Thursday, March 5, 2009

Friendship and taking sides

Speaking to D the other night and he told me that he's going to a men's bible study at church now, and is going to a home group that we used to go to as a family for a while. We stopped going cos we seemed to spend most of the night trying to get the girls to go to sleep and then when they finally did, it would be nearly time to go home, so we kind of just gave up and stopped going.
I'm really happy for him that he's doing this stuff cos I know it will be really good for him and his journey. BUT I'm also actually angry at him for doing it. Curious, isn't it!? I'm angry that now he might journey through all this crap I've been wanting him to journey through for years, and he might actually deal with some significant stuff. And it's too late for us. Speaking with a friend of his today I said all this (above) and he said, why is it too late? I told him that I can't go back into marriage with Daniel after what he's done, and he said so there's no redemption for him then? It was an innocent question and certainly wasn't meant to judge me (at least I don't think it was) and it represents so much misunderstanding around our situation. I explained that my decision has nothing to do with redemption or forgiveness - I forgive him every single day, but I can never ever never trust him again. If you don't have trust you can't have a marriage. I think he understood what I was saying but there is a very fine line for me now with people making judgements about my decision and supporting us both through this. I get the feeling that some Christian friends are 'encouraging' him (trying to help him see the good in life and helping to lift him out of his despair) and either deliberately or inadvertently feeding his false hope that we will get back together again. I'm not just talking about this friend I spoke with today. How do you continue an honest friendship with both parties from a marriage breakdown, and not judge or mislead either of them? I'm not actually sure that any of us in our humanity can do it, and even with the wisdom and discernment we can have from God I don't think it's possible. So where does that leave us? I guess it leaves me assessing all my friendships with honest eyes and heart, and being realistic about what people can and do offer me in the way of support and what I expect from them.
I've been reading a book called "growing through divorce" and it has been really quite helpful, considering it's written by an American. He does talk about the fact that most (almost everyone) lose friends when they go through a divorce. I scoffed at that to start with but now I'm starting to see the truth of it. I don't for a second believe that people dislike me for my decision. But I do think some people are very challenged by it for lots of reasons, most of which I'll never even know about let alone understand. I am aware though that people who have been through 'similar' situations (ie separation and/or divorce) can view my separation through the lens of their own experience. This is just normal human behaviour. And it's reasonable then to think that if they made a certain decision then why can't I? Well, it's because my situation isn't the same as anyone else's. D and I are not the same people as they are, so we all bring different personalities and other issues to the situation. I can't deal with this the same way that other wives have dealt with similar issues. Because I am me. I am starting to understand why some of my friendships will be changing. I still value those friends dearly but I know that there's been a shift and my expectations will be different.
I guess to be honest, it didn't start just with the separation. There have certainly been instances in the past where I've gone through a significant time in my life and friendships have grown or faded through it, and I've just adjusted and kept going. Same thing now.
It's all food for thought.
On a completely different note, I have some friends with a little boy who is really sick. They adopted him from the Philippines and found out after he turned 2 that he has an awful condition called Chiari Malformation. He's gotten a lot worse (he's now 3) and they're flying to Sydney this weekend for him to have brain and spinal surgery to try and stop (or lessen) the effects it's having on him. Please pray for them all that the doctors will have success in halting the degeneration of his body, and that maybe they could find some kind of cure - there is no cure at the moment. They have three older children at home as well. A really tough time for them all as they (quite literally) are doing all they can for the life of their little boy.
Til next time

5 comments:

OziMum said...

You make me smile! Why? Coz you're always so honest. I smile, because I know it's you. I also smile, because I reckon people'd misunderstand you and be offended, or think you haven't got "right" thinking!!! You are very right to be angry that its taken so long for D to deal with things... and wish he'd done it sooner - my motto is "pray for his salvation". I gave up praying that T would change... God's more interested in his salvation... then it's natural progression to change.... that's just my 2 cents worth (and probably not even worth that!)

By the way... do you have something against American's?!!

JJ is at the top of my prayer list. It just breaks my heart.

Anonymous said...

Your honesty is not your only great quality. You have so many. Ozimum is right - you may be misunderstood because of it, but that is only because other people are so bound up with doing the 'right thing' and what 'the Bible' says and what the 'church' expects (even if those expectations are wrong), that they cannot allow themselves the freedom to think about what they would really do in a situation as horrific as yours. And horrific it is - lets not underestimate what D has done, for more than ten years. The miracle in this is that you have found the freedom, through God, to work out what is best, and true and honest for you & the girls, and it is this that may threaten the very fabric of who your other 'friends' are and who they think they should be. Their problem, not yours!
You are great, and the decisions you have made, and are still making on a daily basis have been made with pain, but also with integrity and honesty, and I admire & respect you for that.
The truth is that God abhors what D has done, to himself, to you and to his relationship with God. God has forgiven D, but that doesn't mean that he can trust him with your heart... again. You have every right to allow yourself to go through the roller coaster of emotions with honesty, without the pressure of what everyone else expects you to do. The friends that know the real you, and respects her, will support you in this. I respect & trust you and the decisions you have made. They are good decisions. If God ever wants you to change them, He will let you know. Don't ever second guess yourself. BF xx

Anonymous said...

I love the way you write this blog..Its so honest and real.
In regards to your friend saying what they did..Noone can tell you how you should feel or react because noone is you and noone has walked in your shoes..How you feel is how you feel and you should not be condemed or for how you feel or the decisions you make. You have done an amazing job and continue to do so. Dont let people put their narrow minded "ideals" on you, you have every right to make the decisions you have. Dont let people negate what you feel..how would they know how it feels...

Anonymous said...

I love what BF said - it doesn't all necessarily mean God will trust D with your heart again. There's so much hope in that statement - God is looking out for your heart; He's taking care of it :)
So proud of you Jenni!! Catchya tomorrow :hug:

Anonymous said...

Here's a thought for you ... our life's journey is full of friendships tha wax and wane. We get married and lose contact with our single friends. We have children and lose contact with our friends who don't have any. We move house and lose contact with people who lived close to us before. We change jobs, we grow as people (our friends don't) and friendships change. That's life. There is nothing unusual in frienships that change ... it happens all the time (witness how much closer our friendship is since D is no longer around.

I guess the difference in this situation is that these changes to some degree have been preciptiated by something that you had no choice over. Where we are in control of the change we can live with it (albeit with regrets at times), but where the control is out of our hands it's not so easy to deal with is it?

So what do you do? I guess you take control again. Acknowledge (as you do) that this IS a period of change; some for the better some not, some will fill you with regret (like friends who can't be friends to both of you) and others might fill you with joy (like friends reconnected). And I guess you can ackowledge that people will make judgements ... after all, that's human nature isn't it, but those judgements have NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU and you are not responsible for them and should not carry the burden of them.

All that aside ... you rock, you incredibly wonderful, beautiful, talented, generous, funny and gifted woman!! PK ... love you lots