Spiritual Healing After Divorce

By Sarah Stein

Are you overwhelmed by emotional turmoil following a divorce? Feeling stressed out and in mourning? Is your family experiencing pain and confusion? Have you been looking for solace and recovery in places that don't bring you peace? Spiritual Healing After Divorce addresses the common hurdles and setbacks in the path to personal recovery. It offers practical advice for mending your emotional wounds and rebuilding your life, empowering you to emerge more resilient and self-assured than ever before.After Sarah's divorce, she experienced layers of torment, pain and heartache that left her feeling devastated by life. If you're feeling let down by life and feel as though things will never get better, then you need to read this book! In it, Sarah shares her personal experience of healing after divorce, deeply rooted in faith-building principles and rich theology. Sarah has put into words an honest and heartfelt testimony that will help you say bon voyage to feelings of condemnation that may arise because of divorce.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Mar 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9781779418906

Sarah Stein

Sarah Stein is more than qualified to lead you on your journey of healing. She is a young mother who has lived through the traumatic separation and divorce of her parents as a young child, and two divorces of her own. She holds a variety of qualifications: a Masters of Nursing, a Diploma of Visual Art and Theology, and an Advanced Diploma in Christian Leadership and Ministry. Sarah is currently studying for a Bachelor of Fine Art and working towards a Bachelor of Theology. So, no matter what stage of separation or divorce you are experiencing, Sarah identifies and shares how to navigate several spiritual barriers to healing after divorce that are sure to help you on your journey towards healing and help you start living your best life.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One

Divorce

The Impact of Stress Grief and Loss

Chapter References

Chapter Two

Who is God?

The Trinity

Godly Characteristics

The Roles Within the Trinity

The Father

Jesus the Son:

The Holy Spirit

The Nature of God

God is Righteousness

God is Holy

God is Faithful

God is Love

God’s is Good

How I see the Trinity

Finally

Chapter Three

Knowing the Heart of Jesus

Moral Characteristics of Jesus

The Samaritan Woman at the Well

Jesus is my Redeemer

Finally

Altar Call

Chapter Four

Salvation

The First Part of Salvation

Grace

Justified

Righteousness

Regeneration

Adoption

Sanctification

Perfection

Glorification

Finally

Chapter Five

Redemption in the Old Testament

Old Testament Atonement

The Ritual for Cleansing Healed Lepers

Chapter References

Chapter Six

Prayer is Communication

Desire

Important Considerations of Prayer

Attitude

Structure

Ask

Unity

The Cross

Beating That Forgetful Mind

Praying in Tongues

How to Meditate

You Have to Believe It!

Be Persistent

Spiritual Warfare

Closing Doors in Prayer

Deliverance

Encouragement to persevere in prayer

Chapter References

Chapter Seven

Forgiveness

The Condition of your Heart

Forgiving Others

Forgiving God

Forgiving Yourself

Forgiveness for Past Troubles

Chapter Eight

The Protection We Have in Christ

Your Emotions

Transformation of the Mind

Identity

Chapter Nine

Introduction

Healing Testimony

A Broken Past

Faith for Healing:

Firewood for the Future!

Chapter Ten

God’s Promises

God Promises to be our Shepherd

God Promises us Rest

God is our Rock

The Holy Spirit Promises Sufficiency.

God Promises you Provision.

Fruit of the Spirit

Despair and Hope

Loss of Family

Finally

Chapter Eleven

Bringing it all Together

There is no Condemnation in Christ

The Power and Sufficiency of Grace

Atonement

Finally

Chapter Twelve

What Next?

Finding a Church

Devotional Time

Baptism

Tithing

Discipleship

A New Season

Finally

Altar Call

Acknowledgements

Thank you, Guy Stein, for being my confidant, best friend and supporting me throughout my journey. I could not have completed this book without your love and care. You’re my home team babe.

Preface

This book is written for divorced Christians who have fallen away from a relationship with Christ and are either in church or no longer attending church. I want to help people who feel at odds with the Bible and Christianity regarding divorce and help them work through the spiritual barriers or burdens they have post-separation and divorce so that they can find their affirmation in Christ again.

Divorce is so spiritually devastating, it shatters lives. My intent is to encourage people who have fallen away from a relationship with Christ because of divorce to return to church and experience the love and healing power of God. I found the process of divorce so difficult to move through. There were layers and layers of spiritual opposition, biblical confusion and physical consequences that needed to be removed in order to rediscover my relationship with God.

My heart’s desire with this book is to help people reconnect with the Holy Spirit after a divorce. Divorce is terrible. It shatters a person’s life, mind, heart and soul. My hope is that this book will help you remove the mark or sting that divorce and condemnation have over your life. Help to lead you on a journey so that you rediscover your relationship with God, find your affirmation in Christ, and experience the spiritual and physical healing of the Holy Spirit. So that you can experience a lasting relationship with the Holy Spirit again, experience hope for the future and for restoration.

This book is written from a Spirit-filled Pentecostal perspective and is a personal testimony that explores spiritual healing after a divorce. I really felt like the Holy Spirit wanted me to write about my experience of spiritual healing after divorce. It was such a painful time for me, and when I looked for help from books, I found nothing, and at the time, everything online was preaching condemnation. God really turned my life around and gave me a new life and purpose. Although I don’t have all the answers for every person, I would like to share an account of the challenges that the Holy Spirit led me through. I will discuss each barrier, intervention and breakthrough that had a significant impact on my own healing journey. I also deeply felt the call of God and the heart that he has to draw his lost loved Christians back into church and back into a relationship with him. I know that there is going to be a revival in the church soon where the Holy Spirit will call divorced Chrisitians back into church and give them their affirmations. I personally experienced such profound closeness with the Holy Spirit during my separation and divorce and I believe that the Holy Spirit will lead you towards healing like he did for me. Because God is kind, loving and comforting. So I hope this book helps break down the burdens of divorce and plants a seed in your heart to want a relationship with Christ again.

I would like to say a special thank you to the editor Ryan Kerrison for his patience and time.

Introduction

Hello, my name is Sarah, and I want to share my account of spiritual healing after divorce. As I mentioned, after my divorce, I struggled to find any helpful material that focused on recovery. I felt so isolated by the Bible and isolated in my life. It was truly the most painful time in my life, and I couldn’t find any help. The impact of divorce on my mind, body and spirit was so devastating I’m honestly surprised I survived it. I want to see people move past the burdens of divorce and have spiritual healing and experience the peace of God. With the help of the Holy Spirit, you can experience how good God is and have a lasting and intimate relationship with him. Because nobody should ever be left in such a terrible state.

Divorce is terrible for everyone involved. From reading this book I hope to share with you some of the burdens that I had to overcome in order to find my affirmation in Christ afresh. In each chapter I will discuss a barrier I experienced and the interventions that lead to my breakthrough and healing. With this book I want to help you to build your trust and faith in God again by letting down your walls and seeing how good God is. To help you see how God is a good provider and how you can experience this blessing on a daily basis. Not only to experience a fresh revelation of Jesus our Lord and Saviour but to move past the condemnation that often comes with divorce and to see the heart of Jesus throughout the Bible.

I want to help you experience the power of prayer in your life and reveal some key elements that helped me progress. I want you to understand the importance of forgiveness, identity, spiritual warfare, emotions, and healing. I want to share with you some of the key promises of God that helped to build my faith so that I could then stand in prayer and declare them over my life. And finally, reveal to you what the Holy Spirit shared with me regarding divorce and condemnation.

Speaking from experience, the Holy Spirit doesn’t just want to heal people after a divorce. God wants to provide Christians with a better life than they had before. During my healing, the Holy Spirit led me to rediscover my salvation, and I learned to rely on the Holy Spirit for all my needs. I got to experience a relationship with the Holy Spirit that was built on trust, faith and love. And this is what I want for all my audience, a cleaner journey of healing after divorce.

I have no intention of justifying divorce. This book is about healing spiritually after divorce and rediscovering your relationship with God. I believe that God heals, and a Christian couple will always be better off placing God in the centre of their marriage and praying for healing. But this isn’t always possible. Sometimes one person may not be willing. However, because the burden of divorce is so significant, I also feel it’s important that people don’t experience a toxic relationship for longer than necessary. And instead, should be treated with compassion and understanding and not feel pressured to stay too long in inappropriate marriages for the sake of religious reasons.

My desire is to reach the people who have fallen away from the church and God after divorce. Divorce is painful both; physically, spiritually, environmentally, and mentally, and each person needs to be supported and directed back home. I believe this issue is of great importance. To reach all those lost and hurt souls and help them rediscover their relationship with God and return to church.

I am no theologian I am just sharing my personal account of healing and the things that were important to me for growth. I have not entirely explained all the theological elements surrounding each topic because they were not relevant to my healing. I would like to encourage all readers that when I share on a topic that really speaks to them, to find a good book that explores the topic. I have not gone into complete detail about everything. I only want to encourage people who are hurting after a divorce to pursue the Holy Spirit for healing.

I think it’s important to note why a lot of this books content on divorce and messages have strong themes or undertones of a prosperity message. Because when a person is in such a fragile state, themes of encouragement and safety are what a person really needs to hear. Once a person starts to heal and can cope with life again, they become more receptive to a balanced message.

I must ask for your forgiveness as I often repeat myself throughout this book. Because, if you’re anything like me, I have to hear a message or a point about seven times before it starts to sink in. I experienced so many spiritual blockages and burdens which prevented me from receiving God’s message, so I think I had to hear the message a few more times before I could really receive it. Therefore, I have repeated some of the main points across chapters in case you are like me and need to hear a point a few times. Also, I would like to apologise for being a poor historian. I started writing several times, and each time I returned to continue writing, my tone and aim were slightly different. I have since tried to pull it all together into a conclusive book.

Any errors that remain are my responsibility.

Chapter One

Divorce

Divorce, by definition ruins families. The toll of divorce is so high on everyone involved, and it’s such a long process. First there is a failing marriage and all the hardships that entails, then there is a separation for a year before a couple can even apply for a divorce. The stress, pain and heartache can carry on for many years… Some people never properly heal or get their lives back. This is part of why I am writing this book. Before I jump into the process the Holy Spirit led me through for healing, I would like to share with you the incidence of divorce, my personal testimony and some of the impacts divorce can have on a person physically, spiritually, and psychologically.

It’s not hard to see that marriage is declining, and divorce is rising. In Australia, in 2021, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported just under 90,000 marriages. In the same year, they also reported that a little over 56,000 divorces were granted. That is over a divorce rate of 60%! While the pandemic may have contributed to the inflation of these statistics, they are still Australia’s statistics, and we have to face them head on.

In 2002, one-third of all marriages ended in divorce (ABS 2008). In 2021 the ABS reported 43.9% of Australians identified as Christians, and if we apply the rule of one-third of marriages resulting in divorce, that means 14.6% of Christians will experience divorce at least once in their lifetime. While it could be said that these statistics are overstated as it’s impossible to determine how many of the 43.9% of Australians who report themselves as Christians are any more than nominal. However, the figure could be as high as 14.6%! I would love to know what percentage of the 14.6% manage to stay in church after a divorce and how many fall away because of the impact of divorce on their spiritual and external lives. Let’s reduce this number to 5-10% to account for this potential margin of error. That means 5-10% of your church congregation has experienced a divorce at some time during their lifetime. How sad is that? a lot of people are hurting from divorce, and it’s still so difficult to find help.

I know when I went through my divorce, it hurt every time I read the bible. I was too embarrassed to share my problems with anyone and remained utterly isolated. Every time the pastor would get up and share negatively about divorce, all I could feel was condemnation for my situation. I want to encourage that 5-10% of the congregation to push past those barriers, to push past those moments and situations I just described and to find their affirmation in Christ again. There is a process that the Holy Spirit led me through where I was able to draw closer to God once more. I got to a place where I knew in my heart that on the day of judgement, I was not going to be rejected. The Holy Spirit led me to a place where I could receive deep spiritual healing of my soul. This process is similar to the scripture 2 Peter 1:5-8 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self control, to self control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of your Lord Jesus Christ. It’s the process of transformation. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit and grace in your life. This scripture is similar to the process I experienced for healing in which this book is loosely structured around.

Within our contemporary society, there are usually three reasons for divorce, these are abuse, adultery, and abandonment. When I was freshly separated, I didn’t feel like I fit any of these categories. And as a result, the guilt I experienced was horrendous. I went on searching for my answers, and I eventually found them. I would like to share my story with you just once because I don’t want to be talking about myself constantly. I’m only going to share the main points with you. There was a lot more going on but to mention every aspect of a failing marriage would take too long and be very heavy. Let’s begin, I grew up in a Christian home. I gave my life to Jesus when I was in Sunday school at the age of eight. It was a very profound moment for me, one which I still remember today. When I was ten years old, my parents separated and divorced. That season was devastating for me. My parents’ divorce made navigating puberty so much harder than it needed to be. The impact of my parents’ divorce on me caused me to struggle with depression and a poor self-esteem which followed me into adulthood. But God is a God who heals. During my early teens, the Holy Spirit was with me as I learned to rely on him for my needs and bit by bit as my relationship with the Holy Spirit grew so did my healing. However, by the time I was sixteen, I began to lose this intimacy with the Holy Spirit as I became side-tracked by pubescent distractions.

By the time I was nineteen, I was married. My husband at the time, was a godly man