Your first memories of church are singing "This Little Light of Mine" and sitting on the floor while the Sunday School teacher shares a flannel graph story. You grew up in church, your family was in church, your husband and you were married in a church, and your kids went with you to church.
In a quick moment, the family you thought you had, the one standing in front of the white picket fence has become fractured, like a piece of china dropped on a cold tile floor.
As a mom whose daughter eloped with a complete stranger just a few weeks before one of our sons informed us he was living with his boyfriend and planning to marry him as well, I know the feeling of complete loss. At that point, I wasn't wondering if I had done anything wrong in the raising of our six children, I was questioning whether I had done anything right.
With a full attack on the family and marriage, trying to stand firm in what we believe is Biblical is not always easy. The white picket fence ideal we had when we were children happens to straddle a minefield, but, in the midst of the heartbreak and turmoil, God is with us. We can have hope beyond the picket fence.
Marci Seither , Hope In Hard Places ,www.marciseither.com
