3 Months Earlier

Yesterday, I asked Trisha if she had read the blog post I had written. I usually talk through each post with her before I write and she speaks into areas that I should change or reconsider. She knew what I was writing about, but she hadn’t read it, yet. She pulled it up and began to read.  She stopped about half-way through and just said, “Wow, you’ve had some intense posts this week. I don’t know if I can handle this one right now.” I began to second guess the post and wonder if I had been too harsh, too intense, too confrontational, too legalistic, etc.

She could see that my feelings were hurt and so she told me how much she loved what I had written, but she was just emotionally spent. I began to tear up, and it was hard to speak. She asked me what was wrong? I just said, “What if the pastor who confessed the affair to his wife would have found our blog 3 months earlier? What if I could have had a conversation with him 3 months ago, before the affair ever started.” By now, tears are streaming down my face. “People don’t have to go through hell like we did to have what we have,” I said. Her response was so sweet and so true, “Honey, you can’t save them, only Jesus can.”

The truth is that my conversation with a guy I’ve never met, from a state I’ve never been to, literally minutes before he confessed his affair rocked me. I have had a sense of urgency this week. Urgency to pray, urgency to speak truth, urgency to write, urgency to go back to the dark parts of my heart and expose them so others can avoid the path that I chose. Marriages are at stake. Hearts are at stake. Families are at stake. Kids are at stake. Churches are at stake. I can write and I can pray and I can share our journey…but only Jesus has the power to change a human heart.

My simple prayer today is that THIS DAY  is 3 MONTHS EARLIER in someone’s life. Maybe an affair won’t start because God brought you here. Maybe a friendship won’t disintegrate 3 months from now.  Maybe a marriage won’t crumble because you won’t make the same mistakes that destroyed our marriage. Maybe 3 months from now your marriage, your family, your life will be more refined, not because of any post we’ve written, but only because of the mercy and grace of a God who loves you, and longs to refine you.