and give her wisdom to make good decisions.
Lord, I acknowledge that you gave us all Free Will, but I ask for your extra grace for (wife's first name) during this difficult time.

Father God, I lift up myself to you, and ask for you to give me strength today.
Give me the strength to do the daily work that needs to be done to restore my marriage, my family, and my finances.
Give me the wisdom to make good decisions, and please give me the godly discernment to detect potential danger to my family, and give me the courage to be vigilant and do what’s necessary to protect my wife and my family.
Lord, give me the PATIENCE to keep working at this, and help me put my faith in the substance of things HOPED FOR,
And in the evidence of things NOT YET SEEN, instead of in appearances and the seeming hopelessness of a given situation.

Father, help me restore my marriage.
Help me to be a better father, a better husband, and a stronger example to my children, especially my young men.
Help (wife's first name) to be a better mother, a better wife, and a godly example to our children, especially our young women. Help her display, in her daily life today, the balance between strength and independence of a confident woman, and the humility and godliness that you require of her, and let that be an example to our daughters.

Lord, help me get thru this day, and live it in such a way that if it were to be the last day of my marriage,
That you would be proud of the effort I gave, and the example I led.

I pray in Jesus’ name,

Amen.

[wmwb123]

Thanks, Starsky. That's very kind of you. It's a beautiful prayer, and I prayed it for my wife just now. Our pastor e-mailed her last month, and he agreed to follow up with a phone call today. I pray that the outpouring of love she has received from Christian brothers and sisters will help bring her to repentance.

[Starsky309]

Only God Himself can change hearts, brother, and even then there's that whole "free will" thing. Pesky, that. My sister likes to say "God will break you, but first you have to WANT to be broken." Very true.

The hardest thing I think I had to do is my entire sitch 7 years ago was let go of my wife, and give her to God. To fully realize -- intellectually, emotionally and spiritually -- that I could not control her nor the outcome. I will never forget the moment -- I was in the backyard, mowing my lawn of all things, sweating my azz off in the 90+ degree Florida heat and humidity, and I just started bawling like a baby. I mean I take my role as husband and father seriously, and I did do the basic things (legal, financial, prayer etc.) and lay down certain core boundaries to protect my family but ultimately I had to just --spiritually -- "lay my wayward wife at the foot of the Cross" and give her to our Lord to deal with. I told Him, honestly, that I had done what I can, and for Him to please protect her because I can't seem to get through to her.

I believe those prayers were answered, and I pray that they will be for you, too.

Hang in there,


Starsky

[wmwb123]

She does, indeed, have free will, but currently she is submitting to the enemy. My prayer is that God will heal her mind and set her free so that she can make rational decisions.

"...that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." (2 Timothy 2:26)

Two ladies at our church recently prayed over me, and one said she felt God telling her to pray that I would "let Jesus take the wheel," so to speak. She said she sensed I was struggling with something that was out of my control. I broke down crying, because it was true. I've been trying to do something--anything--to help my wife repent. I was even entertaining the notion of hiring a lesbian to seduce the OW(!!). I felt at that moment that God was giving me permission to stop worrying, that he was saying, "It's okay, I've got this." So I have been able to stop worrying so much. I've been praying even more, though.

God loves my wife even more than I do, so she's in good hands.

[igit]

Starsky- that was awesome post. thank you. if you have a chance to catch up on my thread. any words of encouragement or suggestions would be appreciated.
thanks
igit

[Starsky309]

God loves my wife even more than I do, so she's in good hands.

Yep. That was something that took me awhile to fully understand as well. It's an awesome, powerful concept when you really think about it.

[wmwb123]

I went with my heart in the response. I can't control or predict how my wife will respond to anything, so I had to do what I felt was right. I'm at peace with how I responded. I continue to pray that she will end her affair and agree to work on the marriage.

[Jefe]

Only God Himself can change hearts, brother, and even then there's that whole "free will" thing. Pesky, that. My sister likes to say "God will break you, but first you have to WANT to be broken." Very true.

The hardest thing I think I had to do is my entire sitch 7 years ago was let go of my wife, and give her to God. To fully realize -- intellectually, emotionally and spiritually -- that I could not control her nor the outcome. I will never forget the moment -- I was in the backyard, mowing my lawn of all things, sweating my azz off in the 90+ degree Florida heat and humidity, and I just started bawling like a baby. I mean I take my role as husband and father seriously, and I did do the basic things (legal, financial, prayer etc.) and lay down certain core boundaries to protect my family but ultimately I had to just --spiritually -- "lay my wayward wife at the foot of the Cross" and give her to our Lord to deal with. I told Him, honestly, that I had done what I can, and for Him to please protect her because I can't seem to get through to her.

I believe those prayers were answered, and I pray that they will be for you, too.

Hang in there,

Starsky

Powerful stuff right there. Starsky you have a very Spiritual and Christ centered heart and that is what I am leaning on to get me through this as well. My knees hurt these days.

[wmwb123]

Not really a progress update, but I did get some encouragement last night. My father-in-law called me to thank me for a birthday present I sent him. I informed him last month that his daughter had filed for divorce, because I knew she wouldn't tell him. He told me last night that he called her immediately after talking with me and told her she needed to reconsider the divorce. She had also told me via text last month that she didn't want me talking to her parents anymore, but he told me last night that he didn't care what she said because he still considered me his son. I read somewhere, possibly on here, that wayward spouses with families that support the marriage are more likely to reconcile. I pray that it's true.

[wmwb123]

Per Starsky's suggestion, my username has been changed from nwmb (need my wife back) to wmwb (want my wife back).