As you’ll hear on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, Paul and Melody Westbrook’s marriage suffered in ways familiar to many couples. He was a driven man who found his worth and identity in his work. He felt comfortable in a room full of people, but not alone with his wife. Time with Melody had to have a purpose, a reason to be together other than simply enjoying her presence.
Melody persevered but, as the years rolled on, Melody felt more and more ignored and unimportant, and her resentment ate away at her love for Paul.
When their marriage finally hit a wall, neither one was sure it could be saved. In a last-ditch effort to find common ground, they agreed to attend an intensive conducted by our Hope Restored team. A counselor asked them a provocative question, one I’m asking you if your marriage is in a tough spot like the Westbrooks’: “Would you be open to God doing a miracle in your marriage?”
If so, I encourage you to join me for Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Paul and Melody Westbrook are with me to share their story and to encourage you to believe that God can bring the same restoration to your relationship that He did to theirs.
The path to recovery may not seem clear to you, but that slim thread of hope is why I believe so strongly in Hope Restored, which helps couples find the healing they can’t find on their own. No matter how hopeless you feel, it’s not too late to save your marriage.
That’s not an empty promise. Most of the couples who go through a Hope Restored intensive have reached the last knot in the rope. In fact, some of them have already filed for divorce. But we routinely survey intensive participants about their experience. Responses to the survey show that roughly 80 percent are still married two years later.
So if you’re feeling hopeless and are contemplating divorce – or maybe you’ve even filed the paperwork – I encourage you to reconsider for a moment. With a little guidance from our team of experts, God can intervene and transform your marriage in ways that may seem impossible to you right now.
The number for Hope Restored is 1-866-875-2915, or click here. The intensives take place in five locations:
- Branson, Missouri
- Greenville, Michigan
- The WinShape Retreat Center in Rome, Georgia
- Cave Creek, Arizona
- Wimberley, Texas
Paul is the senior pastor of a church in Illinois that he and Melody planted back in 1991. I think you’ll appreciate their humility and vulnerability, and I believe you’ll find that small ray of hope you need to believe that God can rescue your marriage, too.