Prayer for Jessica Smith

Today is my wife's 30th birthday.
We've been separated for 3 years now.

If the Lord would lead you to join me in prayer for her salvation, and the restoration of our marriage, I humbly invite you to do so.

I'll be working all night long, and would welcome the agreement of my brothers and sisters in Christ for God's miracle in our lives.

God bless you, and thank you.

Jason Smith
Oregon

Brother, I will prayer for salvation and for the complete restoration of your marriage.

Blesings

I will be praying with you brother and we will give God all the Glory!

Thank you, both those of you who responded in written word, and those who pray without responding.

Indeed, we'll give God the glory.

Again, thank you.

Jason Smith

Prayers going up Jason.

Father, Save Jessica, and restore their Marriage, in Jesus Name.

An update:

Please continue praying for Jessica. She's still in the far country, however I have good news.

Last week, (Thursday) I felt lead to pray that God would somehow have her contact me. I have not heard from her since Oct 2 2007. On Saturday I received an email from her.

The content isn't important, but God answered that prayer for contact rather quickly.

This is really a momentous change, as Jess has been unwilling to communicate with me at all.

Praise God. He is Good.

Lord, please come upon Jessica. Convict her of sin, show her the wrath she's under, show her Christ and His finished work upon the cross. Show her Jesus' love, and bring her to true repentance that leads to salvation. Restore our marriage oh Lord.
Save the other man oh God. But please Lord move him away from her for now. Free her from the chains of the adversary, set the captive free, seek the lost sheep, bring her into the fold of Christ.
I ask this, for Christ's sake, for the furthering of Your kingdom, for the fulfilling of Your will, for Your glory. I praise you now, knowing that Your will is done, and that her salvation and restoration is assured through Christ.
Amen.

Jason Smith
Oregon

Praying for your wife, brother.

Again, I thank you all for your continued prayers.
God will have the victory.
Christ will be glorified.
And we'll have another sister in the faith to rejoice with.

Jason

Dont worry... God will help....
Will Pray for her.

Thank you Chicku.

Jason

Saints,

I believe God is doing a mighty work even as I type this. For those lead to pray for Jess, please do so. The current need seems to be for the Spirit to convict her, hard, of sin. Conviction that leads to repentance that leads to salvation. God has been leading locals to pray for her quite intensely over the last week. Some are getting promises from Him.

Join me in the work of prayer for her salvation, and our marriage restoration. We'll praise our Lord together for the working of His mighty hand.

Christ be glorified in Jessica's salvation, and may God's will be done.

Jason Smith
Oregon

Praying for your situation, Jason.

I am well acquainted with the emotional, mental, spiritual agony this rejection imposes upon the faithful spouse - my brother is in a similar situation.

Will pray for you, Jason. Both of you.

BTW, are there any children involved?

Blessings,
ginnyrose

I am praying for your wife. May she come into the fold of our Lord as you say Jason!

Peace to you,
Nathan

Praying still brother.

Again, thank you all who are praying. The hour seems most dark, But with the darkness of the predawn, comes the hope of the blazing light of day. May Christ's name be glorified in Jess' salvation, and in the restoration of our marriage.

GinnyRose, there are no children involved. God has been merciful, in sparing any children from this pain.

God bless you all for standing faithfully for His will in marriage. And my deepest thanks.

Jason

Jason, has there been any changes in your situation? We are praying for you as the Holy Spirit reminds us.

ginnyrose

Well, God has yet again moved to do a work in me, and adjust some heart issues.

Jessica has begun contacting her cousin (whom I'm in regular contact with).

Aside from that, the circumstances look bleak or bleaker than ever. But we know better than to look at circumstances.

As ever, I continue to covet the prayers of the saints for Jess' salvation, and the restoration of our marriage.

God get the glory for doing a mighty work that is impossible in the eyes of the world.

In Christ,

Jason

Will continue to pray.

I do hope you have an excellent support system operating locally that renders you the support you need to be faithful.
To take the stand you do is extremely difficult in our era; many will encourage you to forget your vows and move on. Just do not forget that in a hundred years from now you will never regret it. (One hundred years does not seem that long when you have passed the 63rd year and you can well recall 60 of them...:-))

God bless,
ginnyrose

My local support comes from God, and one long time friend alone. For three years I have heard "move on, God want's you to be happy, God has someone else for you", and all the other rhetoric.

Jessica's family is very supportive of my standing for God's view of marriage. We talk, but they live across the Midwest, and I am in Oregon.

But, When God is doing the supporting, no arm of man is needed.

From the very beginning of this, God made it clear what he wanted. I don't really have a choice, even if I didn't want to see Jessica saved and our marriage restored. The thought of even trying to spend my life with another woman screams of adultery/idolatry against Christ.

God's grace has enabled me to be committed to fighting till He wins the battle.

May He be glorified in all that He does for Jess and I.
Christ be praised, for she is coming home, we just wait upon His timing.

Jason

Jason,

There is a professional that visits our brotherhood frequently from a nearby university. After he came to the LORD his wife divorced him. In his studying of the WORD the LORD showed him he cannot remarry.

He moved to a university town and has since been heavily involved in ministering to international students, including those from the far east. And the LORD blessed him with souls. In time the local 'Christians' encouraged him to move on and he eventually became engaged to marry another lady. Just before this happened the LORD stopped him in his tracks. He later said he felt so stupid.

I am sharing this to demonstrate to you that the pressure can be overwhelming, at times.

This past summer this fellow attended one of Joseph Webb's seminars on marriage/divorce/remarriage. This fall Webb is scheduled to come to our church and then go to this university town to minister there.

Jason, I do pray for the restoration of your marriage. In the meantime, there is work you can do, be used of God to bring in the harvest, just as he is doing in the life of the brother mentioned.

Let me share more what this brother is doing. He has a PH.D in physics so he does make good money but uses it for the furtherance of the kingdom. He invited reps from ICR to minister at the university; he knows the Muslin community, the Indian one. Jason, the Lord is using this brother in a way totally unimaginable - literally.

God go with you, Jason. Life is not over for you. Just keep trusting the LORD and each day ask him what he would have you do for him today! A walk with the LORD is an adventure.

Blessings
ginnyrose

Ginnyrose,

The pressure can get intense. And I am not going to say that temptation can not arise. What I will say is that God kept me waiting 4 years to marry Jess, after He told me that she was the one for me to marry. We had a very interesting friendship in those 4 years. I now know that He was preparing me even then for this time of separation. With advanced training, and God's grace, there will always be a way out of temptation. He is the strength that keeps me pure. He has also separated me from social scenes of any kind and the wedding ring He keeps on my hand deflects a vast majority from me.

I do know that life is not over for me. Really, its just begining, as God has been using this time to clean me up.

God has already begun using me in the lives of others around me. There are friends who are drawing closer to Him. They say it has something to do with my faith in Him building their faith in Him. I know it to be nothing less than the Spirit working in them. I am happy to be a witness to Christ's working in my friends.

God bless you all,
and thank you saints, brethren, for your prayers to God for Jess and I.

Jason

Small update:
Praise God, for He is faithful to answer prayer, even when we have given up praying for a specific thing.

There is progress. Small to the eye of the world, a big step in the eyes of those praying for Jess' salvation and our marriage restoration.

God is moving. May the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified in the salvation of my wife, and the restoration of our marriage. To our Father be glory and honour forever.
Amen

Jason Smith
Oregon

Brother. I am moved to tears by your testimony. Your faithfulness and dedication to the Lord is to be celebrated. May He recieve the glory for your sufferings.

I am praying in tears for you and your wife brother.

Miccah,

I thank you greatly for your tears and prayers. Know that God is hearing them. I thank you for standing with me in this battle for the soul of my beloved wife.

But think not more highly of me than you aught. It is only by the grace of God that I stand. My faithfulness and dedication is so small a thing. I have failed Him over and over, yet God has never failed me, nor been anything less than completely merciful and gracious to me. At best, I am indeed an unprofitable servant.

But we serve the mighty, living, thrice holy God. I am blessed to continue to see His faithfulness to His children, no matter our circumstances.

God Bless you brother Miccah, and all those who are standing for the sanctity, and permanence of marriage.

Jason Smith
Oregon

9/22/10: Update.

I am not currently at liberty to describe the situation at the moment. God is moving. God will be glorified.

In this hour, some would say that things have never been darker. But God has given me great peace, and I am not alarmed nor worried.

If you have been praying for Jessica's salvation, and the restoration of our marriage, I thank you. may Christ bless you for your faithfulness to Him, and to the brethren.

I would covet continued prayer for her. And while the restoration of marriage is a goal, it is more important to focus on her salvation at the moment. That is the greater of the needs.

May God bless you all, and strengthen your faith through Christ.

Jason Smith
Oregon

Thanks for the update. I was wondering how things are going for you and Jessica.

These situations are hard. My brother is in a similar one except his wife has not remarried but has multiple boyfriends - swaps them like some do cars. He tells me how the LORD has given him an infusion of love for her that he never dreamed possible.

God bless you and I do pray for you as the Holy Spirit reminds me.

ginnyrose

Thank you Ginny.

And God has blessed me. I love Jess more now, than the day she walked down the isle on the arm of her earthly father. And He has given me such peace...

God bless you, and overflow your cup.

Jason

Update: 10/21/10

About a month ago, Jessica and the other man moved from Oregon to Texas, where we first met him. She has an aunt and uncle in the area.

This weekend her Father, mother, and sister are going down to visit the aunt and uncle. Jess has seen none of these family members but her father since our separation.

Her family is asking for prayer that God would give them grace to show His love to her when they see her this week. That Father would use this as an opportunity to draw her to Christ.

Their home church and friends are in prayer this week for this situation.

God is moving, though so few of the circumstances provide visual evidence.

May God be glorified, and may those praying for us be richly blessed of the Lord. Your faithfulness to Him is an encouragement to me.

In Christ,

Jason Smith
Oregon

Continued prayer for you and your wife brother. Thank you for being an awesome witness for Christ. You are an ecouragement to me. :-)

I am praying for you.

Thank you.
There is no update to report since the last.

Jason

Jason,

May God grant you your hearts' desire as seems good to Him.

I've a question for you Jason.

I'd like to know what you'd have to say to the many who have been through similar circumstances, and eventually their wife or husband they faithfully waited on and prayed for,divorced them and married another. And after some years, they also met and married a believer,have been blessed with children,and are ministering together to many others who are Christ's, and some who are not.

Please reply to the above with what you think the Word of the LORD would be to these persons.

Thank you.

Continue persevering in prayer, brother. You are not alone. In spiritually healthier times, it was a given that believers ought to persevere in prayer no matter how long it took to see the hand of God. It would seem that today we insist upon instant gratification. I am as guilty of this false expectation as anyone, but the Lord is teaching me that He meant it when He said that we ought to pray and keep praying and not lose heart. May the Lord continue to grant you the grace to believe.

Savannah,

Now is my opportunity to hang myself, But, I pray that God would be merciful and let me answer this in truth and love.

To those I would say this, "May God prosper you, bless you, and draw you ever nearer to Himself in Christ. Seek Him above all else, and let your love for Him and each other blossom."

I believe that if I were to lay the burden of my heart upon them, it would be of no benefit to the Kingdom, and would simply be counter productive. And in that belief, I would rather not publish that burden openly, for fear that someone in that circumstance might be hindered. If you are still curious, I will answer it in private.

Though I do tell you this, I have no condemnation for those in the situation you suggest.

As for myself, I can only say that I sought God to know what am "I" to do? What is Jason S. Smith called to do now that my beloved has gone? And I was answered by the Lord, and that answer confirmed in many ways. There is no circumstance, in which I am to stop seeking God for Jessica's salvation, nor for the restoration of our marriage, until one of us dies, or until that prayer is changed into, "Thank you for restoring us, now draw us ever closer to You, and to each other, and keep us together till death."

May Christ guide each of us in the narrow path in which He has created for us.

Jason

SDE,
Thank you again for the encouragement.

If you would pray for us, (Jess and myself) pray also for me to grow ever closer to Christ, and ever deeper in love for our Savior.

Jason

Jason,

I'm prying for you brother and I appreciate your devotion to your wife even through these tough times. You are an encouragement!

An update: 11/14/11

I found out yesterday that my wife and her boyfriend have filed for an "Informal marriage" under Texas state law.

I found this:
Common law marriage, from ncsl.org

Texas: calls it an "informal marriage," rather than a common-law marriage. Under § 2.401 of the Texas Family Code, an informal marriage can be established either by declaration (registering at the county courthouse without having a ceremony), or by meeting a three-prong test showing evidence of (1) an agreement to be married; (2) cohabitation in Texas; and (3) representation to others that the parties are married. A 1995 update adds an evidentiary presumption that there was no marriage if no suit for proof of marriage is filed within two years of the date the parties separated and ceased living together.

A few hours of rather painful emotional battling ensued, which God used to show His grace to me, pulled me close to Him and showed me to praise Him even in this.

After that, I had a previously arranged meeting with a dear brother, who could see that I was quite shook up. We discussed things, and he revealed that he is a part of a small band of brothers and sisters who meet regularly and lift Jessica and myself up in prayer, and that God has been using my example and my testimony among them to build their faith.
He told me that it is interesting timing that news like this would come to shake our faith, just when the prayers are getting much more "real."

So, while the circumstances look very bleak, I am reminded that they do not mean a thing, as God is much greater than any circumstance. When ever the enemy roars the loudest, it seems that you are just moments from a break through of some form.

I covet all the prayers that the saints on SI have offered for Jess and myself in the last 4 years. I covet the ongoing prayers of the saints.

Still standing, by the call of God,
Jason Smith

Jason,
Your faith has encouraged me greatly. I will keep praying. May you feel the Lord's presence ever near - God bless you!

Mama,
My faith is so weak. But God in mercy supplies me with my needs. He holds me up, and strengthens my faith. He shows His great love and compassion for me in so many ways.

Thank you for your prayers.
May God bless you greatly through His mighty Son, the Lord Christ Jesus.

Jason Smith
Standing in Oregon

What encourages me is that you have stood firm for a very long time. Since marriage is a picture of Christ and His Church, you have shown in a very real way how Christ would never leave His Bride, no matter how far she strayed. That is what has encouraged me. I don't think for a minute that it has been easy. May God be your Rock. I am praying...

Brother Jason,

I am praying for you and can to a point empathize, my wife and I are going through a very difficult time and while there isn't another man involved she has withdrawn her heart from me.

I take great encouragement in your devotion to your wife as I must learn the same patience and devotion you are displaying. Something that has been an encouragement to me is Pslams 18.

It is the telling of God intervening for David personally and stepping down from his throne to come to David's aid. I took this personally that God does the same for me and you still to this day, and one line that just brought me peace to my heart is verse 19

"He brought me out in a spacious place;
He rescued me because He delighted in me."

God sees your hurting and your pain and He will step down to rescue you because YOU are His delight.

Thank you both for the encouragement.

Jason Smith
Currently standing in North Carolina.