"Kids are so resilient." This is the line that seems to go with a divorce. Somehow, kids are meant to rise above the mess that their parents have created, and thrive.
Yes, some do. But what makes us think that just because they get on with life, their hearts haven't been ripped wide open? Is it because they don't say it?
Sometimes, I know, there is genuine cause to end a marriage. My heart bleeds for anyone who can truly say that divorce is the best decision.
Let's be honest about divorce, though. So often it isn't the result of devastating betrayal - it's about two people who have grown apart - who have fallen "out of love".
The love that holds a marriage - and, in fact, a world - together, is far more than a warm and fuzzy feeling - it's a determination to hold on. The love that holds a marriage together is not something you fall into, or out of, it's a decision. It's a decision to give when there's nothing to gain. It's a decision build someone else up, even if you've been torn down. It's also impossibly hard without God in the middle.
Kids are not resilient. The rising number of troubled and depressed children teenagers is proof of their fragility. If you think that depression in children isn't increasing, look it up for yourself. Childhood resilience is another lie to justify the idea that divorce isn't really hurting anybody.
The Bible, the ultimate authority on the human condition, says that God hates divorce, and warns that God will eventually punish societies that allow and even promote the breakdown of the family.
My husband and I are about to celebrate our eleventh wedding anniversary. It definitely hasn't been an easy road to get to this point. We have had to work through serious disagreements and disappointments, but it has been worth all the hard work. We don't know what's around the corner, but we do know that God's intent is for us to stick together, for better or for worse, till death us do part... and that's just what we plan to do.
For more of a Bible-based perspective on divorce and marriage, try watching the Beyond Today program, Before You Divorce.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Love Grows Cold
Did you hear in the news about the eight-year-old girl who died after being alone in the desert with a known, convicted pedophile?
I am shocked, horrified, and furious when I think about it. I feel like my heart is being ripped in two. If it would help, I would cry a river for that poor little girl, undefended and alone. But my tears are not enough. This story should - as should every story of another child abused or neglected - bring our entire nation to its knees in grief and remorse. But see, the cricket and the tennis are on right now. Our Australian sporting "heroes" are more "interesting" than unnamed eight-year-old little girls.
How is it that, as a nation, our love has grown so cold for others that we hide behind the wimpy excuse of "cultural differences" in refusing to interfere when children are treated like cattle? Why is it morally acceptable to us to allow "other cultures" to systematically oppress women and children?
Let's be warned as a country that our rejection of all moral absolutes is making us repugnant to God. When we refuse to defend the helpless in our midst from exploitation and annihilation - when we systematically obliterate the basic rights of the unborn, the disabled, the disadvantaged and the elderly, then we become a stench in God's nostrils. Huge sections of the Bible are devoted to warning us of the consequences of such behaviour.
We have already set the timebomb for our own destruction. The only way to stop it is to turn whole-heartedly and humbly to God.
To hear about what the Bible says about calling evil good, try watching the Beyond Today TV program, Calling Evil Good.
I am shocked, horrified, and furious when I think about it. I feel like my heart is being ripped in two. If it would help, I would cry a river for that poor little girl, undefended and alone. But my tears are not enough. This story should - as should every story of another child abused or neglected - bring our entire nation to its knees in grief and remorse. But see, the cricket and the tennis are on right now. Our Australian sporting "heroes" are more "interesting" than unnamed eight-year-old little girls.
How is it that, as a nation, our love has grown so cold for others that we hide behind the wimpy excuse of "cultural differences" in refusing to interfere when children are treated like cattle? Why is it morally acceptable to us to allow "other cultures" to systematically oppress women and children?
Let's be warned as a country that our rejection of all moral absolutes is making us repugnant to God. When we refuse to defend the helpless in our midst from exploitation and annihilation - when we systematically obliterate the basic rights of the unborn, the disabled, the disadvantaged and the elderly, then we become a stench in God's nostrils. Huge sections of the Bible are devoted to warning us of the consequences of such behaviour.
We have already set the timebomb for our own destruction. The only way to stop it is to turn whole-heartedly and humbly to God.
To hear about what the Bible says about calling evil good, try watching the Beyond Today TV program, Calling Evil Good.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The Kingdom of God Seminars are Coming!
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