Restoration of the Family, Inc. (RFI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Copyright ©2001,RFI, all rights reserved
 

RFI website produced by
Semiotic Systems, Inc.
(e-mail our webmaster)

 

REJOICE - An Attorney's Reconciled Marriage

by Judith A. Brumbaugh
© RFI 2001

Return to Home Page    Return to Topic List

RFI thanks Anthony Nardella, Jr., for sharing with us the poem he wrote, "His Story," after being reconciled with his wife.  This should encourage Standards to continue to pray and intercede for mates who have left the home and those who are living in difficult situations.  The pain, deception and destruction created when spouses head to the divorce court can never be measured or fully articulated; but Tony's incredible skill, in capturing feelings through words which he shares with us in this poem, should be an encouragement to those who might be thinking it isn't worth the effort to continue in unpleasant circumstances, to search anew their hearts.

DEFINITION:
What is a Standard?  A Standard is a person who stands in the gap for a lost one through prayer, fasting and all means of intercession:  "... "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him."
Isaiah 59:19

RejoiceMarriageIconStandard-AS94.JPG (13409 bytes)

Tony shares that his marriage is, today, unbelievably exciting and beautiful.  He gives God the glory for a restored home and looks to the same Author and Finisher of his faith as we do to guide and direct him through the storms of life.  My brothers and sisters - NEVER GIVE UP - on your mate or loved ones!!!

HIS STORY

"Forgive her?!  I can't!,"
Though he earnestly tried
To find a reason for grace
As the enemy lied.

"You can never forgive her
for your heart that she stole
He struggled and stammered
and fought for his soul."

The battle continued,
imaginations set in.
"I can't be expected
to forgive such a sin."

He was losing his grip -
He was ready to leave.
"Are the two really one?
To your wife did you cleave?"

His heart was so broken
Many tears he had cried.
Exhausted, he left her
as the enemy lied.

Confused and dejected
The root of bitterness, grown.
Snared by hatred, his life 
was no longer his own.

Given over to torment
God's mercy withdrawn.
His spirit, once vibrant,
had grown cold and forlorn.

"O my God, please save me!
What is happening to me?"
He cried out to the One
Who had forgiven for free.

To follow his Savior;
"Can I really abide
By the words He had spoken
And live a life that must die?"

"You can never forgive her!"
The enemy lied
But the thought now rang hollow
and empty inside.

A conviction then whispered,
"Deceit's in the heart.
But it's your heart, not hers,
That's keeping you apart."

A light flickered, then flashed,
Then glowed deep, down inside.
Proclaiming the Truth
Where the enemy lied.

"My God, what have I done?!
Have I been so deceived?"
It broke him in pieces;
It was hard to believe.

The pain then exploded 
As he, now aware,
That his sin, not her sin,
Was more than he could bear.

As his horror increased
|and settled into despair,
All at once he realized 
That Jesus was there!

"He's in the conviction!
He's in the light!
He's in the awareness 
That I've not done what's right!"

"If Jesus can show me
The deceit I've been in,
Can it then be too hard
for Him to forgive?"

Something rose up within,
His confidence grew,
That the One he cried out to
Had forgiven him too.

The forgiveness, now realized,
Was part of his heart.
His soul, now so free,
Could forgiveness impart.

The thought of his wife
Living so far away
Now brought longing, not pain,
As he pondered his ways.

He heard the enemy lie,
"It' too hard to unweave.
And she won't take you back ..."
But he would not believe.

That God would reveal
So much of His grace
And not give him the legs
To finish the race.

He called her, and poured out
His broken heart like wax.
"I'll trust in Christ Jesus
No matter how she reacts."

This story is over,
Their love was revived.
"It was only through Jesus 
That our marriage survived."

Copyright 1993 AMN
Used by permission

                                                            

Return to Topic List    Top of Page

horizontal rule

Article reprints are available for $2 per copy.  Please send remittance with self-addressed, stamped (57cents) #10 envelope to:

 
Restoration Of The Family, Inc.
Box 621342
Oviedo, FL 32762-1342