We hear the deep pain and confusion in this request and we are standing with you in prayer for this marriage restoration. To be ghosted and abandoned for over a year with no explanation, while still being told there will be no divorce yet there is no return home, is a wound that cuts very deeply and we understand why it still hurts as if it just happened yesterday. We weep with you and we also rejoice that you do not want to give up on what the Lord has spoken and that you have not felt released from this covenant, for we believe marriage is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman that God has joined together.
What therefore God has joined together, don't let man tear apart. Matthew 19:6. For I hate divorce, says Yahweh, the God of Israel. Malachi 2:16. The Lord takes the covenant of marriage seriously, and abandonment and ghosting do not align with His design for a husband to love and cherish his wife. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for it. Ephesians 5:25. To forsake that covenant without biblical cause while refusing to communicate is not love, it is hardness of heart and we must lovingly rebuke that behavior. To the married I command, not I, but the Lord, that the wife not depart from her husband, but if she is departed, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband, and that the husband not leave his wife. 1 Corinthians 7:10-11.
We also hear your confusion about your spouse leading a men's Bible study at church while your own house is not in order, and we share that concern with you. The Scripture is clear on this, But if a man doesn't know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the assembly of God? 1 Timothy 3:5. That is not your business to correct publicly or to gossip about, and we honor your restraint in saying so, but it is right for you to feel confused, and it is right for the elders of that church to examine whether a man who has abandoned his wife for over a year should be leading other men spiritually. We pray the Lord will convict and shepherd him in that.
You ask when do you give up and you share that you feel in your heart you are supposed to wait but you do not want to miss what the Lord is asking you to do. We encourage you not to grow weary in well doing for the waiting itself is part of what God is asking you to do in this season. Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don't give up. Galatians 6:9. Wait for Yahweh. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for Yahweh. Psalm 27:14. But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31. The weekly provision, even though it is not much, does show some ongoing sense of responsibility and we pray you continue to thank the Lord for it and ask Him to bless your spouse as you have been doing, for that is a Christlike response.
You mentioned many prophecies spoken over you, that the Lord told you to write down all He had spoken because you would go through something big but if you came through it your ministry would be four times bigger and you would show many people the Lord's love, and that on two different occasions from people who did not know you it was spoken that you are your spouse's gift. We cling with you to the truth that God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and he won't do it? Or has he spoken, and he won't make it good? Numbers 23:19. We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28. Yet we also gently caution you to test all prophetic words against Scripture and to stand most firmly on the written Word of God, not on experience alone. Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21. Do not let the pain of feeling thrown away like trash on the side of the road make you forget that you are deeply valued by God, you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and you are still a gift whether man recognizes it or not.
We also want to lovingly point out that your request speaks of the Lord but does not mention the name of Jesus Christ. We want to remind you that it is only by the name of Jesus that we have access to the Father and it is only by His name that we are saved. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. John 14:6. There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9. We encourage you to bring every prayer for restoration specifically in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, for there is power in that name.
We pray together now.
Father in heaven, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ and we lift up this dear one who is hurting and waiting, and we lift up this marriage that You have joined together. Lord, You see the tears, the confusion, the year of silence and ghosting, the ache of not understanding why. We ask You to comfort this wounded heart, to heal the feeling of being discarded, to remind them that they are Your beloved child and that You will never leave nor forsake them. We ask You to bless the spouse who is away, to convict him where he has forsaken his covenant, to draw him to repentance, to humility, to honest communication, and to a true love for his wife as Christ loves the church. Lord, if he is leading others while his own house is broken, we ask You to bring godly counsel around him and to restore order in his own home first. We pray You would break through the ghosting and the silence and bring truth into the light. We pray for this waiting spouse to know clearly what You are asking them to do in this time, to wait with hope and not with despair, to seek You daily in Your Word, to guard their heart from bitterness while still walking in truth, and to continue to stand on Your promises without striving in the flesh. Give them wisdom, give them peace that passes understanding, and let them hear Your still small voice. We pray for restoration if it be Your will, for reconciliation and forgiveness and a testimony that will indeed show multitudes Your love and make their ministry fruitful beyond what they can imagine. And above all, let Your will be done and let both be conformed to the image of Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
We encourage you to stay rooted in Scripture, to remain in faithful prayer and fasting as the Lord leads, to seek wise, biblically grounded pastoral counsel who honors marriage, and to continue to wait on the Lord's timing. Do not rush to declare the marriage over when God has not released you, but also do not live in passivity without seeking His daily direction. Keep writing down what He speaks to you through His Word, keep your heart soft and forgiving, keep your hands busy serving Him where you are, and trust that He who promised is faithful.
