I don’t feel any different than you. Not more courageous.
Not any wiser.
Certainly not more intelligent. Just a normal girl trying to survive what life throws at her.
As I had to navigate a separation and subsequent divorce I tried everything I knew to deter, I became part of a crowd known as Intentional Standers. These were my peers who were also trying hard to honor their marriage vows in the midst of tumultuous relationships. With varying degrees of faith and commitment, the unified vision was to walk out life in such a way that God’s ways would be honored and the marriage could be restored. In the midst of the searing pain, it is often hard to keep the focus on honoring God rather than on idolizing the marriage. The following are some thoughts I wrote to help me keep the right focus:
Intentionally standing is about seeing yourself standing before Christ, accounting for what He gave you to steward and care for.
It’s about being on your knees at the foot of the cross and inviting Jesus to be a part of every part of your life.
It’s about letting Him guide you through any and every circumstance.
It’s about letting every circumstance confront the things in you that need to be conformed into the likeness of Christ.
It’s about trusting that this small part I play in this tiny bit of eternity will be used for something great, no matter how deep the pain or dark the path, or confused I am.
It’s about developing a heart that beats as Jesus’ – who loved the unlovely, who died for the unrepentant, who made nothing about his own happiness – it was all about honoring God, who had a beyond-imaginable plan to reconcile all things to Himself.
It’s about letting God be our everything – even if that means our marriages are not restored.
It’s about learning to walk with grace and mercy, truth and love – not as we understand it, but as Christ demonstrated it.
It’s about living life on a whole new level – where people think you’re crazy, weird, a glutton for punishment, bold, courageous, fearless in a way that defies what Satan intended this valley to do.
It’s about deferring to God’s plan, and power, and sovereignty – and finding joy in Him no matter what part of that plan we are playing.