Wounded Women of the Bible by Dyer Dena & Samples Tina

Author:Dyer, Dena & Samples, Tina [Dyer, Dena]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780825405358
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Published: 2013-09-12T22:00:00+00:00

1. Joanna Weaver, Lazarus Awakening (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2012), 41.

2. Adapted from Linda K. Thomas, Grandma’s Letters from Africa (Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2010). Linda blogs at http://www.grandmaslettersfromafrica.blogspot.com. Used with permission.

3. Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 276.

8

Wounded Relationships

From Passion to Pain

GEN. 3; 1 KINGS 16, 19, 21; HOSEA; 2 SAM. 11, 12

TINA Chaos broke out. Screams and shouts resounded through the entire house. The fighting drove them to the back yard. One raced here and the other there, still raising their voices at one another. My parents continued to fight stronger, louder, and with greater intensity. This fight was worse than any in a long while.

As hostility raced, clouds gathered overhead and rumbled with them. In the heated moment, my father clenched his fist and hit the tall Texas pine next to him. My mother prayed silently: “Lord, help me to know what to do.” And just as their anger rose to its highest level, something unimaginable happened.

A bolt of lightning struck the tree that stood between my parents. Bark flew from its side and hit my father in the head. Smoke drifted upward as the two jumped in fear and confusion. With deafened ears, they closed their mouths, walked inside, and remained married for fifty-two years.

Someone once said, “Marriage is a three-ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering.”1 Sadly, suffering often attaches itself to marriages and dating relationships. I’ll never forget the story that my mother and father shared with me. It was not the last time my parents fought, but it was the last time they fought with such anger and hostility. They realized God was trying to get their attention, and they were ready to listen.

The hurts stemming from marriage and dating relationships can wound us more deeply than any other. It wasn’t God’s plan that such wounding should take place in our relationships.

Like many women, we grew up thinking real life would turn out as it does in fairy tales: damsel meets a prince, he comes to her rescue, and they live happily ever after. However, life is definitely not a fairy tale, and the only perfect relationships are those in heaven. Even when we love someone—and that someone loves us in return—our humanness gets in the way, and deep wounds result. Four couples from Scripture—Adam and Eve, Ahab and Jezebel, Hosea and Gomer, and David and Bathsheba—wounded one another, sometimes profoundly. Let’s take a look at the traps they fell into, the costs of giving in to temptation, and the losses they suffered. If nothing else, these all-too-human figures can be a cautionary tale for our contemporary relationships.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.