From This Day Forward

By Marty Norman

Our God works in mysterious ways.  Even in the worst of times he is about the business of reconciliation and healing, wooing and drawing, calling us to himself.  There is no situation that the Lord can’t heal; no circumstance too dire in which the Lord can’t bring hope; no wound too deep that he can’t cover it with the balm of his love; and no time-line too long that he can’t repair the years that the locust have stolen.

The world is full of stories of God’s mercy and redemption. I hear them every day – stories of a merciful God who reaches down from heaven to encourage the weary, befriend the lonely, and comfort the grieving. God is in the business of healing. As his children, we must learn from the feet of the Master as we join him in his mission to reconcile the world to himself.

Over the years I have seen physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. Nothing is impossible for our God. What amazes me is that these healings happen often, though they don’t occur in our timetable or in a way that we have anticipated. So we often miss them.

One of the most precious healings in my own life involved the miraculous healing of my marriage. I didn’t expect it and I almost missed it. And sometimes I almost forget it. But merciful and faithful my God is and was. By his mercy and grace, He rebuilt a relationship that had broken from the foundation up as he restored the years the locusts had eaten.

Jim and I had been married twenty-three years when our marriage house began to crumble. Unbeknownst to us we had built our house on shifting sand. When the rains came and the storms pounded, the house came down.

As in most situations, the corrosion of life occurred over a period of years. Unconcerned and unaware we continued to build on walls that were saturated with decay, too busy to repair the cracks in our fortress. One day, out of neglect or lack of attention, the walls crumbled under us. Like a house of cards, the extra weight brought the whole structure down. Patterns of discontent, anger, resentment, and distrust which had been building within finally tore the house apart.

We didn’t know this was happening. It was the building of little things, a critical word here a held resentment there, One day the walls crumbled and fell upon themselves. We separated and moved toward divorce.

In retrospect, our house, which had been built on a faulty foundation, could not stand the test of time. Only the Master Builder himself could repair such a disaster.

By the grace of God, the support of friends, good counselors, and a program of forgiveness and amends, the marriage was saved. The Great Physician himself worked such a miracle, and for that I am forever grateful.

Every marriage has problems and, of course, all are not healed. Some are just not fixable, but many more than not have a good chance of being rebuilt. It just takes time, effort and surrender, a lot of work, two willing partners, and a loving Father to do the job.

For me it is important for my family to know some of the pitfalls and weaknesses that caused this problem. Maybe with understanding, they can avoid some of the mistakes we made and not have to repeat that pain.

So where ever you are in your marriage, start now. It’s never too late to start anew. Remember you took a vow “to have and to hold from this day forward”.  So have and hold today, and do so from this day forward.

A miraculous healing is in the works. The cracks and breaks in the walls can and will be restored, for the Great Physician and Healer himself is working in mysterious ways.

Marty Norman is a wife, mother, and grandmother of five, who lives in Fort Worth, Texas.  She is the author of “Generation G – Advice for Savvy Grandmothers Who Will Never Go Gray.” You can learn more about her at:   www.martynorman.com, http://martynorman.blogspot.com, http://savvygrandmothers.blogspot.com.