{"id":9530,"date":"2017-09-01T06:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T10:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=9530"},"modified":"2017-08-27T07:53:14","modified_gmt":"2017-08-27T11:53:14","slug":"hope-impossible-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/09\/hope-impossible-marriage.html","title":{"rendered":"Hope for Impossible Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9557\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2017\/08\/character-1797362_1920-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"character-1797362_1920\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/>You made vows before the Lord. You promised to be with this person through sickness and in health, good or bad times. Right now, those vows feel impossible to honor. The marriage is so problematic, you think it is impossible to fix. You re tired of\u00a0fighting, or there is too much bad history to overcome, or you\u00a0just don\u2019t want to be in the\u00a0marriage. You&#8217;ve \u00a0grown apart.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not saying those feelings aren\u2019t real. Or that people don\u2019t get to a very \u00a0discouraged point and think divorce is the only way out. I\u2019m saying,\u00a0believe for a\u00a0miracle and allow God the opportunity to change you, your spouse and your marriage. What often happens is that we don\u2019t include God in our hurt or sense of betrayal. The missing piece is often our reluctance to fix our relationship with God\u2014the very thing that will help turn around our marriage. And we need to do this together.<\/p>\n<p>I could tell you numerous stories of couples who appeared hopeless. Even as their therapist, I confess, I didn\u2019t have the faith for them to fix their marriages-some have lived through dramatic life events and circumstances, others are wounded and hurt over past disappointments and rejections, and others are deceived by the lie that nothing will make a difference. Truth is, we can\u2019t deal with an impossible marriage alone\u2014we need God to rule in our hearts and minds.\u00a0 But let\u2019s not succumb to the lie, <em>It\u2019s too late,<\/em> <em>It\u2019s not working so let\u2019s call it quits<\/em>. <em>It would take a miracle for this marriage to work.<\/em> I have good news. Our God is in the business of miracles.<\/p>\n<p>We need to remember who the real enemy is\u2014behind all the very real issues a couple faces is an enemy whose chief purpose is to steal, kill and destroy your marriage. It\u2019s a force of darkness and is real\u2014not something imagined for the movies. The enemy of our souls operates in a spiritual realm, an invisible world that exists all around you. You can\u2019t fight in your flesh, an enemy that is spiritual.<\/p>\n<p>So pray. \u00a0Line up your thinking with God\u2019s thinking. Get your behavior in line with godly behavior and fill yourself with the Word of God and His promises. Say them, rehearse them and claim those promises as yours. They are yours if you are a child of God.\u00a0Confessing what God says about you and your situation brings new hope, starts the process. Renew your mind\u2014Greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world. Take your rightful authority over the spiritual roots of problems.\u00a0Walk the floors and pray. Rehearse God\u2019s track record over impossible situations and be patient.<\/p>\n<p>We know that if we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful to forgive us. So confess first to God, then to your spouse. And deal with forgiveness. Once forgiven, you still may have to deal with the fall out of that sin, but accept God\u2019s forgiveness. Too often I see people continuing to accuse themselves and feel they have let down their partner too much. But the accuser is the devil (Revelation 12:10), so once you have confessed and forgiven, couples need to move forward in that forgiveness, dealing with the consequences of sin. That might mean going to a Christian couples\u2019 therapist for guidance. It also means you stop sinning and make a turn in behavior in order to build trust again.<\/p>\n<p>Scrripture tells us to not grow weary in doing good. To not give up if an answer isn\u2019t immediate, to wait on the Lord and believe he is a present help in times of trouble.\u00a0The road to divorce begins in our mind and heart, as well as our behavior. If you stay intimately connected to God, your marriage will reflect that intimacy.<\/p>\n<p>Bringing an impossible marriage back to life requires both parties to open their hearts to the God of the possible. If you surrender your life completely to God, give and receive forgiveness, work to change behavior\u2014a marriage can change and be revived. With God, all things are possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You made vows before the Lord. You promised to be with this person through sickness and in health, good or bad times. Right now, those vows feel impossible to honor. The marriage is so problematic, you think it is impossible to fix. You re tired of\u00a0fighting, or there is too much bad history to overcome,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[132,4046,4047,125,4045],"class_list":["post-9530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-divorce","tag-hope-for-marriage","tag-impossible-marriage","tag-marriage","tag-unhappy-couples"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hope for Impossible Marriage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/09\/hope-impossible-marriage.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hope for Impossible Marriage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You made vows before the Lord. You promised to be with this person through sickness and in health, good or bad times. Right now, those vows feel impossible to honor. The marriage is so problematic, you think it is impossible to fix. You re tired of\u00a0fighting, or there is too much bad history to overcome,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/09\/hope-impossible-marriage.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-01T10:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-27T11:53:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2017\/08\/character-1797362_1920-1-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hope for Impossible Marriage","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/09\/hope-impossible-marriage.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hope for Impossible Marriage","og_description":"You made vows before the Lord. 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Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. 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