RESTORED Marriage Testimony: “Out of Nowhere, He Appeared”

♕ Today's Promise: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

 

 

Iris, how did your restoration actually begin?

I've been married for 3 years, and we are both Christians. We met when we were young, on the first day of school. It was in high school when I met God for the first time, and right after that my husband and I started dating. I fell in love with God and the church, and everyone said we had such an amazing relationship. We married; we still appeared happy, but looks can be deceiving.

From the time I was young, I was always very argumentative, contentious, jealous. My mother and father went through their own betrayal, and so during my childhood, I witnessed ongoing fights and distrust, and I took all I learned to my own marriage. From the start, I didn't trust my husband; I fought over everything, which continued until the fateful day when it all ended. Right in the middle of a fight, my husband said he didn't want to live like this anymore. He wanted to get a divorce. So—since I had always said no one should stay in a relationship when either one didn’t want to be with someone—I packed up my things and left. I lived in a condo we had just bought, and he stayed in the rental house where we’d been living.

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

After moving into the condo, I continued to play into the enemy’s scheme to break up my marriage, and I willingly tore it down with each stupid comment and action I took.  The hate wall began to get taller and wider. After I moved out, I never saw my husband. I honestly thought that packing up to live in the apartment would cause him to come running after me—wrong—big mistake!! 

That was when my despair and anguish started to overwhelm me, due to not hearing anything from my husband. News spread about me leaving; my family and church and close friends already knew about the separation, without me telling anyone. 

I’m shocked by how many advised me to separate; they said that it was good for our marriage, and then, of course, the next step was advising me to file divorce papers to “protect myself.” That's when I knew I needed help, and I found the RMI Ministry. I read numerous comments about this “life-changing” book, How God Can and Will Restore Your Marriage, so I immediately bought that book, and I also bought A Wise Woman. When the books arrived, I read through the RYM in just 2 days. Wow, my eyes were opened, and I saw how foolish I was (leaving my husband) and how contentious I’d always been. God used every teaching in that book to speak to me. I read the book in tears...weeping at being so blind, so ignorant.

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

God began to transform me while reading the book. I asked God for a humble heart and a meek and quiet spirit. I learned to let go and put everything in God's hands. How God Can and Will Restore Your Marriage is wonderful, inspired by God, and then I found all those teachings in the FREE courses, where I could journal; my eyes were opening more and more. I began seeing that it was me who destroyed our marriage. 

I apologized to my husband, after asking God to create the opportunity to run into him. As I said, I never saw or heard from him, and then out of nowhere, he appeared. I was able to tell him how sorry I was for how I’d been and all I had done to him and our marriage, and that’s when the hate wall began to slowly go away.

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

The hardest point of my journey was when I found out my husband was meeting with other women, living a single life. Thankfully, he didn’t meet any special person, but nevertheless, it was heartbreaking—especially knowing it was me who pushed him to go out looking, by my leaving him.

So, as the book teaches, I knew I needed to win without a word, remain in constant prayer and fasting, and be washed with His Word by reading through the entire Bible (using the app). God gave me peace. Soon it no longer hurt me, once I made my way through Finding the abundant life. At that point, I wanted to be in the presence of my Beloved, my true Husband. I felt His love molding me into the woman He wanted me to become.

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

After asking my husband for forgiveness, the hate wall fell, and he started looking for me, asking if I needed anything. Another turning point was by me always following the teachings of the Ministry. 

One day, my husband came to me, and he cried a lot and said he didn't want another woman, that I was his wife, Glory to God! From then on, my husband started coming to our condo, and we started "dating," when he saw that I was really truly changing. 

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

It was two months of our dating again, and then he came over, staying for about a week, and promptly disappeared. Rather than panicking or not “trusting” him, I was elated to have time alone with my HH. I never tried to contact him, then suddenly he reappeared after being gone for two weeks. 

This time, he stayed for another three weeks, when he disappeared again. But when he showed up the next day, my husband (who had the house key) packed up all the clothes, while I was at work, and moved into our condo. When I got home, he was already there with all his things, dinner made, smiling, saying, “I’m back; we’re back. To the honor and glory of God we will live happily ever after.”

Would you recommend any of our resources in particular that helped you, Iris?

I recommend the books How God Can and Will Restore Your Marriage and A Wise Woman. God used both those books to first open my eyes to my own mistakes and then as blueprints to rebuild my life on solid ground: on the Rock. God is incredible and has spoken to me in every chapter of each of your amazing books.

Would you be interested in helping encourage other women, Iris? 

Yes, I am not helping anyone right now, but God has given me many different opportunities to share HopeAtLast.com with many other women. Recently, I purchased 25 books in order to give them to the many women I run into--who are shocked that we are not divorced but living so happily together!

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

My restoration happened seven months ago. My journey was very difficult, but it is worth every teaching, every bit of knowledge gained. Watching myself maturing, and the reward of going through the desert is wonderful. God gives us more than we ask for, more than we think of, and He enables us to pass each test when we focus on a heart of thankfulness and gratitude. Once you recognize that He is the only one you need in your life, the more He will add to it.