Can Divorced Christians Remarry?. Robert Sr. Eldredge Sr.

HAS TRIALS TO OVERCOME

      Having been married for thirty years, I can certainly confirm that, as long as we live here on earth, we will always have conflicts to resolve and trials to overcome. When my wife and I were first married, I was looking forward to a long and happy relationship, and I really did not expect to have any unusual problems.

      Our first major trial occurred less than two years after we were married. Without any warning, my wife had a sudden seizure and a colossal headache! We found out later that she had a "brain aneurysm," and she almost died when a blood vessel burst inside her brain!

      The doctors said she was very fortunate to have survived, but that the blood vessel was still leaking and if they did not operate, she would die! Even then, they said that she had only a fifty-fifty chance of surviving the brain operation!

      But God was still in control.

      It "happened" that Dr. Neil Poppen wanted to demonstrate a new technique to visiting surgeons from several other countries and he needed a patient with exactly my wife's condition!

      The other doctors told me at the time that he was considered to be the "best brain surgeon in the entire world." So not only did we have the best, but he also operated upon my wife free of charge!

      Although the brain operation did save her life, she still had considerable brain damage from the initial attack. In addition, she had a partial paralysis and weakness on one side of her body. When she spoke or smiled, only one side of her mouth would move. Her memory loss was so bad that, in the beginning she even forgot that we were married!

      As you can imagine, the trauma caused her to have deep seated feelings of insecurity. Even up to a year or so later, she was very reluctant to go shopping alone. Since we had moved to a different location, she was afraid that she might forget how to get home!

      Again, I believe God intervened!

      Even though Dr. Poppen had said that the partial paralysis was permanent and would never go away, all of the symptoms gradually disappeared within about two years. Another doctor told me later that he considered her quick recovery from the partial paralysis and memory loss as "nothing less than miraculous!"

      Because of the high risk that another weakened blood vessel might burst during childbirth, one doctor even refused to have her as a patient if we did not practice birth control. However, we prayed about this and we both agreed to trust God and continue to have children.

      Well, the rest is history! We had five more children after the brain operation without any complications! Praise the Lord! In addition to raising our six children and the usual family duties, my wife served the Lord as a deaconess in our local church. She also remained active in women’s prison ministry and in helping the poor until her death from cancer a few years ago.

      TRIALS ARE OPPORTUNITIES!

      As in earthly marriages, some Christians will backslide and "divorce" Jesus whenever they encounter trials. But when trials are overcome or patiently endured, they produce fruit that is "much more precious than gold!" (1 Peter 1:6-9)

      Trials are opportunities to prove your love!

      Although the Bible is filled with many promises of God for blessing and prospering his people while we are on this earth, our first commitment is to love and serve him regardless of our circumstances.

      The apostle Paul suffered much injustice and persecution, and yet he concluded that there was nothing that could ever separate him from the love of God!

      Romans 8:35-39 "What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? .... For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord."

      If trials cannot separate us from the love of God, then neither should they separate a husband and a wife from the love that they have for each other!

      And since the union of Adam and Eve could have lasted until the end of the age (Genesis 3:22), it is easy to see why it was never the perfect will of God to terminate any marriage with a divorce.