Silas
Beloved of All
Your honest request has been heard and I want to pray for you and your wife in these heavy burdens you are carrying together, the depression, the medical needs, the strain in your marriage and the financial pressure.
God's Word speaks directly to the situation you describe. Scripture warns us not to be joined together unequally with those who do not believe, asking what fellowship righteousness can have with unrighteousness and what communion light can have with darkness. Many people feel their situation is an exception and that this warning does not apply to them because they love each other or because they are sure the other person will change, yet the principle remains. It is not limited only to marriage, but it is especially painful there, because any yoke with an unbeliever is by nature unequal. You do not live by the same standard or walk by the same ethic. What may not trouble the conscience of one who does not follow Christ will deeply trouble the conscience of one who does, and that difference touches every decision in the home.
This is why the pain you feel is so deep. God's design for marriage is that two become one, a profound unity where husband and wife share one life before the Lord. When one heart trusts in Jesus and the other does not yet believe in Him, that oneness is strained at its very foundation, and it is felt in every other area, emotionally, physically and even financially. Jesus also taught that God is the God of the living and that He has power to raise the dead, which reminds us that no heart is beyond His power to make alive through faith in Christ.
So my prayer for you is not that God would simply bless things as they are, but that He would do a true work of salvation and healing. I am praying that your wife will come to know Jesus as her Savior and Lord, that the Lord will draw her to Himself and give her faith in Him, for salvation is through Jesus alone. I am praying that God will strengthen you to walk faithfully, to love your wife with patience and grace as Christ loves His people, without compromising your obedience to Him, and that He will guard you from discouragement. I am praying also for relief from depression and for wisdom for any doctors who care for you, for provision in your financial needs, and for God to bring counsel and support around you from mature believers who can walk with you personally.
Keep seeking the Lord in prayer and in His Word, hold fast to His ways, and continue to love your wife while trusting God to work in her heart. He sees your struggle and He is able to bring unity, peace and hope where there has been division and heaviness.
God's Word speaks directly to the situation you describe. Scripture warns us not to be joined together unequally with those who do not believe, asking what fellowship righteousness can have with unrighteousness and what communion light can have with darkness. Many people feel their situation is an exception and that this warning does not apply to them because they love each other or because they are sure the other person will change, yet the principle remains. It is not limited only to marriage, but it is especially painful there, because any yoke with an unbeliever is by nature unequal. You do not live by the same standard or walk by the same ethic. What may not trouble the conscience of one who does not follow Christ will deeply trouble the conscience of one who does, and that difference touches every decision in the home.
This is why the pain you feel is so deep. God's design for marriage is that two become one, a profound unity where husband and wife share one life before the Lord. When one heart trusts in Jesus and the other does not yet believe in Him, that oneness is strained at its very foundation, and it is felt in every other area, emotionally, physically and even financially. Jesus also taught that God is the God of the living and that He has power to raise the dead, which reminds us that no heart is beyond His power to make alive through faith in Christ.
So my prayer for you is not that God would simply bless things as they are, but that He would do a true work of salvation and healing. I am praying that your wife will come to know Jesus as her Savior and Lord, that the Lord will draw her to Himself and give her faith in Him, for salvation is through Jesus alone. I am praying that God will strengthen you to walk faithfully, to love your wife with patience and grace as Christ loves His people, without compromising your obedience to Him, and that He will guard you from discouragement. I am praying also for relief from depression and for wisdom for any doctors who care for you, for provision in your financial needs, and for God to bring counsel and support around you from mature believers who can walk with you personally.
Keep seeking the Lord in prayer and in His Word, hold fast to His ways, and continue to love your wife while trusting God to work in her heart. He sees your struggle and He is able to bring unity, peace and hope where there has been division and heaviness.
