Pancakes, I have never shared this with anyone before, neither have I even hinted that it ever happened because it has been too painful for me. Many years ago my family moved to a small town in calif along the Nevada border. We started a small Church in the community and God was blessing it mightily.
I was the pastor, and my sons and I played the all the worship music. The Church was growing and people from all over the area were coming. Later I found out my wife was having an affair with one of the local store owners, and she wanted a divorce. My wife was by polar and manic depressive and she had convinced the local authorities that I was beating her, so there was put on me a restraining order that I could not come within 300 feet of my kids or wife. I have never beaten my wife at any time. After finding out my wifes affair I had to stand in front of the Church and tell them what had happened, and that the scripture says, "that if a man can not care for his own family how can he take care of the Church of God". So I resigned. That was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.
Not only did I have my family taken away from me, my car broke down. I had nowhere to go. All I could think of was I needed to get out of here, because the pain in my heart was to much for me to handle. I just wanted to run away from it all. I grabbed a couple pieces of clothing and walked out to the highway to hitch hike out to anywhere other then where I was. As I was standing on the side of the highway a scripture came to me that says, " give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." So , I began to praise, and thank God for what little I had which was only the clothes I had on my back as tears were streaming down my face. When I did that something came over me (the Holy Spirit) and I decided I was not going to let the Devil take my family away from me or God's call on my life. The local pastor at another Church let me stay in his Church building until I got things back together. I refused to let my wife and family to be taken from me by the Devil, and I prayed for their restoration to me. I forgave my wife, and my kids were restored back to me. The authorities were made aware my wife was by-polar and what they thought I had done was only a lie. I love my wife and kids so much. The Lord restored my family back to me. I have now been married for over 33 years. In my darkest times the Lord has always been there for me. If you find yourself in similar times, I encourage you to just praise and thank God for what you do have, even if it is nothing, for this is the will of God for you. He will make a way when there seems to be no way.