When you took your vows, you probably hoped for joy, support, and above all, partnership. What happens when your spouse stays physically, but is absent emotionally, mentally, and spiritually? Listen as Susie unpacks a message from her book, Alone in Marriage: Encouragement for the Times When It’s All Up To You.

Susie shares her own experience.

 “When I went through this extended time of loneliness in marriage, we had these several months at a time when he’d be working and disengaged. My heart and love for him went cold. You can take the best of relationships and ruin them if you take more withdrawals than you make deposits.”

God led Susie to see that she had committed “the greater offense”  by closing  her heart to her husband. Through this journey of reconnection, both Susie and her husband committed to putting up more boundaries around their relationship and embraced their calling of side-by-side ministry once again. Susie shares what she’s learned in this program.

The four weights that wear us down:

• Anger
• Worry
• Fear
• Self-pity

The four weights that God uses to refine us:

• Disappointment
• Loneliness
• Imperfection
• Waiting

There are a number of temptations in a lonely season. One, to serve yourself out of anger. Two, to build a wall and shut out your husband. Three, trying to take care of yourself and look good in order to draw the attentions of other men. Fourth, to create a different reality. Fifth, to neglect your husband. Sixth, to have a wild thought life and create elaborate fantasties involving men outside your marriage. Finally, to live in the shallows and prevent God from doing the deep work in your own heart. In Susie’s words,

“Trust God in this place. Instead of fighting for a perfect life, surrender to God that you might be perfected.”

Whether or not your spouse ever changes or sees the sin of his or her choices, you need to commit to walking closely with God and getting your strength from Him.

Key Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Psalm 1:1-3

Featured Songs: No One Like You by PlanetShakers; Grace Flows Down by Christy Nockels; Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Highlight : The danger of unchecked anger

Alone in marriage

This program has been previously aired.