RESTORED Marriage Testimony: “One Year “It is Over, Period.’”

It began just two weeks before we had been married for only a year. On Monday morning my husband went to work, and he never came home. I called his work and they said he hadn't come in, that he had called and asked to cancel all his appointments, that he would not be in that day. So that's when I started to call his cell phone, but he wouldn’t answer. The next afternoon I had a doctor’s appointment, but I couldn't stop worrying because he had disappeared, he was not answering his phone, not coming in to work for the second day.

When I returned home I found the biggest shock of my life! He had come home when I was gone and took everything! That's when I stopped worrying and became angry!! The very next day I got a call from his lawyer saying that he wanted a divorce and that I was to go to his office, that he would answer all the questions I had and that my husband would have no further contact with me!

So, I started to send text message after text message, but he would not answer me. To make me stop, he began sending me the same message, "It is over, period."

Then I was given the book How God Can and Will Restore Your Marriage from a person I didn’t even know. That’s when I found this life-changing ministry. I was so blessed! I started to read this book and then read the two Facing Divorce books were sent to me when I filled out the Marriage Encouragement Questionnaire. It was then that the Lord showed me that this tragedy had happened so that I could turn to Him and put Him first. That this was not a marriage crisis, it was only for the purpose of my finding my HH and my abundant life that everything happened.

I began to praise Him and that's when my first miracle happened. On our marriage anniversary, which I had forgotten about because I was being pampered by my HH, my husband sent me a message at midnight wishing me a happy birthday (we got married on my birthday). This was after only speaking through his lawyer for months and being told, "It is over, period." But God writes the last chapter when we put Him first.

How did God change your situation Ariela as you sought Him wholeheartedly?

So, I started to follow the principles of the book, and in fact, everything in this book and Facing Divorce is what God really wants to teach all of us. It's insane because I had talked to several pastors who all told me to separate and move on. That God had someone better. Many told me because I'm too young to live as a single woman, to hire a good lawyer, to follow what I wanted for my life. But by really beginning to know His Word, after hungering for it once I found RMI and your resources, I began to understand that God did not want anything close to this! He wanted to restore my marriage. Then I became so intimate of my Beloved Lord, my HH, and He was with me. Any time I felt anxious, He began telling me that I was to wait on Him, to calm down because my husband would return. I embraced myself in these words of my Lord and let nothing else disturb me. I went ahead on my journey with my HH and followed each of the principles shared in your books.

What principles, from God's Word (or through our resources), Ariela, did the Lord teach you during this trial?

I understood that I had to be submissive to my husband so that the word of God would not be blasphemed. I needed a meek, gentle and quiet spirit, and I could no longer be that "contentious woman" I'd been. Confronting and always contradictory, I needed to love and submit to my husband, for it would please my Beloved Lord and it's He who needed to be first in my life. So, I began to fast and pray intensely for intimacy with my Lord and soon He was all I wanted, needed and longed for.

What were the most difficult times that God helped you through Ariela?

Sometimes the enemy wanted to confuse me, and he'd bring people to speak words and muddy my thoughts, saying that my restoration might just be an idea I dreamed up in my head. So, I am grateful to my HH, the love of my life who held me and comforted me and answered every question I had. No matter how many times I asked, He answered me with all the verses I'd sown in my heart by reading the stack of 3x5 cards I'd written and read when I was desperate to stop the pain.

Ariela, what was the “turning point” of your restoration?

The turning point was when I understood the purposes of the Lord for me, that is, to be the bride for Him, for me to want Him again and to embrace Him as my true Husband and believe that He is Lord. "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is there anything difficult for me?" Jeremiah 32:27.

Tell us HOW it happened Ariela? Did your husband just walk in the front door? Ariela, did you suspect or could you tell you were close to being restored?

Miraculously, after two months and two years without seeing or even talking to my husband, we met again.

How this occurred was supernatural. I heard the same word for 6 days. The word was "Why are you crying out to Me? ...go forward." It was on the seventh day that I sensed something was about to end. Then I stood up with the strongest feeling that I should go out, not knowing where I was going. So, I put on some clothes and I left without understanding why, and just as I was crossing the street to go to a friend's house, I noticed that my husband was stopped, just sitting in the car across the street watching me as I walked. At just that moment, I received a phone call, a returned phone message from someone I'd called earlier that morning, but when I looked down, he drove off. As he drove off, I looked at the car, but then I really wasn't sure it was actually him. I tried but I could not read the license plate.

So, I kept walking but then I heard His voice say, “Turn around, go back there,” but I was confused. I turned around and went back but I started crying right there in the middle of the street. Then I spotted his car again and felt kind of impelled to walk towards the car. When I arrived, I saw he was in there, but he had the windows shut. When he looked at me, he lowered the window, and reached out to take my hand. Then he asked me to get in the car.

It was all so beautiful what the Lord did, we embraced for a few minutes without saying one word. God acted miraculously on my behalf. I would like to make it clear that my marriage was restored even without having children. I was so worried it wasn’t possible. Hallelujah!

Would you recommend any of our resource in particular that helped you Ariela?

I recommend to all the women who are going through the same desert that I have come through to read the book How God Can and Will Restore Your Marriage. Oh, how precious it was to me when someone I didn't even know gave this book to me. Dear friend, it was by the grace and mercy of the Lord that your resources helped me as I went through my journey of restoration. Thank you.

What crystallized the principles was when I took your courses. Journaling is something I did from the beginning but having a form and an email to reread helped me a lot to see how much He was changing me. I’d also encourage everyone to take time to make 3x5 cards and read them all the time.

Actually, what is first, is the restoration with Him, and once He is first, and that’s when the restoration of your marriage will happen. I have already been able to bless so many lives by giving this book, so they could read and be blessed as I was. I think I’ve already purchased 3 cases of 25 so far and have given them out.

Would you be interested in helping encourage other women Ariela?

Yes

Either way Ariela, what kind of encouragement would you like to leave women with, in conclusion?

Today I only have to thank and glorify my Lord, my Beloved HH, for having first brought me again to have an intimacy with Him. Next is the miracle of having my husband back in my life, living at home with me as husband and wife. And may I tell each of you, do not give up on your marriage, because with God there is nothing impossible or even faintly difficult for Him. He is greater than anything you face, so stop doing it on your own in your own way. Your journey has been carefully mapped out by God through this ministry. Just follow Him who led you here, and just believe —your miracle will happen!