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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for
“God Has a Plan for Your Marriage”
Hello, I’m
“I had been raised Catholic,” Cheryl said, “And attended Mass nearly every Sunday of my childhood.”
“In the first two years we lived in
Then she said, “Thirty-three years of my life had slipped by without me knowing that God had a design for marriage.”
Well I don’t want that to happen to you. I don’t want another minute to slip by without you hearing what Cheryl missed for 33 years. God has a plan for your marriage!
Unfortunately for Cheryl, she found this out after she was already divorced.
Not that she married a terrible guy. Jeff was a good guy by all accounts. He loved his wife and their twin daughters and provided well for them, very well. He didn’t cheat on her. He didn’t abuse her. He wasn’t addicted to anything.
So why did they get divorced?
Because Cheryl grew discontent. She was not a Christian, there was a hole in her life, and she expected Jeff to fill it. She hungered for deep companionship. She read about soul mates and that’s what Jeff should be, right? They should have deep conversations and be bonding on a deep level, but they weren’t. All they talked about was their activities and the children, but no deep conversations.
Meanwhile Cheryl’s ego needs were being met at work. Her job was exhilarating and the men found her attractive. She found herself dressing for attention and even being flirty with certain men.
It was all innocent, she said. She was just being playful while enjoying the attention.
But then she found herself away on business one week and got caught up in a conversation with Todd. Finally, the kind of conversation she had been longing for! And it gave her an emotional high like she had never known.
She went back home from the conference and there was boring old Jeff. She loved her daughters, but found herself pulling away from her husband. Her cup was being filled several times a day with phone calls from Todd. They would talk up to 10 times a day while she was at work, but her husband was clueless. He had no idea anything was going on. Sure, she was moody, he said, but he just chalked that up to woman stuff.
Finally Cheryl dropped the bomb. She told Jeff she didn’t love him, and in fact, wasn’t sure she had ever loved him.
He was devastated. He hadn’t seen it coming, and it was a crushing blow. He scrambled to work things out, but she was not interested. They went to counseling, but she was uncooperative; and she told no one about Todd.
Eventually she filed for divorce, and when it was final she thought she would be the happiest woman in the world, but she knew it wasn’t right. Todd had left his wife and was ready to make a home with Cheryl, but she had a nagging sense that something was wrong with that picture. Meanwhile, her interest in God picked up.
“I bought a Bible for the first time in my life,” she said, “But didn’t know what to do with it.” Then a friend got her plugged in to a Bible study.
And she started going to a new church. “I sat in my same seat every week,” she said, “and the name Jesus was spoken countless times. But one Sunday, for the very first time, I actually heard it. It’s hard to explain, but it felt like I heard it in my heart, not just in my head. I thought I already knew who Jesus was, but I quickly realized there was more to the story. My friends told me that Jesus wanted my heart. I didn’t get it but never stopped listening.”
“To tell the truth,” Cheryl said, “I thought some of the people around me were a little kooky. They seemed to be obsessed with their religion. I’d never in my life met people like this. They were all apparently on a first-name basis with Jesus, yet they were so normal. They were fun people, and they exuded a peace and joy I could not fathom.”
“It slowly dawned on me that this Jesus everyone was talking about could be what I’d been missing. I learned he could be my Savior and that Savior wasn’t just some fancy religious word; it meant he could literally save my life.”
“I sat on my living-room recliner,” Cheryl said. “I took a deep breath. ‘Okay.’ I spoke aloud. I knew Jesus heard me. I was giving my life to him, even though I still wasn’t quite sure what that meant. I felt like a little child when I went on, ‘Jesus, forgive me of my sins and be the Lord of my life.’”
“The best way I can describe what happened,” Cheryl said, “was that it felt like a boulder had been lifted off me. For months I had existed in a near-constant state of anxiety. But over the next few days, my body seemed to be moving in slow motion. At the same time, I felt invigorated and had more energy. Even my voice was calmer. Emotionally I moved to a more even keel. I stopped crying so much. I felt like I had someone to lean on (Jesus!). I felt as though I had somewhere to turn with my emotions (prayer!). In the midst of all the turmoil, I felt peace and joy in a way I’d never experienced in my life.”
“In some ways it felt like a silly stereotype,” she said. “The hole in my life was being filled for the first time. It felt like freedom. I did not understand the path I was about to take, but was willing to walk down it.”
To make a long and exciting story short, Cheryl grew in the Lord, ended up getting remarried to Jeff, and now they help others who are struggling in their marriage. You can read all about it in their book “I Do Again: How We Found a Second Chance at Our Marriage – and You Can Too,” published by WaterBrook.
Cheryl had gone through ten disappointing years of marriage and seven painful years of divorce before finally stepping into God’s plan for marriage.
Now what about you? God has a design for your marriage, and it’s far more fulfilling than any affair or any other distraction you might be toying with.
Find out more by drawing near to God yourself, by connecting with mature believers, and by reading this book “I Do Again” by Cheryl and Jeff Scruggs.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m
© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision App
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