(This was a delayed submission that will be in the book, inserted before my story.)
Jeanette’s Story
My parents were cold and unloving and had no idea how to prepare their daughters for living in this world. After I gave my life to Jesus at the age of seven, I too felt isolated and always ashamed because I never really came up to the expectations of the people around me. At 15 when my hormones began to rage I was in a hurry to get away from my parents and married the first boy who said he loved me. I soon realized I had not accomplished my goal in getting away from what was haunting me.
I spent the rest of my life running away from the situations I found myself in. In the process I gave birth to 4 youngsters and continued search. I read and studied everything I could find, never quite finding the answer I sought. I was socially isolated, which I always blamed on my husband and I sought solace in the arms of other men. I was always seeking a man to rescue me from my dilemma.
I was a very poor mother to the children I loved so dearly. I felt trapped and afraid to break free of my bonds because the Bible teaches that a Christian should not divorce another Christian. But one day, after a particularly ugly scene, God showed me that my husband was a hypocrite and a liar, not at all a man of God. This released me from my bondage. Once more I turned and sought the truth from God. As my son grew in the Lord and wrote of his journeys I too began to see the truth of what I needed to do. I divorced his father and began to return to the calling I had felt at the age of 13 yrs. I promised God that I would be the wife of a minister or missionary.
After prayerful consideration, I turned to Christian dating sites to find the mate He had for me. My two stated requirements were that he be Christian and have a loving heart. God found me the perfect mate. He was an ex-military man who had retired after 22 years of service and met the Lord. He was then called to be a missionary to Sri Lanka, a task that he pursued 15 years.
Oh, the peace that settled over me when I began to fulfill my calling. Granted, he is not in the mission field nor the pastor of a church. God didn’t say my husband had to be serving at the time, only what kind of man he had to be. Maybe we are too old to do those things. Time will tell.
— Jeanette Porrell
I can’t honestly say I’ve been following your train of thought lately, Ed, and I don’t know what it is you are writing about in your latest book, BUT.. This post caught my attention.
Jeanette’s Story.. Are you in agreement with her behavior or?… An admitted adulteress while in her marriage, then finds reason to divorce her husband because HE is a “hypocrite”?
She then finds “solace” in yet ANOTHER adulterous marriage (after her divorce)? Tell me this little ‘bio’ is just a teaching tool for you.
Howdy, Pinko. This is a story of redemption. Someone who was torn between a sense of calling versus what seemed possible in a world hostile to that calling. Along the way, disastrous choices were made and sin made worse. It’s not a matter of agreeing with anything in particular, but of watching someone pick up broken pieces and try to recover. She was being nice about the man she divorced; I happen to know he is still a sociopath who sees nothing wrong with torturing his own family for his personal amusement. The second marriage was to a widower.