By: Keith Sampson
Executive Coordinator – God of Hope
In part one, I introduced where I was back in 2011 and into 2012. That January, I was in a place I never thought that I would be; I was unemployed, leaving a long-term job that I thought would be my professional home for my career. I always said and believed that I would be there until God took me elsewhere. I just never imagined that it would be like that. The truth was that God had a much bigger plan in store for me.
I had become so ingrained where I was that I would’ve never been able to hear God if He wanted me to do something else. The stress that I had been under was incredibly unhealthy, and within six months of leaving, my almost daily headaches were gone. But while my professional life was restarting, my personal life began to unravel.
Without getting into details, the relationship between my wife and I at the time became more than strained. As the “I don’t love you anymore” statements started, I made the best choice I could and started counseling. I had nothing to lose, so seeking help from someone who could help me made sense. What I discovered was that I was a shell of the person I had been ten years earlier. Counseling was more about me than about her. As I rediscovered myself, got closer to God, and was able to find my feet again, she moved farther away.
Divorce had never been an option. It is never something that you wake up one day and think, “Someday, I’d like to get divorced.” I did everything I could to “save” the marriage, shedding many tears and asking God lots of questions. As summer went on, it got worse and worse. Along the way, I had become more dependent on God than I ever had in my life, while truly experiencing unconditional love.
In July, choices were made, and I had to make mine. By September, I was a single Dad with two-and-a-half-year-old twins in my care. It didn’t take long before I hit the point at which I was the happiest I had been in years. It didn’t come with out its share of struggles and lessons. But as God had proven over again, He is bigger, and He has a plan. God is the God of hope.