Yesterday, as we were visiting with Jim’s older sister, she talked about her Mother and Daddy and their old family home. The whole family loved to sing together after supper in the evening. This was in the old days, as Jim is next to the youngest and the twelfth child, and he is almost 65. Mona said, “Mama and Daddy sang a song to us children that made us cry.” Mona thought a minute, as we sat around her dining room table, and then she sang the song to Jim and me and her husband John. It was a song maybe written in the 1930s. It was about a man who was given a paper that said his wife wanted a divorce. And how sad he felt that his wife didn’t love him anymore. And Mona, who is in her 70s, said that, as her mom and dad sang this song together in the evening, the children cried.

Back then, ya know, folks didn’t divorce. And in Jim’s neighborhood, there were many big families. One family who lived by them had fifteen children … another had fourteen … and one had eleven. So a divorce was almost unheard of back then.

Mona also told about Jim as a child. He had some sort of a spinal problem and couldn’t sit up, even at a year old, and would have convulsions. But Jim’s dad was a Christian and he prayed. And the Lord led him to a chiropractor. Well, back then these doctors weren’t taken seriously at all. So Jim’s dad was very leery, but they had no other answer. So Jim’s dad took Jim to the chiropractor and the doctor worked on Jim’s spine, at a year old, and Jim was healed.

Jim’s dad had ulcers, too, and the doctor helped him get rid of them, too. And I don’t think the doctor even charged him. But back then, chiropractors were considered quacks. And they would have to work on folks for free, until they got the confidence of some of the town’s folks.

Jim’s dad was such a good man and was kind to everyone. When he died in his late 50s, the school was closed so that all the children could go to his funeral. Mama Hultquist never got over losing her husband, as she had just given birth to her last child and he was only a year old, and Jim was 8. Mom Hultquist was only 39 when she lost her husband. She never married again and went on to raise the rest of her children. She had gotten married at about 14 and had her first child at 15. She never knew another man and, when her husband died, then in a way she did, too.

And I am so glad to say that Jim is the only man I have ever known. And if anything should happen to my husband, I would probably die then, too. Marriage is to be to one man for life … until death. And, no, I am not condemning anyone who has been married and divorced and remarried. My mentor Mary L, now 74, has been divorced and remarried as a Christian. And if it were not for her, I wouldn’t be here writing right now. She has prayed for me and brought me up spiritually. But the Bible says we are to stay married for life.

For some of you who struggle with your marriage, I just want to encourage you to hang on. Ya know, Annie has often said that the parents who divorce and find a new spouse will say that the Lord led them to be happy with a new spouse. But, like Annie says, what about the children? How do they feel? The children, in most cases still love their daddy, no matter what he has done.

I dunno. But I know I will never forget that song as Mona sang it to us yesterday. And she told how the children all cried as they heard their Mama and Daddy sing about those divorce papers. Their little hearts broke as they thought of families being broken up like that.

What a story and example this story is to us! We, too, must teach our children to be tender in heart and that we must forgive each other and be longsuffering towards one another. We as family members all make mistakes, but at home we should be forgiven, if no where else.

Let us today come to Christ as tenderhearted children touched by forgiveness, longsuffering and a deep love of family.