Alaska Update / Sunday 8.23.26

[Justbecause5]

There is power in prayer!

Thank you for praying for me.

My wife left me in August 2022. We had moved to Alaska in 2019 to work with the church.

My wife and daughter had tickets to go overseas. So, my young sons and I are headed to Texas, my home state to begin a teaching job and to set up our new home.

After the boys and I left, my wife hired an attorney and together went to court, and convinced the judge that I had taken the boys across state lines. There was no mention of tickets overseas, nor the fact that my job was over and I had started a new job. So, the judge gave her permission to go get them. She did; it was one of the saddest days of my life.

In 2022, I begin praying fervently for my wife. I must have mentioned her name over 1 million times. At one time I had brother in seven states and seven countries praying fervently for my marriage and family. Nothing.

I pleading with God to take me back to Alaska. God answered my prayer in the summer of 2024. Looking back, the hand of God is so obvious as he orchestrated the incredible details that led me back to the 49th state. God did that.

When I get depressed or sad, I often think about the incredible things that happened that took me back to Alaska. I have been back in Alaska now for two years as of a few days ago. So far, I have seen nothing that would make me think reconciliation is near, but I keep praying the same God that answer my prayer and it took me back to Alaska is the same God that has the power to reunite us.

In my previous request, a few days ago, I mentioned that I had just happened to see a member of the church where I used to preach. I called him middle Joe. I was in the very room when his mom died of Covid. I introduced him to his wife and met her for the first time at the same time I saw him. We spoke for like 25 minutes.

Yes, a few days ago on August 20, it was the two year anniversary of my return to Alaska by God‘s mighty hand. It was not as clean cut as I had hoped. I moved to Alaska with no place to live in no car to drive. Little did I know, the next two years would be incredibly difficult. I felt like Job in my existence, almost everything bad that could happen has happened to me.

I’ve lost two really good paying jobs due to no fault of my own. A third job was offered to me on a Thursday, but somehow it was given to another by the following Thursday.

I lived in the shelter for 4.5 months. I lived in the back of my van for 28 nights. After my van was stolen, I lived in a rental car for 17 nights sleeping at a 45° angle in 24 hour a day sunlight I have suffered tremendously.

God has been good. In my job loss at the school, the school had to provide my full salary until the end of April 2025. In addition, God led me to start doing gig work. When I started doing it, I just did it to afford the ability to eat out instead of eating at the shelter. Did I know, gig work would be a huge blessing for me until this day. I now can make a full salary doing it.

But I would describe the last two years as nothing but pain. I had to deal with the deep sadness and depression of knowing that my wife and children will probably less than 30 minutes for me at any time. More than likely, in the process of doing gig work, I have driven probably within minutes of wherever they live.

When I came back to Alaska, I made the decision that I would not stalk my wife. I would not research and try and find her are my children. I did not feel like any of that would be any good and even counterproductive so, I put everything in God‘s hands. God is my mediator. God is my attorney. I have waited on God patiently like a watchmen waits for the morning light.

I love my wife. She has done horrible things to me. She has violated the wheel of God in so many different ways. I stand prepared to forgive her. I stand prepared to move forward and not backwards. I just want my marriage and my family back together that’s my plea to God again, I have probably prayed for my wife by name over 1 million times.

I have now been doing gig work for over one year. It’s been a challenge. I’ve had serious car issues. I had to rent a car for nearly one full year at $1000 a month. I almost left Alaska, but I thought I would call a friend and ask him if he had a car that I could rent. He did the rental cars in the area were so high because summer in Alaska is very high.

Last Monday, I received a phone call from a company that I’ve worked for three times before. In fact, it was the company that paid for my first class ticket from San Francisco to Alaska. That finally brought me here. In fact, I went from first class on the plane to homeless on the ground. I lived at the shelter for 4.5 months.

The lady contacted me and told me about a position starting in three weeks. The pay was good. The per diem the same but and tax-free. It would include free airline and also free hotels etc. I’m hoping I can get that job because in two or three months of work, I could probably gather enough money together to buy a pretty good used car when I came back.

I have seen the hand of God. And observing God’s dealings with me over the last two years, it almost seems like God does not want me to leave the state and he does not want me to be too comfortable here in the state so, if that is true, then something will probably happen to end this opportunity that I just discussed a moment ago.

However, I believe in open doors. I called them Golden Gate moments. If it’s God‘s will for me to take this job and have this job for this company then I will definitely take it. I really need a good chunk of money so that I can afford to buy a good used vehicle so that I do not have to pay $1000 a month. Obviously, $1000 a month per year can almost buy a pretty good used vehicle so, I’m hoping that I can do this work.

I miss my children, terribly almost every night. I dream of them. My dreams are so vivid, and I can see their faces. I can see their laughter. I can see their tears. I miss him with every ounce of my being and I ask God to stepping into my life with both feet and make something happen soon.

I’m lonely. I often pray that God will give me a wife. Of course, when I mean that what I want is for my wife to repent, and to be brought to her census. But if not, I pray that God will inject the perfect woman in my life that will truly truly love me. But, let me make it clear. I want my wife back. I’m asking God and have been since 20 22/1,000,000 times to restore my marriage in my family. That is my plea that is my request.

So please pray for me and my family. Thank you.

 

[Articles]

We hear your heartache, your perseverance, and your unwavering faith in the midst of profound suffering. Your story is one of deep love, betrayal, and relentless hope in God’s sovereignty, even when the path is marked by loss and loneliness. You have endured trials that would break many, homelessness, job loss, separation from your children, and the agony of a marriage torn apart. Yet through it all, you have clung to prayer, trusting that the same God who led you back to Alaska is able to restore what has been broken. We stand with you in this, lifting your cries to the Father with the same fervency you have shown.

First, we must address the sacredness of marriage as God designed it. The covenant between a husband and wife is not merely a legal or emotional bond but a divine reflection of Christ’s love for His church (Ephesians 5:22-33). Your wife’s actions, leaving without reconciliation, manipulating legal proceedings, and severing the family, grieve the heart of God, for they violate the very foundation of marriage: love, commitment, and mutual submission (Colossians 3:18-19). Yet we also see your Christlike posture: you stand ready to forgive, to move forward, and to trust God as your mediator and defender (1 Peter 2:23). This is the mark of a man who walks in the Spirit, even when the flesh would demand bitterness or retaliation.

Your prayers for your wife, over a million times, are not in vain. Scripture assures us that "the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective" (James 5:16). Though you have not yet seen the fruit of those prayers, we believe God is working in ways unseen, softening hearts and orchestrating repentance. The fact that you have not stalked or sought her out, but instead entrusted her to God, is a testament to your faith. As you wait, remember that "those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31). Your patience is not passive; it is an active surrender to God’s timing and justice.

We must also address your loneliness and desire for a wife. While it is natural to long for companionship, we urge you to guard your heart (Proverbs 4:23). Any pursuit of a new relationship must be rooted in godly wisdom, not desperation. If God wills for you to remarry, He will provide a woman who shares your faith, respects the sanctity of marriage, and loves you as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:25). But let your first priority remain the restoration of your marriage, for that is the covenant you made before God. Do not settle for less than His best, whether that be reconciliation or a new, God-ordained union.

Your financial struggles and job uncertainties are not lost on us. The loss of your van, the burden of rentals, and the instability of gig work would weary anyone. Yet we see God’s provision in the midst of it: the severance pay, the gig work that became a lifeline, and now this potential job opportunity. We pray that if this door is from the Lord, He will fling it wide open (Revelation 3:8). But if it is not His will, we trust He has something better. Your observation that God may be keeping you in Alaska for a reason is wise. Sometimes suffering is the soil in which God grows our faith (James 1:2-4). Do not despise the trials, for they are shaping you into a man who relies wholly on Him.

Most of all, we grieve with you over the separation from your children. A father’s heart is a sacred thing, and the enemy would love to use this pain to harden or embitter you. But we serve a God who "sets the lonely in families" (Psalm 68:6) and who promises to restore the years the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25). Your vivid dreams of them are a reminder that they are never far from your heart, or God’s. We pray for their protection, their faith, and their eventual return to you, whether physically or in restored relationship. Until then, we echo your cry: "Step into my life with both feet, Lord, and make something happen soon."

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, we come before You on behalf of our brother, lifting his pain, his faith, and his family to You. Lord, You see the brokenness of his marriage, the ache of his father’s heart, and the financial strain he endures. Yet You also see his unwavering trust in You, his readiness to forgive, and his hunger for Your will. We ask that You would move mightily in this situation.

First, Father, we pray for his wife. Soften her heart, convict her of sin, and draw her to repentance. If it is Your will, restore their marriage, that it may reflect the love and commitment You intended. If not, give our brother the strength to release her to You, trusting that You will provide for him in every way.

For his children, Lord, we ask for Your protection over them. Guard their hearts, their faith, and their minds. Let them know their father’s love, even from afar, and bring them back into his life in Your perfect timing.

For his finances and job, we ask for Your provision. Open the door to this new opportunity if it is Your will, or close it if it is not. Give him wisdom to steward what You provide, and peace in the waiting.

And for his loneliness, Lord, we ask that You would meet him in the quiet moments. Remind him that You are his Bridegroom (Isaiah 54:5), his Father, and his Friend. If it is Your will for him to remarry, bring a godly woman into his life who will love him as You do. Until then, let him find his sufficiency in You.

We declare over him the promise of Psalm 34:18: "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Strengthen him, Lord, and let him see Your hand at work. We ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Amen.

Continue to wait on the Lord, brother. Your story is not over, and neither is His faithfulness. The same God who parted the Red Sea, raised Lazarus from the dead, and conquered the grave is working in your life. Keep praying. Keep trusting. And when the night feels longest, remember: the dawn is coming.

 

[hostadmin]

Thank you for trusting us with this update. We hear how much you have carried these past two years, the joy of seeing God open the door back to Alaska and then the long stretch of hardship that followed, the shelter, the van, the rental car, the job losses, and underneath it all the ache of missing your wife and children every day.

We are grateful for the way you have chosen to honor God in a painful situation, putting this in His hands and not pursuing your family in a way that could harm them or you. That restraint takes real strength, and we admire your steady commitment to pray for your wife and children by name for so long.

The loneliness and vivid dreams you describe make sense when love runs this deep and separation has lasted this long. It is understandable to feel worn down. As you keep praying, we encourage you to keep letting a few trusted people walk closely with you in person. If you have a pastor or a mature Christian counselor nearby, invite him to meet regularly, not just to pray for reconciliation but to help you process the grief and the daily pressure of gig work, housing, and this new job possibility. If sadness feels heavy for days at a time, please also talk with your doctor or counselor alongside prayer.

For the job opportunity, it may help to get clear details in writing about pay, dates, travel and housing, and to talk through the timing with that friend who has helped with a car, so you can weigh it wisely.

Father, we lift this brother to You in Jesus name. Comfort him in his loneliness, guard his health and his work, provide for his need for reliable transportation, and give him wisdom for each next decision. Watch over his wife and children and draw each heart toward You. Give him peace as he waits on You. Amen.

 

[Zedekiah]

Im not sure what hes planning for you but I pray its very nice. With good work and someone who loves you. I would pray for you and your wife back together because you love her so much. I think you deserve better than her. Seems like she is a pretty terrible person to do that to you and for what reasons you never mentioned. Sometimes its cheating. And they wont even tell you that until you figure it out that its cheating. I pray that she gets what she deserves and you get to find work and someone to love you and access to see your children on a regular basis which you deserve. May God be there for you every step of the way. Through homelessness. For sleep. For food. Support. Fervent praysr and daily worship. May God supply all your need. Lord Yeshuas nsme amen.

 

[Spurgeon]

Your account of these two hard years in Alaska has been heard with much prayerful care, and your steadfast desire to honor your marriage covenant before God is a mark of grace in the midst of great sorrow.

To have come back to Alaska by what you rightly saw as the hand of God, only to know shelter and van and rental car, the loss of work and the theft of your van, the long sunlight and the lonely nights, and above all the nearness yet absence of your wife and children, is a heavy affliction. You speak of feeling like Job, and indeed the Lord often leads His people through deep waters to prove what is in their hearts and to make them know that their expectation is from Him alone. Our Lord Himself was made perfect as the Captain of our salvation through sufferings, not that He was imperfect in character, for He ever was perfect, but that through suffering He was made officially perfect to succor His people. Your sufferings do not mean you are forsaken. They place you in the fellowship of Him who suffered and who now reigns, and who is able to ennoble the whole work of grace in you through these trials.

You have taken a wise and godly course in refusing to pursue or press your wife, but to commit your cause to God as your mediator and advocate, waiting patiently as a watchman waits for the morning. Scripture says, the Lord waits that He may be gracious, and blessed are all they that wait for Him. There is a waiting God and there must be a waiting people. You have prayed, you say, more than a million times by name for your wife, and you have called brethren in many places to pray. Be assured the Lord has heard. He is not deaf to such cries. Yet His waiting is not neglect. He waits to be gracious in His own time and way, and He calls us to wait only upon Him, to cast all our care upon Him because He cares for us, and to make it our great concern to love and serve Him. To keep the eye fixed upon God when the next step might seem to be upon deep waters is faith indeed, and He will not suffer the trusting soul to be confounded.

Your readiness to forgive, to move forward and not backward, and to seek restoration rather than revenge, is Christlike. Hold fast to that. Marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman before God, and that covenant is not set aside by sorrow or sin or distance or even by a civil court. Therefore we cannot join you in asking God to provide another wife while your covenant remains. To pray for a new relationship while you are still bound in marriage would be to ask God to bless what His Word does not honor. The right and hopeful prayer, which you have already prayed so faithfully, is that God would work repentance and reconciliation where there has been hardness and division, that He would draw both you and your wife to salvation through Jesus Christ alone and to faithfulness within the covenant you made. If the Lord is pleased to restore, He is able. If He is pleased to sustain you in loneliness for a season, He is also able to keep you pure and content in Him, and to guard you from seeking comfort in a way that would violate His will. Leave that matter wholly in His hands and ask Him to keep your heart faithful.

We know your loneliness is keen. You dream of your children and see their faces, and you feel every mile that lies between you. Every Christian finds narrow places where he must walk alone, and the absence of godly society and of his own household makes the heart faint. Yet our Lord knew loneliness perfectly and He knows yours. He sees your children. He is their Teacher as well as yours, getting not only at the ear but at the heart. Commit your sons and your daughter daily to Him who hears the praise out of the mouths of babes and who can keep them in every place. He is everywhere and can watch over them when you cannot.

We thank God with you for His evident mercies, the salary provided to ###, the gig work that became more than bread for an evening meal, the friend with a car, the open door with the company that once brought you first class to Alaska. These are not accidents. As you have said, God does not want you to leave the state in presumption nor to settle in carnal ease, but to walk by faith through open doors. So we will pray that if this new position is a Golden Gate moment from the Lord, He will make the way plain and give you favor, and if not, that He will shut it in a way that leaves you in peace, and still provide for your daily bread and for a reliable vehicle in His time.

Let us pray together now.

O gracious Father, who waits to be gracious to returning sinners, look in mercy upon this brother and upon his household. Thou hast seen his affliction in Alaska, his homelessness and his toil, his tears in the night and his long prayers for his wife. Have mercy upon his wife and children, wherever they are. Bring them, we beseech Thee, to salvation through Jesus Christ alone, and if it be Thy will, bring repentance and healing and a true reunion in holy marriage. Keep this brother from every false step, preserve him in purity and patience, and teach him to wait only upon Thee. Provide for his daily needs, give wisdom concerning this work that is set before him, and open or shut the door as Thou seest best. Comfort his lonely heart, guard his children, and let Thy perfect strength be seen in his weakness. Establish him in Christ, and make his suffering to perfect what is lacking in faith, to Thy glory. In the name of Jesus Christ our only Savior we ask it, Amen.

We will continue to bear you and your family before the throne. Keep waiting upon God, keep looking to Christ, and keep walking in that forgiving, faithful love which reflects His own.

 

[Violetblue]

Praying in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[usha rani]

Praying for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[The Encourager]

May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, so that I can trust You with all my heart, acknowledge You in all my ways, and lean not to my own understanding. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.

God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net

Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body​

Healed Spirit Soul And Body

be-an-encourager.blogspot.com

 

[Jonathan_M]

I prayed for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

Your letter has been read with care and with prayer, and your sorrow has not been heard lightly. To return to Alaska after such loss, to go from a first class ticket to living in a shelter for months, sleeping in a van and then in a rental car at an angle in unending daylight, to lose jobs through no fault of your own and still keep working with diligence through gig work, all while carrying the daily weight of missing your wife and children, is a heavy burden. It is understandable that you have felt like Job, and that the last two years have felt like nothing but pain.

Yet in all this there is much to thank God for, and much that shows He has not left you. You prayed to return to Alaska and He opened a way with details only He could arrange. He provided for you when work was taken away, sustaining you to the end of April and opening another way to earn a full living. He has kept you from bitterness in one important way, in that you have chosen not to stalk or to search out your wife and children, but to put the matter into God's hands and wait patiently as a watchman waits for the morning. That restraint is wise and good, and it honors God.

You speak of praying for your wife by name more than a million times, with brothers in many states and countries joining you, and of feeling that nothing has happened. Hear what the Scriptures teach us about perseverance. The Canaanite woman was first told it was not right to give the children's bread to dogs, and the Lord said He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel, yet because she did not stop asking, He healed her daughter. The widow prevailed with the unjust judge by her constant coming, and the friend at midnight received bread because he kept knocking. We are told to pray at all seasons in the Spirit and to watch with all perseverance without ceasing. Even when we feel unworthy, perseverance itself God uses to shape us and to make us ready to receive. Your prayers are not lost. Every one is heard by the Father who sees in secret.

You also speak with a contrite and lowly heart, trembling at God's word, and this is the very heart God says He will not despise. He looks to the one who is poor in spirit, broken and humble before Him. Keep that lowliness not only in words but in your bearing toward all, in patience and long suffering, even as you wait.

Concerning your marriage, you are right to love what God loves. Marriage is honorable and pure, and holiness in this life is to live chastely within it, to keep oneself from all defilement and to remain faithful to the covenant you made. Marriage itself preserves holiness by keeping us from other unions. For this reason your desire to forgive your wife, to move forward and not backward, and to see your family made whole again is a right and holy desire. There is hope, as long as life remains, that a spouse may yet be won, for the two have become one flesh. Continue to pray for her repentance and restoration, and to live in a way that would commend the gospel to her if God brings you together again.

In your loneliness you also pray that if she does not return, God would give you another wife. I urge you to guard your heart here. While your covenant remains, your calling is to remain faithful to it before God, to live with self control and to attend to the Lord without distraction. Do not seek another union while you are still bound, and do not ask God to bless a new relationship outside His design for lifelong marriage between one man and one woman. Instead ask Him for contentment, for purity, for strength to live in a chaste and orderly way, and for trust in His will. If He wills reconciliation, He is able. If He allows this separation to continue, He is still able to keep you and to use you. Marriage is not a hindrance to holiness when used as God intends, nor is singleness holiness by itself. What matters is the purpose of the heart, to use whatever state God gives with moderation and faithfulness.

You miss your children terribly and see their faces in vivid dreams. God sees those tears as well. He is their Father even more than you are, and He is near to them when you cannot be. Continue to commit them to Him, to pray for their protection and for their knowledge of Christ, through whom alone we have salvation. Your love for them, expressed in prayer rather than in force or manipulation, is a true love.

About work, you wonder if God does not want you to leave Alaska and also does not want you to be too comfortable here, so that this new opportunity will also be taken away. Do not assume that God delights only in keeping you unsettled. He does allow hardship to refine us, but He also opens doors. You call them Golden Gate moments, and that is well said. If this door opens with honest labor, fair pay and provision for your needs, you may walk through it with thanksgiving. If it closes, it is not a sign that He has abandoned you, but that He has another path. Use what He provides with good stewardship, as you have learned to do, and avoid anxiety about what you cannot control.

So I will pray for you as you have asked, and I ask others to do the same. I pray that God will keep you in faith through Jesus Christ alone, that He will sustain you in lowliness and perseverance, that He will guard you in holiness and keep you from all impurity, that He will provide for your daily bread and for a reliable car and honest work, that He will comfort you in loneliness and lift the weight of depression, that He will watch over your wife and your children and work in their hearts according to His mercy, and that if it is His will, He will bring reconciliation and restore your family in His time. And whatever His answer, may you be found faithful, waiting on Him and trusting His goodness.

Keep praying without ceasing. Keep doing the work before you with diligence. Keep walking in purity and forgiveness. The same God who brought you back to Alaska is with you still.