Faith in the Key of Plan B (Alece Ronzino)

Sitting at the crossroads in life where it feels like God IS saving my marriage (according to a conversation last night with my husband) I am still feeling the pain of it all.

Thank you for having the courage to step out and share the pain that you are feeling – and the power of God in your life! You have been such an inspiration to me (and to many others I am sure) as we walk down the road of a broken marriage beside you.
My recent post I Should Be Happy

You are such a wonderful writer with such emotion. Thanks for sharing…I am sure you are reaching many with this ministry. You hold your head up high and open your eyes…that is where God will be. Hang in there, God's plan is perfect for He is perfect.

"nothing wasted" goes so well withe the mantra of you, "nothing missing nothing broken." He has not wasted anything about your story your whole life, even outside this chapter for broken marriage. He has been making life out of you from the get go. He is multiplying life through you so much. You brought your five fish and two loaves, and he is feeding so many through you, sweet friend.

So …

… have you read my most recent post? It has to do with a similar message (at least to myself) in so many ways. I don't know if it will have meaning to you, or at least perhaps not as much as it did to me. But God let me in on a bit of His perspective on this. At least I think so. At any rate. If you have time, you might read my latest post I cried for the roses.

I so love the way you put this, too.

There’s a difference between faith in what God can do and faith in who God is.

So profoundly true.
My recent post I cried for the roses

Alece, as always you have written a beautiful post that touches and encourages me. My pastor often says faith is not believing for something but believing in someone. It is about resting in God because He is deserving of our trust and our faith. Soooo much easier to say than do for sure. I love these words "The only way I can even think about making this shift is in moment-by-moment decisions of faith." I will be chewing on this and trying to remember this in those moments when it feels like my faith is failing me. Thank you for sharing your heart.

this is a hard pill to swallow…

I did a little study of Job with Larry last year because I was unhappy with the answers to 'all the hard theological questions'. I didn't like the answer 'God has a plan' to my 'Why me?' question. I didn't like the 'Have faith. He is good' answer to my 'Why do bad things happen' question. I wanted answers that would make me happy and not ones that challenged my heart. I had unknowingly subscribed to the 'health, wealth, happiness' gospel and was coming up empty. After reading Job and camping out in it for a while, I realized I needed to humble myself and realize that I don't see the big picture. God doesn't present His reasons to me because He is God and I need to trust Him. (Which ties in with that Mother Theresa story in 'Ruthless Trust'. Just sayin'). Those few weeks forced me to lay aside my desire for what I thought were the right answers to my situation and learn to accept hard truth.

I remember when I first heard someone say that God doesn't care if we are happy or not. I was pretty angry and immediately thought 'God loves me, of course He wants me to be happy.' And the more I've thought about it, the more I realize that God's best for us doesn't always involve a happy path. We must be refined by fire; our dark times can show us His faithfulness. Those are not always happy things…fire, darkness…but through them, fruits of joy, love, patience, kindness, etc. can grow.

I'm so thankful for your wisdom. For picking apart different thoughts and opening my mind's eye (and heart) to nuances I never thought of. Love you, Mer!
My recent post Practicing

Alece…I am so thankful that you shared your heart with us today. I was your husband. I know the pain that I put Trisha through, and the destruction I caused so many. While I've never experienced the pain that you have, I know what it feels like to cause it. To see how God has used your life and your story to give hope to others that are in their Plan B, inspires me. I am thankful for a grace that is big enough to rescue me, and a grace that is big enough to redeem your hurt and your pain to bring God glory.

Alece,

Thank you for this message. For so long I struggled with the idea (and still do at times) that "what God can do and what He was doing didn’t line up." I argued with God yelling the "why?" questions: "why can't you?" "Why didn't you?" Etc. And when things didn't change, I questioned His motives, and His character.

But it all rests on the one statement you made: "There’s a difference between faith in what God can do and faith in who God is."

He doesn't change.
We do.

Life from His eternal perspective has to be much different than life from our temporal perspective.

Regardless of the struggles and brokenness, "nothing is ever wasted".

Thank you Alece. Your faith and trust in God through the hard times is an inspiration.
Will continue to be praying for you girl. *hugs*

Alece,
A friend directed me to your post and as I read, it became obvious why. Thank you for sharing your heart so openly, boldly and with the direction of the Holy Spirit! I followed the link to your blog and when I read the nutshell version of your story, I was blown away. Our stories have so many similarities! I wish they didn’t – for both of our sake – but they do.

I, too, never thought that divorce would be in my story. I also KNEW that God was more than able to save my marriage and use our redemption story like He has for others who were willing. We have to choose to follow God’s plan A, though.

I am now two years into the grieving process because those choices were not made. I still struggle, but I know now better than I ever have how faithful God is to His children. He is on record for loving us and Easter time is a perfect reminder of how much! God asks me to do “the next right thing” and He promises to use me because of my circumstances that lead to a broken heart. He is using you, too! And though your mind probably knows that you are being used by God, I pray that your heart feels valuable today to the God of the Universe.

Alece, thank you for sharing this… indeed, we can always plan for the future but we never really know what will happen in God's perfect plan, and His time. I'm reading Mark Betterson's book "In a pit with a lion on a snowy day" right now, and it sounds like you've been there… me too! To me it's become all about being content and thankful whatever the circumstances, knowing that whatever God has in store is more awesome than I can possibly imagine… "because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." – Romans 5:3-5… and I can see that it is very much working out just that way!

My recent post Got the Message

I love the part about God not wasting anything. That is such great insight. Thanks for sharing.
My recent post Good Friday

Alece and Trisha, both of your comments really challenged me. Thank you! Trisha, you probably had no idea when you began writing Alece how profound your words would be. I, too, have been holding myself, others, and God hostage waiting for Him to do what I know He can do. Yet another level of surrender is in my future. Thank you, girls, for changing and challenging me.