Church's Testimony about Reconciling God's Way
by Pastor Rich
Crist, Director of Counseling Canyon Hills Church
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 2:08 PM
Subject: Results of 1st Reconciling God's Way
Class
Joe
and Michelle:
Thanks
for sending me the information on the proclamation for
marriages in Modesto. I will be meeting with other Pastors from
the Bothell area in the next three weeks to discuss what
we call our, (MARRIAGE AND FAMILY AGREEMENT
PROCLAMATION,). As I mentioned, we partner
together in this endeavor with Families Northwest, a
non profit Christian organization promoting
Christian values and principles for marriage and family in
the northwest. I will be presenting this concept to them
at this time. Please pray for God to open doors.
I
regards to the outcome of our first Reconciling Gods Way
class, we are reveling in the victories that God has won.
I
will try to hit the highlights and let you fill n the
blanks.
1.
A woman who filed for divorce 18 months prior to
the class and was determined that her marriage
was over and in her words," I hate my husband and I
have no desire to reconcile my marriage". I am only
doing this so I can say I tried everything; I even told my
table leader that I would not participate in the
discussion and not to expect anything out of me, I am just
waiting to sign the final papers and have this over
with." On the last night of our class she stood up
and expressed how God have given her a complete heart
change and that she was sooooooooo in love with her
husband. She then presented the divorce papers to the
group and said that divorce was no longer an option. She
also said that she knows they have a long way to go but
now they have the tools to do it right this time,
"Gods Way".
2.
A couple who had been through a divorce 6 years prior and
had left Christian spouses, said that if they would have
had these tools six years ago they would have stayed
in there first marriages. They also said that
even though they love each other they are suffering the
consequences of the wrong choice, broken relationships
with children, lost friendships, guilt and shame,
separation from God, etc. Both of them acknowledged
Gods forgiveness for the sin but said they realize that
some of the consequences would never go away . They
encouraged couples who might still be considering divorce
to hang in there and God would see them through. They have
now committed in this marriage that divorce will
never be an option and they will use these new tools to
make this marriage what God had intended it to be.
3.
Another man had called me to his home at
midnight December 2nd 2001. When I arrived the police
were handcuffing and transporting him to
jail for domestic violence due to his wife's
accusations of physical abuse. for the next 9 months it
was ugly as attorneys started there battle of divorce
proceedings. On December the 2nd exactly one year
later, after thousands of dollars had been spent on
attorney fees and what appeared to be the death of
another marriage,this couple started Reconciling Gods Way. They
have now decided that divorce is no longer an
option and are committed to do whatever it
takes to reconcile Gods way. Praise God three beautiful
boys will be able to grow up with a healthy mom and
dad. As a side mark, the charges of domestic
violence were false as admitted by the wife after seeing one
of the videos, I think it is week five? I'm
sure you know which one I am talking about.
4.
we had a couple who were non-Christians involved with a
cult that came to reconciling marriages. As they
started the classes the wife made a comment that the
difference in her religion and ours was that we talked
about a personal relationship with a personal God and
theirs was all in their head. They have decided to
reconcile and also want to know more about this personal
relationship with Christ. Please pray that they will come
to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
5.
I think it is important to mention the impact that RWG had
on then table leaders and their marriages. We would
process for about forty-five minutes after each group to
discuss how to handle different situations that might
arise in their groups and found this to be a powerful
tool. We would then talk about praise reports that
happened during the previous week with the different group
members. This helped in building their excitement
about coming back the next week to hear new praise
reports. Even though their marriages were healthy to begin
with I could see the growth in their relationships become
more Christ like.
The
wife of one of our Elders was a support person for a
woman in the group. She called me one day to say that as
she went thought he material as a support person, she
found her own relationship with her husband greatly
impacted. So we realized that it wasn't just the sixty-two
people signed u p for the class that were impacted but
also the marriages of about 50 support people. Praise be
to God.
There
are many more victories that we could share that have just
as much significance but time won't permit. Needless to
say God has used Reconciling Gods Way in a very
positive and constructive way in reconciling
marriages at Canyon Hills Community Church. We are
excited as we look forward to our next class which begins
February 17th, 2003.
Because
of Calvary
Pastor
Rich Crist
Director
of counseling
Canyon
Hills Community Church
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