Fight Like A Mare

Once upon a time there was a happily married couple. Just as you imagine. Nice home, great jobs, healthy kids. They were surrounded by wonderful family and friends. They took fun vacations, played basketball, and enjoyed summers by the pool. They were a classic picture of the American dream. While they continued to live out their daily lives, there was a jealous man that they had never met that took notice of their bliss. From a distance, he studied their routines, tendencies, and after a while knew more intimate characteristics such as their insecurities, fears, and personal pitfalls. He quickly realized that the most vulnerable spouse was the husband. Annoyed with their marriage and the covenant that it represented, he plotted to destroy this family. He knew that his greatest chance in taking down their family, was through the husband. He was patient. He slowly began using other people to speak to the husbands insecurities. He sent negative influences, wealth, success, worldly idols, and everything in between to feed the selfish desires of the husband. All the while, he continued to generate lies to the wife about her husband to try and add to the confusion. After many, many years of being a silent but persistent pestilence to their marriage, this enemy decided that he had the marriage at the breaking point. It was time to go in for the kill. The husband was beat down, overworked, and unsatisfied. After a long day of work, the husband unknowingly left the back door of his house open. This was the opportunity that the man had been waiting for. Every night he would slip in to do his best to create total disruption in the family. He would whisper lies to each spouse, “She doesn’t appreciate you.” “He doesn’t respect you.” Going totally unnoticed, the enemy would leave his plan of destruction free for the taking. As the enemy spent more and more time in their home, tensions grew while communication dwindled. One night, it was time. Time for the truth. The truth that was sure to literally bring down the house. It was the time that the enemy had been waiting for for over 10 years. The point where enough was enough. The husband confessed that he had been unfaithful. The heart shattering truth that included an intense web of lies and deceit was sure to be enough to damage this marriage beyond repair. The enemy had it all planned out. She would leave him. Their home would just be a house. The kids wouldn’t know what it was like to have a great father just an every other weekend Dad. The wife would leave her high school sweetheart and the enemy would win. Another family and marriage covenant destroyed. It was a done deal or so he thought. You see, the devil made a great miscalculation. He underestimated the wife. Specifically the power and protective covering of a praying wife. Sure she made mistakes. Sure she may have been tempted to believe the lies but every time her husband left the door open, she went right behind him and locked it back. When the devil whispered lies to her, she spoke the true and living Word of God right back at him. She was fully dressed and ready for battle. She was clothed with the Armor of God. As the couple went to bed that night. She prayed as tears rolled down her face. Feeling as if her heart had been ripped out of her body-she continued to fight the good fight. She kept the faith. While she may have considered murder, she never considered divorce. That same night, the husband had a dream. An angel appeared to him and showed him a new life. His kids were happy. They laughed and giggled as they played in the yard. He glances over and sees his wife. He admires her from a distance. In awe of her strength and forgiveness, he fights back the tears and says a silent pray thanking God for completely restoring his family, for saving his soul, and mending broken hearts. In his dream, the angel takes him to a second life. He sees his kids in his rear view mirror. They are chasing after him, tears streaming down their faces yelling “Daddy, please don’t go”. His now ex wife stands in front of their house, wiping away the tears. He goes to his rent house filled with complete silence, no pictures, no supper on the stove. He lays on the bed, alone. Not only has he lost his family but his once flourishing multimillion dollar business had dwindled to nothing as a result of his divorce. Past due bills and dirty clothes litter the floor. He longs for the chatter of his kids. The warm embrace of his wife and the sweet late night cuddles of his kids before bed. Instead, he is left alone with the one person he resents the most, himself. The husband quickly wakes up, his heart pounding. For a few seconds he struggles to know if his nightmare was his new reality. He reaches over and feels for her. There she is. Like she had been there every night for 10 years. Tears immediately began streaming down his face. The remorse for his actions was beyond anything that he could have possibly imagined. He began asking himself, “How could I let his happen? Who am I? What have I done? What am I going to do?” He hit his knees and cried out to God. He didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know what to do. He just knew that he needed God. The days that followed were the hardest that they had ever experienced. As the healing process began, the husband poured out gut wrenching details of his affair and deception. The wife endured the nauseating pain of hearing the truth because she knew it was a necessary part of the healing process. Although she didn’t like God’s will at this particular moment in time, she trusted God. She knew that she was in the fight for her family. As the days turned into weeks and weeks into months. God reconnected the husband and wife. As the husband grew in his walk with Jesus, he noticed his marriage starting to bud in places that he had never noticed before. God had given him eyes that desired his wife and a rekindled fire that filled his heart with a fierce love to be the Godly head of his house. He was mad. Mad that he let his guard down and let the enemy in. Mad that he came so close to loosing it all. Never again would he be so vulnerable. So careless. So naive. Fast forward to a year later. Healing is still taking place. Trust is still being built. Some days are easier than others as the enemy still tries to throw some fiery darts out of the blue. This time around, they are both suited for battle with the husband leading the charge. No longer does he stand back and passively let his life pass before him. This guy is assertive. He’s sensitive to the devil’s schemes. He is on high alert. After all, his family is at stake. Every night, he carefully tucks in his kids and enjoys late night cuddles. Then, he locks each door before heading off to bed and softly whispers, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” He gently slides in to bed, kisses his wife goodnight and from the depths of his soul, thanks God for his forgiveness, grace, and mercy. As you probably already guessed. They live happily ever after, they even have the scars to prove it.