Thank you so much for joining [music] us for this live stream. I am here with Jim Crest, an amazing therapist, [music] licensed professional counselor, and Dr. Joel Munamali, and we have written a book together called Surviving an Unwanted Divorce. [music] This has been a passion project for me, not because I’m passionate about divorce.

Divorce is very heartbreaking, especially when you’re trying to survive an unwanted divorce. But it’s a passion project because the reality is a lot of people are walking through the heartbreak and the crushing weight of walking into a future they never saw coming and quite honestly they didn’t want. That was my story. And when I survived my unwanted divorce, I became very passionate about helping other people.

There were two people on my journey that helped me probably more than anyone else navigate both the healing side, the therapy side, and the theological wisdom that I needed to be able to not just walk through this, but to be able to talk confidently about what the Bible actually does and does not say about divorce. And those two people, of course, are my co-authors for this book.

Thank you, Jim, and thank you, Joel. >> Thank you. you have submitted some really um good questions, some tough questions, some questions worth answering. And so guys, are you ready to tackle these questions today? All right, let’s start with the first one. >> It’s been almost a year since my divorce, but I still feel stuck in sadness and regret over going through with the divorce.

>> As time goes on, it’s harder to remember the abuse and betrayal that led to the divorce, and I long for reconciliation. How do I move forward in acceptance of the life that I have instead of being stuck longing for the life I lost or hoping for something that doesn’t match reality? >> I think as you’ve taught me, Jim, words frame our reality.

So, I think there’s some pretty key words in this question. One is that she longs for reconciliation. You know, and I understand that longing. Look, it’s really hard when you finally get through the intensity of should I or should I not separate? And at first, you may even feel some relief, especially if the intensity of the destructive um realities inside that marriage were hurting you and causing you a lot of confusion, a lot of heartbreak, a lot of tears.

Um, but the longer we get away from the intensity of the initial impact and for me, the longer I was living in the house by myself, the relief turned into a very strange longing to go back because going back was going to something that was familiar and walking forward was walking towards something I didn’t know.