Page 39 - eBook Living Water 2

When her behavior became more obvious to the rest of the
church, it blew up into a huge scandal. The district superintendents
were called in and an investigation was made. A public meeting was
held before the entire congregation at which time an announcement
was made that she and her family would be banned from the
fellowship. Fred and I felt that it wasn’t handled properly and we
couldn’t support the church’s decision. After leaving there, we spent
years going to various other churches.

In the meantime, our marriage still seemed to be a disaster.
Fred continued to have abusive tirades and I was still a hurting person
who felt like a victim. We went through several marriage counselors,
who after about a year, would throw up their hands and say to me,
“Why do you stay with him?” However, my commitment to stay
with Fred had been re-solidified with an absolute trust and faith in my
Lord who I believed had the perfect plan for us.

10 Lord Help Us

One day Fred got so upset that he pinned me down and began
to strangle me. This time after fighting him off I felt it had to stop.
So, I went down to the police station and took out a restraining order
against him. This was the first time that I declared publicly that he
was physically attacking me. We lived in a small town and everyone
knew him. It was also the first time I let friends and family know
about the abuse he had inflicted on me through all those fifteen years.
People knew we were having problems but never knew the details.
My father didn’t believe me. He liked Fred so much that he wouldn’t
believe that Fred could be abusive.

Fred had to appear in court and the judge ordered him to
attend a men’s anger management counseling group. After several
months, I had the restraining order lifted and he returned home. He
never laid a hand on me again but the verbal abuse continued.