Redeeming Love

Redeeming Love   guest articles    special needs children second chances divorce    Unveiled Wife

It is my honor to introduce to you today’s guest blogger, the beautiful, the encouraging, the lovely Rachel Wojnarowski!  I look up to Rachel, and I admire her perseverance.  As much as she dedicates time for her husband and children, she also manages to maintain her blog where she shares her encouraging voice, inspiring her readers to live with extraordinary faith.  Today she is revealing her heart on marriage and the gift of second chances.  I highly recommend that you continue to follow Rachel through her personal page or connect with her through Twitter!  Enjoy!

Rachel writes:

I’ve never heard of princess dreams that consist of the knight in shining armor chasing after another.  Perhaps they exist,

Only in the form of nightmares.

I grew up in a Christian home, graduated from Christian school, and completed the circle by graduating from Christian college and teaching in a Christian school.   Surely with so much Bible knowledge, surely with such great parental examples, the odds of divorce would be the lowest possible. 

But years after marrying my knight in shining armor, I discovered that he loved another and had been involved with her for approximately 4 of the 5 years we were married.  After battling what to do, instead of finding ourselves joyfully serving God, we found ourselves divorced.

As a naïve girl with a protected homelife, I never dreamed in a million years that I would wind up divorced.

I don’t think anyone ever dreams of it, truthfully.  But it happens, even to good, very good, almost perfect relationships.  Without the grace of God guarding us, we can easily be robbed of our dreams by Satan.

Before I trudged through the dark valley of divorce, my judgment of other divorcees was extremely harsh.  But I’m telling you now that while I know from Scripture that divorce is not God’s best plan, it does happen.  Even to good, well-meaning Christians.

Can I just tell you how gracious God is?

The God of the Bible is HUGE on second chances.  In fact, the entire history of mankind is based on a second chance given to the top of the human chain, Adam and Eve.

My second chance came in the form of a tall, dark and handsome man; God generously gave me my husband, Matt.  With a similar background as mine, his strong Christian heritage and his return to the Lord after some prodigal years was the perfect combination for God to join us together at just the right time.

Twelve years later, I look back with awe at everything God has brought forth from our lives merged as one.  The roles of being stepparents, special needs parents, and parents to 5 children together, making our total number of children 7, is pure testimony to God’s grace and redeeming power.

64% of second marriages end in divorce! Isn’t that number astronomical? But our family often receives compliments on what a beautiful family we are – an awesome display of God’s redemption.

To encourage you today, I would just like to give you four points my husband and I have learned about redeeming love in marriage: 

We wrote these together. Redeeming Love   guest articles    special needs children second chances divorce    Unveiled Wife  

1. God is the ultimate Redeemer. 

2. Marriage works best when you are striving to meet your spouse’s needs.

3. You will not have regrets if you view your time together as a priority.

4. As Christ has forgiven you, forgive each other.

No matter the past, no matter the mistakes you’ve either made or endured by others, God wants to bless your marriage.

Have you given it to Him?

- Rachel Wojnarowski

Rachel blogs and has an e-book available at http://rachelwojo.com/

You can also follow her on Twitter: @RachelWojo

If you are interested in submitting an article to guest blog for Unveiled Wife please check out the details HERE!

Join The Discussion, Leave A Comment Below!

  • wanda

    I can’t think of a time that I’ve ever felt so convicted to “love” the ones struggling with divorce. Thank you for that gentle reminder to be more compassionate. Sometimes playing by the rules still falls short of what God has for us.

  • http://profiles.google.com/cynmar10 Cynthia Martin

    I’ve tried to comment several times but my comments kept becoming longer than your post. :-) My first marriage was very similar to yours. We had been married almost 24 years when I found out about the other women. To my surprise, it had been going on since our second year of marriage. He proudly told of periods of time over the years he had been faithful like he deserved a medal for them. I gave him 6 months to get help for his alcoholism, come straight home from work, stay off the computer where he had met these women and attend church again. At the end of the 6 months, he told me I had asked for too much. Our divorce was final 5 months after our 25th anniversary.

    God crossed the paths of two people who would have never met unless He provided a way. Both doubted they would never know what it was like to be in a happy, loving marriage. That “chance” meeting was 12 years ago. Between us we have four grown children and five wonderful grandchildren. We’ve been through some rough times the last few years but two things are constant – our love of God and our love of each other.

  • Amanda Evers

    Wow. So much of this article is my story. Growing up in a Christian family, never even imagining that divorce could happen, but it did! I am embarrassed to say that I also judged divorce beforehand, being so black and white about it. God has helped me to see people through His eyes and extend His grace to others (including myself). I am now married to a wonderful man (just over 8 years now), with three precious boys to keep us on our toes. I am truly blessed. Thank you for this post Rachel, and blessings to you and your beautiful family.

  • keltrinswife

    Thank you for sharing your story and advice! You are such a blessing!

  • Elena

    Great post and congrats on your second marriage. A great marriage is truly a blessing. Like you, I was raised to believe that marriage is forever and never imagined myself marrying a divorced man yet I did. (His first wife left him when he became a Christian and told him he needed to seek professional help.) Well, that was that! He tells me it was hard, however, he knew then that God had better plans for him and he trusted God’s word. Next month, we’ll celebrate our 25th anniversary. To this day, it still bugs me a little when self-appointed Bible experts say a marriage like ours is an adulterous one. Sigh, everyone is entitled to an opinion, I suppose. Still, I’m aware every single day of God’s blessings in my life as well as a chance to start over if I need one.

    I also very much agree that prioritizing a husbandly/wifely relationship is the most important thing each day after carving out that time alone with God. Absolutely.

  • http://twitter.com/RachelWojo Rachel Wojnarowski

    Thanks so much, Marianne. You are a blessing!

  • keltrinswife

    Thank you for your encouragement and advice. God is a God of second chances! Be blessed:)

  • http://twitter.com/Marmo212 Marianne Evans

    Rachel, what a beautiful post! God bless you – and thank you for sharing such a wonderful testimony encompassing not just Christian marriage, but Christian LIVING as well!! <3

  • http://twitter.com/RachelWojo Rachel Wojnarowski

    Thank you for having me, Friend! Blessings to you for your wonderful ministry here!

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My name is Jennifer and I began this BLOG to share my journey as a wife, unveiled, uncovered and wide open, to purge my heart of the pain I have encountered AND to encourage other women in the world who are, have been, or will soon be wives... READ MY STORY HERE
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