Your commitment to and participation in the gathered Body of Christ is one of the main antidotes to hopelessness in the life of the afflicted and abandoned wives in your midst. Psalm 73 says,
For I am afflicted all day long...
When I tried to understand all this,
it seemed hopeless
until I entered God’s sanctuary.

If entering the sanctuary and having a right view of God fought hopelessness in the Old Testament, imagine how much more valuable the gathered Church is today! The Church is the very body of Christ–His hands, feet, arms, ears, eyes. And as that Body comes together under the Head, Jesus, the battle against despair and hopelessness is waged. What a high and sacred calling the Church has!

The abandoned wife in your midst will find redemption, purpose and hope anew as we, the Church gather to worship together. The suffering wife in your midst will be cared for–physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually as the Church gathers around her, each using the gifts they’ve been given to serve her in love. The gospel will be exalted as we gather to lift high together our Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief. Her heart will begin to beat with refreshed hope as the Body calls her to fix her eyes on Jesus and to keep running. As the Church comes beside her to lift her weary arms and help bear the burdens she carries she will begin to heal. 

Dear Church, you are such a vitally important part of her healing journey. She needs to hear your voice singing loud the words she is struggling to voice. She needs to study the Bible beside you as she battles her heart to believe truth. She needs to fellowship with you at the Lord’s table to remember the body of Jesus broken for her–securing an eternal rest for her in heaven. She needs to be a part of a family that is not splintered and broken, but will last into eternity. 

So as you commit and step in towards Jesus and His Bride, the Church, remember: there just might be a broken-hearted-ex-bride in your midst who begins to heal as you do so. Press in and press on, Church. Hope springs new for her every time you gather beside her.