waiting for his heart

Waiting For His Heart: Lessons From a Wife Who Chose to Stay on Amazon

You can find author Joy McClain at A Passionate Pursuit of Joy

What a testimony... of God's unceasing, unending, faithfulness! ...and a testimony of the author's growing obedience and trust of God. As her husband Mark sunk deeper and deeper into being controlled by alcohol and putting it first in his life, Joy found herself single parenting her son and two daughters; eventually she realized they needed to move out on their own, if only because of her husband's unpredictable violence and fear for their own safety. In this journal-style narrative, Joy becomes increasingly transparent to the reader as the book progresses, as she discloses her struggle to get her own will and ego out of the way in order to allow God's Spirit of Life to move within her and in her life. But rather than a short-term featureless, struggle, it's an agonizing two decades of days.

Whether it's with spouse, parent, child, family, friend, church, or other community, any kind of broken relationship never is easy. For sure the Ten Commandments and Jesus' Great Commandment mark the basic parameters, but how does someone honor their marriage vows – or their commitment to parent or child – in the shadow of violence that may lead to their death and already essentially has destroyed their personhood? It's not directly the subject of Waiting For His Heart, but how does a pastor choose whether or not to remain in a destructive and unfruitful pastoral setting s/he's been called or appointed to? If bearing fruit is a criterion of God's fidelity and our own, how long do we wait in any setting for fruit from an apparently barren ground? One can point the truth that God does not measure time as we do, yet we live in a finite world.

I especially appreciated Joy's describing her initial reluctance to speak publicly about the troubles in her marriage, and then, like every one of us when we're going through hard times, how she discovered she wasn't alone when at last she decided to risk speaking discretely to some persons and groups. On a side note, although the author quotes scripture when it relates directly to the situation at hand, this isn't a devotional book sprinkled throughout with bible verses. In any case, wherever you are, Waiting For His Heart probably could benefit you.

my amazon review: Obedience and Joy!