There was once a man who was married to the same woman for twenty-eight years; there was a five-year age differences between them, and their likes and interests were the complete opposite, in point of fact there was no real reason for them to be together; but this didn’t deter them from deciding to make a life together, not even the fact that they came from different countries and ethnic backgrounds. There were ups and downs as there are in any marriage, but those trials were overcome, and their life together was a happy one. There were no affairs or indiscretions during all the years, but there were some temptations, but nothing was acted upon. Both were loyal to one another.

Through putting work first and certain physical limitations children were never part of the equation and that was perhaps their one and only greatest regret. Yet, that aside after the years together, after all the struggles, anxieties, hardships, and tragedies, that go into the mix of any long-term relationship, the couple got themselves into a position where they owned a house out right and had money in the bank and were in a wonderful situation moving forward into their so-called golden years. Planning to travel and see the world. And why the love for the husband had waned somewhat, it was the opposite regarding his love for the wife. But that is when darkness arrives, when Satan comes calling. Not at the beginning of a marriage, but rather at the end, when all the kinks and creases have been ironed out.

It was then that the wife had an affair. Without going into all the sordid detail, and all the lies upon lies, which in the end doesn’t matter, the fact that it happened is all that’s important. Who was to blame? Perhaps there was enough on both sides. The husband no doubt had neglected the needs of the wife, and her love for the husband had perhaps died out. Yet the two had reached a place where they were looking forward to spending their coming old age together. They were happy and most importantly contented. It would be an understatement to say that the affair nearly destroyed the husband; oh he had thought over the years that perhaps the marriage wouldn’t last, that it might fall apart, but the one thing he never suspected was for his wife to have an affair, that sort of thing just wasn’t in her nature; as you can imagine the whole thing was a blow straight out of left field.

Anger, jealousy, hatred, all the negative emotions that evil endorses came to the surface in argument after argument after argument. The husband, who so loved his wife, tried to understand why she was doing this, offering to help, willing to change, to accommodate. But no matter what he said or did, the wife continued the affair as a darkness enveloped her filled with lust and pleasure. To make matters worse the wife would tell the husband that she still loved him and that she didn’t want him to leave, but that she couldn’t give up the affair and in fact even blamed him for it. It seemed to the husband that the wife had become a completely different person to the Individual he had known for the last twenty-eight years. So, the husband stuck around, hoping that she would stop, that she would come to her senses. Why he didn’t leave, it’s not my place to judge. One thing I do know is that the affair was not coming from a good place, not from a place of light or love, it did have anger and verbal abuse in it, and that the husband did fear for the physical and mental health of his wife, whom he still loved dearly. But she wouldn’t cease and nothing he said or did would make a difference. The marriage crumbled, and the world that the husband had built up fell away, the future that he had so looked forward to spending with his wife evaporated right before his very eyes.

Now, you may be wondering where hope comes into this story, well that’s easy. You see as all the fear and negative emotions overwhelmed the husband and began to manifest themselves within him, to tear him apart, causing him to even contemplate doing terrible things in retaliation, he turned to the word of God. You see, even before the affair, he had slowly begun to embrace the gospel and the teachings of the Christ. So that when this wave of darkness washed over him, threatening to drown him, in the end he turned to the one source he had at hand. It literally saved his mental state, his wellbeing.

It's hard for me to put into words the effect of his belief in the hope that Christ has shown and promised. The marriage has not gotten back on track, and I can’t tell you it ever will, but what I can confirm is the husband’s complete change of outlook on his life. It would take many more pages for me to explain to you what exactly has taken place within him, even if I could, and maybe someday I will attempt it. But the whole point of this narrative is to reinforce how important hope is, whether you’re someone that believes in God or not. The husband who could see no hope found it and it led him out of the abyss and to a much better place.

People say that you can’t live on hope alone, well I contest otherwise with the story above, that nor can you live without it, because if it were not for hope then the heart would break; hope is faith holding out its hand in the darkness, we can choose to take that hand or reject it.  Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible. Never live without hope because lost hope is the undertaker’s best friend.

                              Copyright Peter Jessop © 2023