There once was this couple who were struggling with each other so much that neither one could see any way out of their misery but to get a divorce. They argued so often and so harshly that even their children, who were teenagers, told them that they should divorce. They had a dilemma though, they were both Christian. Because the Bible said that the only grounds for divorce was unfaithfulness, and since neither of them were, and since they both wanted to be true to their relationship with Christ, neither one was willing to actually begin divorce proceedings.
Finally, the husband thought, this is silly. If we just cannot get along, there is no use going down this road any further. So, he decided to go downtown the next day to the county court building and get the divorce paper work. That evening, as his wife lay sleeping on the couch and he was watching TV, he looked over at her and watched her sleep. He felt a warm love in his heart. But he also felt the fresh pain of an earlier argument when her words and harsh voice seem to feel like claws ripping his heart. He knew he had also said things that he knew would set her anger aflame. He knew that they both were just defending their own feelings and justifying their own priorities in each other's face. But he did not know any way out of this unending struggle except to end the struggle.
The next day, the husband found himself in line at the divorce papers desk in the county building. When he got to the front of the line he found himself asking the clerk, "If I divorce my wife, can I somehow make sure that she still get's the medical coverage from my company's plan?" The clerk looked up in surprise as if to say, "Why ask such a question? Aren't you divorcing her?" What the clerk actually said was, "I suppose so." When he left with the papers, he found himself asking himself the same question that the clerk seemed to ask with his facial expression. "Why did I ask such a question if I intend to divorce her? I must still love her enough to take care of her." The husband eventually threw the divorce papers away.
Some time later, the husband and wife were saying goodbye. He was going on a sales trip from their home in Fresno, California, to San Bernardino. The wife looked up from the dining table with a sad face. She expressed a love and yet a concern about their future together. He said his goodbye and got into his station wagon loaded with the textbooks he sold.
All along the way down route 99 to Bakersfield the husband was again fighting himself with mixed emotions of love and anger toward his wife. He was sometimes hoping that she would divorce him. He was sometimes thinking that he had to divorce her. He made the turn off of route 99 to go east on route 58. He was driving past a small town called Weedpatch. Then a sudden impression struck him. This was not his conscience. He knew how that felt in his senses. This was the Holy Spirit speaking to his spirit.
The Holy Spirit simply said, "If you divorce her, you divorce me." Wow! The husband took the next exit off of the freeway. He found a public phone at a convenience store and called his wife.
She answered and in a firm voice simply said, "What is it?" The husband replied, "I'm not leaving no matter what." She said, "How are we ever going to make it?" He said, "Grace and grace and grace." That ended the phone call.
They finally found a moment in time where the husband stood up for his wife in such a manner that she never again questioned his love for her. That matter is so private that it remains a secret today. However, it is no secret that today they are both in love with each other more than ever in their married life of just about 40 years.
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