Several years ago I reached a point in my life where I was very angry and discouraged about my relationship with my wife and two daughters. We seemed to fight all the time and "it was all their fault." All I was doing was trying to correct a few of their faults and make them a little easier to live with, but the didn’t seem interested and resisted my "advice" strongly. Fights and arguments seemed to be our main conversation.
One evening I really felt discouraged and was looking for a way out of this situation. Finally, in desperation I decided to tell God all about it. Although I believed in God and went to church, God and I weren’t real close, either. In spite of that, God touched me and began to heal my relationship with Him and my family. He told me to begin by changing myself instead of everyone else and pointed me to the Bible for answers.
Although the Bible had seemed boring and difficult to understand, in the past, I now was reading with a purpose and with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Suddenly it became clear, exciting and filled with good ideas on how to live! The importance of loving my family and others, even if I felt they didn’t love, me came through clearly. This was more than I could do on my own, but God began changing me in many ways. He’s still working on me, today, but everything’s getting better and better as I try to live according to his Word with the power and direction of the Holy Spirit.
Many of the changes He has made in my life have taken a lot of time and effort on God’s part and my part, but have been worth it. My daughters are adults, now, and love their father and mother very much. My wife and I have grown closer and more loving over the years. But, most important we have grown closer to God and have Him and His Word to turn to in all situations. My life has had a lot of ups and downs since then, but peace and harmony have replaced much of the discord and fighting. Without God and His Word, I’m sure all of our lives would all have taken a different direction.
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Last revised: August 27, 2002