Chrysostom
Beloved of All
We have read your update with deep sorrow and with gratitude for your honesty, and we have heard the weight you have carried for these years. Your grief as a father who longs to see his children and to be restored to his wife is profound, and it is right that you weep. Like a father who burns with love for his children, you have endured a separation that cuts to the heart, and God does not overlook those tears.
Thank you for testifying to the hand of God even in the midst of great hardship. You have noted His kindness in the rain that comforts you, in the sight of the moose you prayed to see, in the provision of salary through the union, in months of free rent, and in daily work that has kept you going. These are not small things. They are signs that He witnesses all and leaves not Himself without witness, doing good and caring for you even when the road is hard and narrow.
Scripture tells us that the life of faith is a narrow way and that everyone who wants to live a godly life will face tribulation and trial. Job himself learned this, and you have rightly seen your own sufferings in that light. Many have their own griefs, one for a wife, another for a child, another for loss or for daily bread, and no one is free from sorrow in this life. Do not think you are alone in this or that God has abandoned you because the affliction is long. Trials, when endured with patience, strengthen faith and deepen love for God, and you have already borne witness that your faith and love are stronger even while you are exhausted.
We affirm with you what Scripture teaches, that marriage is honorable and is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that it is meant to preserve faithfulness and purity. Your commitment to love your wife as Christ loves the church, to stand ready to forgive and to move forward and not backward, is right and good before the Lord. We do not ask God to bless what is contrary to His word, but we do ask Him to bless what is according to His word, and a husband's faithful, forgiving love within covenant marriage is according to His word.
We also hear your weariness, your prayers that at times you did not want to go on, and your honest plea that God would either restore your family or clearly lead you to a place where you can rebuild and provide. God hears the fervent prayer of the righteous, and there is power in prayer as you quoted. We will pray with you and for you in the name of Jesus Christ alone, through whom alone we have access to the Father and salvation.
We pray that the Lord Jesus will guard your heart from despair and keep you in sobriety of mind, that He will provide for your daily needs, give you stable work and housing, and protect you from further harm and loss. We pray that He will work in the heart of your wife and in the lives of your children, that where there is sin and hardness it would be brought to repentance, and where reconciliation according to His will is possible it would be accomplished in truth and holiness. We pray that He will give wisdom to judges and to all who have authority over your family, and that He will keep your children in His care. And we pray that He will give you clarity about this temporary job opportunity, that if it is for your good He will establish it, and if not He will close the door and open a better one, and that in either case you will know His peace and direction.
Keep holding fast to Christ and to His word, keep giving a reason for the hope within you, and keep using even small provisions with moderation and thanksgiving. You have kept going by God's grace, and we thank God for that. We will continue to remember you, your wife, and your three children before the Lord, asking Him to do what only He can do behind the scenes while you walk by faith.
May the Lord grant you rest for your soul, strength for each day, and confidence that He sees, He knows, and He will act in His perfect time and way.
Thank you for testifying to the hand of God even in the midst of great hardship. You have noted His kindness in the rain that comforts you, in the sight of the moose you prayed to see, in the provision of salary through the union, in months of free rent, and in daily work that has kept you going. These are not small things. They are signs that He witnesses all and leaves not Himself without witness, doing good and caring for you even when the road is hard and narrow.
Scripture tells us that the life of faith is a narrow way and that everyone who wants to live a godly life will face tribulation and trial. Job himself learned this, and you have rightly seen your own sufferings in that light. Many have their own griefs, one for a wife, another for a child, another for loss or for daily bread, and no one is free from sorrow in this life. Do not think you are alone in this or that God has abandoned you because the affliction is long. Trials, when endured with patience, strengthen faith and deepen love for God, and you have already borne witness that your faith and love are stronger even while you are exhausted.
We affirm with you what Scripture teaches, that marriage is honorable and is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that it is meant to preserve faithfulness and purity. Your commitment to love your wife as Christ loves the church, to stand ready to forgive and to move forward and not backward, is right and good before the Lord. We do not ask God to bless what is contrary to His word, but we do ask Him to bless what is according to His word, and a husband's faithful, forgiving love within covenant marriage is according to His word.
We also hear your weariness, your prayers that at times you did not want to go on, and your honest plea that God would either restore your family or clearly lead you to a place where you can rebuild and provide. God hears the fervent prayer of the righteous, and there is power in prayer as you quoted. We will pray with you and for you in the name of Jesus Christ alone, through whom alone we have access to the Father and salvation.
We pray that the Lord Jesus will guard your heart from despair and keep you in sobriety of mind, that He will provide for your daily needs, give you stable work and housing, and protect you from further harm and loss. We pray that He will work in the heart of your wife and in the lives of your children, that where there is sin and hardness it would be brought to repentance, and where reconciliation according to His will is possible it would be accomplished in truth and holiness. We pray that He will give wisdom to judges and to all who have authority over your family, and that He will keep your children in His care. And we pray that He will give you clarity about this temporary job opportunity, that if it is for your good He will establish it, and if not He will close the door and open a better one, and that in either case you will know His peace and direction.
Keep holding fast to Christ and to His word, keep giving a reason for the hope within you, and keep using even small provisions with moderation and thanksgiving. You have kept going by God's grace, and we thank God for that. We will continue to remember you, your wife, and your three children before the Lord, asking Him to do what only He can do behind the scenes while you walk by faith.
May the Lord grant you rest for your soul, strength for each day, and confidence that He sees, He knows, and He will act in His perfect time and way.
