Stories of pain, Stories of hope

Jules M
Jun 11, 2016
3 min read

We all have a story. Most of us have faced challenges and trials we never, in our wildest nightmares, expected to face. Your story might be not being able to conceive a child, or living with sickness in your body or the unexpected loss of a loved one. It may be that you’ve come from a broken past, or that all these years later you’re still waiting for God to bring your husband along, or for your wayward child to come home.

Stories…we all have them. Stories of pain but also stories of hope.

Divorce was not meant to be my story. It was just one of those things that was never going to happen to me. I grew up in church, loving God and just wanting to serve God with my life. I purposely didn’t date, waited for the “right one”, played by the rules and ticked all the boxes, naively expecting this would somehow guarantee me a blessed, life-long marriage. I dreamt that my husband and I would just serve God together, bring our children up loving God, and live happily ever after! But alas, that would not be my story. After six years of marriage and two beautiful boys, my husband had met someone else. When it all came to light our marriage was over almost immediately and my world was completely turned upside down. All of a sudden I was a single parent of a 2 year old and a 6 month old, facing the shame of divorce and life on my own. All my precious ideals of marriage and family – dashed!

Things happen to us that were never part of the plan. The amazing thing about God is that He takes our stories - our pain, our shame, our ashes and creates something beautiful from them.

Out of our brokenness we see His goodness and glory.

Here’s the thing…that disappointment, that diagnosis, that heartbreak you are facing…that thing that feels like it could take you out…is the very thing God will use to stretch, strengthen and sharpen you into the woman of God He’s called you to be.

He wants to use your story to show His love,

goodness and faithfulness.

I ended up being on my own as a single parent for 10 years – again not what I ever expected! Yet in that time, my boys and I experienced the incredible favour, kindness and faithfulness of God time and time again. God took me on a journey from brokenness to wholeness and I learnt to trust and obey God in a whole new way and saw Him do amazing things in my life. It was still a lonely and painful journey at times but God had given me a promise. It took 10 years for that promise to be fulfilled (and that’s an amazing God story in itself!) but it was so worth it.

Remember, every trial we face comes with a promise. Hold on to that promise! It may feel like nothing is ever going to change, but stay strong and put your trust in Him! The Word of God says “those who trust in the Lord will not be put to shame.” You can trust God with your life! That promise will come to pass. He will take your life and make it a beautiful story of hope.

Jules M | Jewel & Pearls

Jules Martel is a wife and mum/step-mum of 5 beautiful kids. She started Jewels and Pearls to bring hope, wisdom and encouragement to those navigating through the trials of divorce, single parenting, re-marriage and blending a family, based on her own experience and lessons she's learnt along the way.