Photoclub Teen daughter agonizes while parents fightMy parents were having some marital problems, but that didn’t seem abnormal to us. Most couples go through times of turmoil. But one day my dad announced to my mom that he no longer loved her and was leaving her. When she pressed him over it, he finally broke down and told her that he was in love with someone else.

There were HUGE fights that followed the next several days before he finally left. My dad told my mom that he hadn’t loved her for a long time —and wasn’t sure if he ever loved her, and that this woman was the most wonderful thing to ever come into his life. He intended to leave all of us (there were 4 of us children involved —I was the oldest being a teenager at the time).

When my mom pressed him about having four children to take care of and that this woman was a home-wrecker, he got extremely angry and told her that this woman was of sterling character (even though she was also married) and that my mom wasn’t even worthy of washing this woman’s shoes. It was really nasty!

He up and left all of us. He came into my room telling me what was going on and that he still loved me and my brothers and sister but that this was best for all. My brother came into the room at the time and we both cried and pleaded and tried to convince him otherwise. Eventually, we both grabbed onto each of his legs to prevent him from leaving us and he dragged us along the ground as he went out to the car. He then pried our hands away from him and left.

A few days later we found out that he immediately emptied their checking account and savings account of every penny and left us destitute, without even the money for that week’s groceries or that month’s house payment. He then left the state with the other woman, leaving no forwarding address. We didn’t know if he was dead or alive for months on end. But to us he was dead to our spirits because of what he did to our family.

We almost lost our home, and everything else. It was horrible. My baby sister (who was 3 at the time) had to go to live with an aunt so my mom could work full-time. I could help by watching my younger brothers after school but I couldn’t take care of my sister during the day and my mom couldn’t afford to hire a baby sitter so that’s what had to be done to survive. It was devastating to be split apart as a family but there was no other option available to us to be able to survive.

After about 6 months of no contact with my dad he sent us cards and (belated) Christmas presents. We hated his presents and didn’t care if we ever would have seen him again. He surfaced a month later telling my mom how sorry he was and that he wanted to get back together again. It was a mess!

I hated my dad (someone who I had loved so very much before all of that happened). We were all hurting. Through a long string of events where my parents started going to counseling, etc… My parents eventually reconciled. It took me several more years to work through my bitterness. A lot of things went dead in my heart and emotions and I didn’t care that they had “worked things out.”

Eventually, I received Christ as my savior and the Lord helped me work through the issues I needed to and eventually I forgave my dad. My mom, sometime later, accepted Christ as her savior and over a period of time also worked through her bitterness and forgave my dad and fell in love with him again. They eventually grew their marriage to be strong and loving again.

My mom died several years ago and will always be my hero for how she stepped up to the plate and got us through those times and eventually forgave my dad and rebuilt a good life together —free from bitterness. It was truly a miracle because when my dad left all of us he had NO intention of ever coming back. I now have a good relationship with my dad and God has shown me that He is still in the miracle-working business of redeeming that which seems hopeless.

The above testimony is true. We personally know the person who lived this and they praise God to this day of the miracles that God performed in their family.