Over a decade ago, my wife and children moved out of our house. I was doing everything wrong: looking at all the wrong things, playing for hours on computer games, basically anything that I wanted to do. I had a lustful, greedy heart, not wanting to do anything for my wife or the children.
On my birthday that year, I received divorce papers in the mail. I don’t think it’s really what either one of us wanted, but it seemed the only option for us. (My wife had even been counseled, at her former church, that she should get a divorce. Reconciliation was never mentioned. ) I couldn’t bring myself to sign the papers, so they sat on the counter.
In the meantime, my wife, Jan, met someone who introduced her to the Weigh Down Workshop. She began taking classes and I began seeing major changes in Jan. We decided to give our marriage one last try, so Jan and the kids moved back home. The more Weigh Down classes she took, the more changes I saw.
Jan began working at Weigh Down Workshop; all the while our marriage was getting better and better. One day Jan asked if she could go to a Bible class at the Weigh Down building on a Thursday night. She continued going to those Bible studies, and not too long after Remnant Fellowship was started, she and the kids began attending. One Sunday, she asked me if I would like to go with her and the children to a worship service. (I had been raised in the Catholic Church, but quit attending right after High School. I saw people saying one thing, then leaving mass and doing something completely different. It didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t want to waste my time on a bunch of rituals.) I can’t quite tell you how much that day meant to me. Let’s just say- my entire life changed.
Listening to Gwen read from the Bible, I mean really read, and talk about what was being said in each verse was revolutionary to me. I had never seen the Bible presented as a real guide book for my life. It had just been a good history book, and I didn’t enjoy history- so why bother with it? That worship service opened my eyes to the sin in my heart. I realized what I had been putting Jan and the kids through, and how I had been treating them. I was learning to look inward to see, really see, what was in MY heart and how much I needed to change. As I continued worshipping at Remnant Fellowship, I continued changing. Jan and the children continued changing. Our marriage continued getting stronger and better.
I don’t want to think about where our lives would be right now if it weren’t for Jan being introduced to Weigh Down Workshop and then Remnant Fellowship. I praise God for all He has done in our lives, and for allowing our eyes to be opened to His will. Until my dying day, I will thank Gwen Shamblin for listening to God and following His wishes. Without the work God has done through Gwen, I might not be alive today. Because of one person, Gwen Shamblin, wanting only the will of God to be done, and teaching us how to do that at Remnant Fellowship; our marriage is better than we could have dreamed of -on our wedding day! - Kevin Ruble