♕ Today's Promise: "A voice is calling, ‘Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.’" Isaiah 40:3
Dear brides, Right after my FH left, God gave me Hosea 2:7 “I will go back to my spouse as at first for I was better off than now.” It was Gomer’s words when she realized she had made a terrible mistake when she left her family behind.
I spoke this scripture several times in a day in my prayers. Then it dawned on me that I have heard this sermon about Hosea and Gomer but I have yet to read the chapter myself. I decided to dig deeper into the story.
Before, I knew Gomer was a promiscuous woman who left her husband and children to follow her lovers whom later on sold her into slavery. Hosea, her beloved husband, listened to God’s command and purchased Gomer from slavery and made her his bride again. That is truly a beautiful story of unconditional love.
God revealed that scripture wasn’t for my FH but for Me. In the story, God compared Hosea’s situation to His love for Egypt, His wayward bride. In Hosea 2:8 God said, “Egypt hasn’t acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold, which they used for Baal.”
At that moment, I received my very first revelation of my RJ. The message was clear. For weeks, I prayed for my EH when God was telling me that I was the wayward wife because I had forgotten about my first love, Him.
See, when I met my EH, my eyes, my heart, my all was about Jesus. The radiance that Erin talks about in her books, I had it. My EH was consumed by me. And when others would ask him what he loves the most about me, without a second thought, he would say, “How much she loves God. Her love for God is so attractive.”
Then slowly but surely things started to shift. My attention, my love, my all shifted from Him to my EH and my dreams (career). In February 2019, I felt so far from God that I went to a prayer line at my church and asked God to bring me back to that place where He was my all because I missed Him and I missed being that girl who was head over heels for Him.
I didn’t know what I had asked for because 2 weeks later, my EH walked out on me sharing half of our bank accounts with his father and taking the rest for him. Not only my heart was completely shattered but my finances were in shambles. I ran to God like I have never run before, kneeled at His feet and cried Abba Help. For three months straight, I had to trust God for everything: my house, my food, my heart and my mental state as I dealt with suicidal thoughts on a regular basis.
God showed me that this Journey was first and foremost, about my restoration with Him. The very Gold and Silver He gave to the Israelites, they turned around and made gods out of them. The career dreams and husband, which were both a reflection of His love for me, I turned around and made them my gods and my source. That day, I got on my knees and repented. It took me a few months to fully forgive myself. With his grace, I repented, accepted his forgiveness and the journey is still going on today.
My dear sisters, what are your gods today? What are the treasures that God showered you with that you have turned into gods? Has your husband become your god? Have your children become your gods?
“God, we thank you for your faithfulness in this journey. My love, if we gave anything in our lives first place, please forgive us. We ask you to call us by our name, lead us into the desert, speak tenderly to us, reason with us and remind us who we were when we didn’t have anything and anyone else in our lives but you. You crowned us with love, compassion and satisfied us with your infinite goodness. Yes, we may have started this journey seeking a restoration with our EH but we know now that this journey’s purpose is to set things in order the way it should have been all along. We yield our hearts and ways to you. Have your way in our lives. In Jesus’ Name”
"Egypt hasn’t acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold, which they used for Baal." Hosea 2:8 NIV
~ Tamah in Georgia
I’m a tithing partner. Learn more.