Restoration Spirit!

Jamie and I recently ran into a couple that we had counseled for several months back in the Summer of this year. They had been through some tough times together and he had recently lost his job due to a corporate downsizing. Their relationship had gone from bad to worse and they needed help.

Thankfully both of them had reached the point where they were ready to listen. If you counsel couples, you know what I mean! We've met with so many couples as I'm sure many of you have that are just getting their ticket punched prior to finalizing a divorce. One or both of them agree to come for a meeting just to say "there I've done it, it didn't work and now I'm leaving".

We counsel based upon the power of the Holy Spirit only and not with human wisdom. So during our first meeting we sensed that there were some significant hindrances from there backgrounds. He had come out of a household in which his parents never fought but stuffed everything. His father would simply walk away whenever there was a disagreement. She conversely had come from a home in which her parents fought incessantly. They basically never resolved disagreements but would follow each other through the house arguing. You see the problem when those two styles of conflict resolution meet.

The issue was really rather simple to resolve once the Holy Spirit had revealed the root cause of their problem. They were following the patterns set for them by their parents. In this case we were able to help them break the cycle of her aggressive behavior towards him and his "turtle" behavior of going into his shell. Communication was key in this as we helped them to communicate the way they felt without resorting to their past pattern of dealing with each other.

We always require that couples pray with and for each other in the counseling process and in this case we could see the power of prayer transforming their relationship. They told us that evening we ran into them of how it had been a turning point in their relationship. They were learning how to communicate with each other and understand the others point of view. The Holy Spirit was reconciling their broken relationship and deepening their love together.

It was great to get some feedback from them and to hear their story of renewal. The Holy Spirit is a restorer of the breach and is always ready to come and minister life to us if we will only ask Him and allow Him to work a miracle in our hearts!
Blessings,
Alan and Jamie