What If?

Leslie Basham: For the last couple of days we've been hearing from Lorna Wilkinson. Here's a recap.

Lorna Wilkinson: The marriage was just plagued with alcoholism and mistrust. After years of dealing with those issues, I just wanted to be free. After I filed for divorce I purchased a used vehicle from a friend, and the radio was still on. You came on, and I could not touch that dial.

You spoke of 1 Corinthians 13, and that program just went around in my mind. A couple of days later driving home from work I gave my life to Jesus. At that point the divorce was filed, and I had asked my husband to leave. A few days later I received a call that he had had a heart attack. At this point my heart was softened, and with all the tubes and all the things that were attached to him I whispered in his ear and said, "I want you to come home honey. I love you, and we'll work it out."

After that it was just like a miracle occurred in our home, Nancy. There was so much love in our home. It's just impossible for me to use words to describe what the Lord did for us. Nancy, four months later my husband woke me up and he said, "Lorna, I want to tell you right now that a man should love his wife as God has loved us." And he said, "I want to tell you, at this moment that I love you that way."

Nancy, those were the very last words spoken from my husband. A few hours later he had another massive heart attack and went to be home with the Lord.

Leslie Basham: You're listening to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss for Wednesday, April 20th. If you missed any of Lorna's story the last two days, you can listen or order a copy at ReviveOurHearts.com.

Today, Lorna's going to reflect on God's goodness to her. It's really something we all need to do. Here's Nancy to get us started.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Lorna, have you ever stopped to think about what if you hadn't bought that car, hadn't turned on the radio, hadn't heard that Christian radio station, hadn't heard that message on forgiveness, and hadn't gone back to your husband and reconciled the relationship? Have you thought about where you'd be today and what would be different in your heart if God hadn't taken you through that process?

Lorna Wilkinson: Nancy, I know for a fact that I would have been a lost soul. I trust in the Lord, and I know that the Lord will recover us in all circumstances, but I don't know that I would even have known the Lord in the manner in which I know Him today.

I know what would have happened is that my husband would have died away from home, and we would have just been called and notified of his death. The children's lives would have been totally in shambles. My life would have been in total shambles.

I don't know where I would have been - probably in some deep depression; I can't say. But one thing I can say is the Lord stepped in at the right time and the right place and provided me with total recovery.

So for those women and men who may be listening to this program, I just want to ask you to trust in the Lord. Do not give up on your marriage. Do not give up on your spouse. Take it to the Lord in prayer and always remember that what you are not able to do for yourself, the Lord will do it for you and in you.

As I pray that prayer: Lord I'm lost; I cannot do this. I don't even feel the love from my husband at this time, but You have all the love. You have enough love that You gave Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die such a brutal death on the cross of Calvary. You have enough love for me, and you and everybody else. Lord, will You let Your love flow through me?

That is the prayer you'll need to pray, and He will just remove all the frustration, all the bitterness, all the anger, all the lack of forgiveness that you had harbored in your heart. He will replace it with a heart of love and the heart of compassion. Yes, He will replace it. So do not give up. Do not give up because Satan is out there to steal, kill, and destroy. That's his focus.

First of all, he will always try to attack the home because when the home is broken, all else is broken. Each individual in that home is broken, and so Satan is waging wars in our homes.

We have to call him a liar. We have to call Satan a liar to his face and let him know that God is in control. God has conquered death, and Satan is under the feet of Jesus. If Jesus is in our lives, then He's under our feet as well. We just have to have that strength and courage and knowledge that God is in control, and that He will never let us down.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Lorna, I know we have a lot of listeners who are where you were those years ago living in a marriage that seems hopeless. They've given up; maybe their bags are packed. Maybe they've already left, or in their heart they've left that marriage. They're disillusioned, discouraged, disappointed - they don't think that anything can ever restore love in that marriage.

You've just given an incredible story of hope, of God's grace, of God's forgiveness for you and flowing through you to your husband. I wonder if you would just take a moment here and pray for those listeners who need God to do in their life today what He did in your life those years ago.

They need a restoration. They need to be forgiven for their bitterness, for their unforgiveness, for their anger, for their hatred. I wonder if you'd just lead us and pray for those listeners for a work of God's grace in their hearts today.

Lorna Wilkinson: Yes I will, Nancy. Gracious and loving Father, we just thank You for this day. Father, this is indeed a day You have made and let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Heavenly Father, I know today that there are many bleeding, hurting hearts who probably have their bags packed or who have filed for divorce as I did a few years ago, Lord God. But Father God, I pray that You will speak to their hearts and just to let them know that You are God, and that You will never forsake them, that You have promised that You will be with us even until the end of times, Lord God.

Father God, I just pray that You will restore their marriages dear Lord Jesus, and that you will give them the grace and the power of forgiveness, Lord God, that You, Your Son, Lord God, have forgiven us, Lord God for so many things that we have done.

So many sins we have committed, Lord God, so who are we, Lord God, not to be able to forgive our spouses of the sins they've committed? So Lord God, I pray that You will speak to their hearts, dear Lord Jesus, and that You will give them the power of forgiveness, Lord God, so that they will be released from the burdens they carry - that they're unable to get out of because all that they can focus on is the hurt and the pain and the sorrows and the frustrations.

But Lord God, You are there. You are there, and You will always be there. So Lord God, I pray that You will give them a focus on You, dear Lord Jesus, and that they will not focus on their immediate circumstances, Lord God, but they will keep their eyes on Jesus, the loving Father, the Forgiving One, the Faithful One, and the Just One.

Lord God, Job 36:11 tells us: "If we obey and serve Him, we shall spend the rest of our days in prosperity and our years in pleasure and in joy" (paraphrased).

So Lord, I pray those of us listening out there today will be blessed, and that they will be able to bring their trials and tribulations to You and to know without a doubt in their hearts that You will be faithful and just. This we ask, through the loving name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: I do thank you, Lord, for this great, great testimony of Your grace and Your power. You are so great, so powerful, so good, so merciful. Thank you, Lord, for what You did for Lorna and for her husband. Thank you for Christian radio. Thank you for that station in Houston and for other stations around the country that are partnering with us to share this message.

Thank you for that friend who sold that car to Lorna and had the radio tuned to that Christian radio station. Thank you, Lord, for friends of this ministry who partnered with us to provide the resources for us to air the program that day.

And thank you, Lord, for Your incredible providence and love - for drawing Lorna's heart to Yourself, for Your mercy and Your forgiveness toward her, for changing her heart that was so hard.

She was so lost. She said how her husband was lost, but she was lost. Thank you for coming into her life, for saving her, for redeeming her. Thank you that You are a redeeming God who is making all things new. This testimony is just a glimpse, Lord, of what many, many, many miracles that You want to do in people's lives, not only today, but in all of eternity. You will be getting praise and glory as we see the wonders of Your redeeming love.

So thank you Lord for this miracle. Thank you for this sister. Thank you for her testimony, and thank you for your continued grace in her life. Thank you that now You are a husband to the widow, and You are a father to the fatherless. And Lord I pray for these children that they will continue to experience Your grace and Your presence in their lives; that they will grow to love and serve you as Lorna has in these recent years.

So Lord, we thank you. We pray for much fruit to come through this testimony. I pray for many lives to be healed, for forgiveness to flow for many, many hearts and many, many homes, for Your glory Lord Jesus, and for the sake of Your great kingdom. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Much love to you. Blessings, and we look forward to seeing you next time I'm in Houston.

Lorna Wilkinson: I look forward to it Nancy. I just pray that the Lord will continue to bless Revive Our Hearts. It's such a joy to listen to you, and it's just so wonderful. I know that many, many lives have been touched. I just owe it to you and the blessings from the Lord that He touched me in such a such a profound manner - to turn my life totally around .

Now I'm so excited and so happy, and I have this wonderful relationship with the Father. I had no idea that two years ago I would be sitting in this place glorifying the Lord and praising Him in this way. It's just an incredible thing, and I just pray that this ministry will always air and that the funds will be there to keep the productions going because this is just so wonderful. I mean, sometimes we don't realize how many people and how many lives are changed as a result of these types of programs.

Leslie Basham: Tomorrow we'll hear about the safest place you can go in a storm.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss is a ministry outreach of Life Action Ministries.

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