Many claim to have unfailing love,
but a faithful person who can find?-Proverbs 20:6, NIV
HERE’S TO THE FAITHFUL SPOUSES*:
Did you catch that? You are rare. It says so in Scripture. God says it. So, it must be so. You possess a very valuable character trait–faithfulness.
And if anyone knows how this character trait is not to be taken for granted, you do.
You did not cheat and commit adultery. No, you kept your promise of fidelity. You are the faithful one.
One of the most precious gifts I kept as my marriage exploded under the adultery-bomb was knowing I walked away with my integrity. I could hold my head up high knowing I remained faithful even if the world and the church assumed otherwise based on my “divorced” label.
The shame of the “divorced” label is not the faithful spouse’s to bear. Remember, God is a divorcee (Jeremiah 3:8). Is there any shame in that? If so, I am in good company and so are you.
As we survivors move forward out of the adulterous ashes, I encourage all to remember: We are the faithful spouses. That is an identity we own. It is one of honor and virtue. We were faithful even under great extremes. It is a virtue we possess having come through the fire. And it is as valuable as gold.
We are not discarded refuse nor worthless divorcees. Rather, we possess a rare and fire-tested virtue extolled by God in Scripture. And that is more than any of our faithless spouses or exes can ever say.
In fact, no one who has not been through such fire can even stand with us and say it as we can:
We are the faithful ones.
Never forget it, faithful spouses.
Never forget it.
*A shout out to Chump Lady for drawing my attention to the power of this identity: “faithful spouses.”
**This post was published previously on the website (with a few edits/formating done for this time).
