Domestic Violence

The following is a transcript of a brief email counseling session that was directed to a wife who believed her provoking words caused a fight between her and her husband that resulted in him going to jail:

 

Dear Desperate:     

 It sounds like you need a third party to help you both sort this out.  Do you have a pastor? Possibly your counselor...someone strong enough to hold you both accountable.

      If you feel that you provoked this situation, then you need to take responsibility for your words and actions, that will evidence itself in genuine humility. Obedience is not an option...and Hebrews 12 will clearly teach you that if you are a genuine child of God, then you are, and should be experiencing God's discipline...otherwise, if there isn't discipline, there isn't genuine spiritual life. If genuine, then the next step is to begin substituting the old for the new. Did you read Let Go by Fenelon as I suggested? How to Act Right When My Spouse Acts Wrong? True Faced? The Heart of the Problem? Let’s start here and see what you have learned so far, so I will know how to guide you in this. It sounds like a classic case of just not willing to die to self…and as a result we resist the crosses God sends us and make our dying to self that much more difficult.  “Only by pride comes contentions.” Proverbs 13:10  Lastly, God answers prayer…Psalm 34 is a beautiful promise that God delivers the person who cries out to Him with a broken heart and contrite spirit…in fact, 4 times it mentions that the Lord delivers us out of all our fear and all our troubles.  Test God and see.

Let me know what you learn from Let Go.

Sincerely

Mark