I gave my heart to Jesus at a Heavens Gates and Hells Flames performance in Sept. 1997, through an invitation of my cleaning lady.  Until that time, my life had been a mess. I had been sexually abused as a child, suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, had been off work for 3 years, didn’t attend church, and my 27-year marriage was a disaster, although I had recently reunited with my husband after an 11-month separation.

During our separation, he had been for counseling. It seemed he wanted to change, so I gave him another chance.  I also did not believe that divorce was the answer to marital problems. When my daughters and I returned home, my husband stopped his counseling sessions and things became even worse than they had been before the separation.  I now realize that the enemy was not happy that we were back together.  When we reunited, my husband told me that if things got bad again, he would leave. 

At this point, I was still not attending any church but my cleaning lady kept talking to me about the Lord.  By December, I decided that I could not take any more and was going to ask my husband to leave.  I was never taught how to pray but, for some reason, I cried out to God a few weeks before Christmas and asked him to save my marriage, then promptly forgot about it.

Not wanting to spoil the season, I decided to wait until after Christmas to ask my husband to leave. A few weeks later, he asked me if he could take down the decorations. I told him ‘no’. I was waiting for my girls to help me because I was going to divide the decorations. He persisted until I finally admitted I planned to separate the decorations. He knew why.  He looked shocked, turned and walked away.  I could tell he was in tears and very upset. Suddenly, I remembered my prayer to God, and realized that my husband had changed over the past 6 weeks.  I followed him, we talked and I decided we would try again. 

The Lord began the salvation of my marriage.  It has been a long process over many years, but worth the wait.  I began attending a Bible-believing church and a prayer group. The Lord had worked on changing me and as a result my husband changed.  I have always said that it takes two to fight, but I have learned it only takes one to change, and often the other will change with you. Humility was the key as I became aware of all that was in me causing problems in our marriage.  I had been to many secular-counseling sessions for the abuse I had suffered, but I believe Jesus is the only counselor who really helped me heal.  Joyce Myers says “Jesus can heal you everywhere you hurt.” When I humbled myself and allowed the Lord to change me, what a change it brought in our marriage!

All of us have choices in life. When we chose God’s way, we will never go wrong or be disappointed. In Proverbs 14:12 it says “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” I learned this the hard way.  All the things I tried to do to save our marriage did not work. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways”.  I have learned that dying to self and living for Jesus has greater rewards than imaginable.  When I submitted to God and his ways all went well. I asked the Lord to give me His love for my husband. I love my husband more now than I did on the day we were wed. I am so thankful to God for what he has done.