Sayre.....Part 5 1990

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart. And save such as have a contrite spirit.
Psalm 34:18

I went to bed that night crying and holding my bible. I would go to bed like this for awhile.....crying, holding my bible and praying.

During the middle of the night a few nites later I called my friend Paula and talked to her awhile. Paula told me that this wasn't the first time. That Mark had been fired from another job for questionable behavior toward some teenage girls in his charge. Later my son told me that his dad (who was on the school board) had told him that some parents had complained about comments he had made to their girls while on a bus trip. My gosh, how much more was I going to have to hear and bear. Did he do anything to my girls?? They assured me he hadn't.

After I talked to Paula I called my ex husband Nathan in Florida. I needed to tell him I was sorry for the hurt and pain I had caused him with our divorce. He was very gracious and accepted my apology. We talked for a long time.

The first weekend after this happened the kids and I went home. Just before this I had spent almost all of my check on groceries so we did not have much money. At home I was restless. I couldn't make sense of this. How could you walk out on a marriage and not talk about it?? There was no closure. I was left hanging and not knowing what went wrong. I was so confused.

The kids and I went back to Sayre. My mom had wanted me to move back right then but I wanted to wait until school was out. I still felt like I was married and so didn't know for sure what to do. But I felt God was telling me to stay put in Sayre. When we got home we had a surprise. Mark had broke into the house and took all of our groceries and some other items. I was shocked!! He was taking our food to feed Lisa and her girls. How much more was I to take?? Mark said he felt like he had a right to the food. He left us with none. I wrote a hot check for us to have groceries and prayed it didn't go to the bank until I had deposited my next check.

A week or so later I called my mother in law, Ruth, and was talking to her to see if she had heard from Mark. I still couldn't get him to talk to me. I wanted to know what she knew and I knew Ruth would think her son was rotten for doing this! It would be good to talk to someone on my side! But that wasn't to be. Ruth told me that he had brought Lisa home to meet her?!? And that she seemed like a lovely girl. A lovely girl?? Was I hearing this right? I said Ruth they are both still married. I started crying and Ruth said I needed to quit acting like a baby and move on. I hung up the phone never to talk to her again. I was never so hurt in my life. It was like a knife stuck in my heart. Ruth was a Christian and Mark's dad a pastor. Could she really be saying this??? Later, I would receive a letter from Mark's dad saying he was sorry for what his son had done and that I would always be his daughter in law. I also received a letter from his uncle saying that he was sorry.

Mathew 11:28-30
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take heart; and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Rest, oh how I needed rest. To be continued.