Picked up a random poetry book From the crowded shelf. Quick easy hour read: Delight and wonder. Then, Found…
Excerpt Married to An Atheist….
The following is a short excerpt from my book available in Kindle e-book and paperback formats. Please consider sharing this with your friends and write a review on Amazon for me!
Since my husband's confession of being an atheist, I have been struggling to come to terms with the reality of his beliefs as well as how to balance our differences in philosophies with life, with our friends, and with our families. As a result, God has been nudging me all of these years since to put our experiences into words for others to read, others who may have similar relationships and would find some use, at least entertainment if not lessons, from what my marriage has taught me. Tom and I both grew up in the same Protestant Christian church, with similar family backgrounds, and with comparable experiences for our faith journey. However, experiences during our marriage caused him to lose his faith while mine grew stronger. Now, sixteen years after we said "I Do" in front of our families and friends, in the same church we had grown up in, we are still married. Those years in between have been some of the hardest trials of our life together. I as Christian believe that God has a reason for our trials that we may find a way to strengthen our marriage relationship. There have been many days where the trials seem overbearing, and I am tempted to walk away from him. Then I think about the reality if I did leave my husband, especially how it would affect our two daughters, and my heart breaks. I cannot do that to my husband or my children. I cannot do that to God: "If the Christian woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him. For the Christian wife brings holiness to her marriage… Otherwise, your children would not have a godly influence, but now they are set apart for him." (New Living Translation, 1 Cor. 7.13-14) Therefore, I must commit as I promised to my husband, and not just because it is a decree in the Bible, but more so because I love my family with all of my heart. I could not hurt even my husband simply as I hate that he is a non-believer. Reader, you will see that what follows in this novel is not just a testimony of a husband and wife separated by faith. This is our journey from childhood to our present day, including hopes for our future together. Each section has stories from both of us. Each section where Tom writes his own perspective is always in a box. The first section is our backstory for how we came to be the couple we are today. The second section is a dialogue between faith and logic. I feel it important to include this especially to help myself better understand my own husband's points of view along with my own according to other scholars and religious experts. I used to have an aversion, a fear, of anything that did not make sense within my faith; the more my husband told me about his beliefs, the more my brain turned off, unwilling to listen to anything outside of my comfort zone. Now, I believe that it is vital for me to understand his views so that I can improve my communication with him, and so that I may be able to strengthen my own faith. I do not need to fear ideas or people that are different. I need to research and come to my own conclusion based on the information I find. This is what God wants me to do. That is why He gives me intelligence, my ability to reason, and my choices to act the way I do. You will notice my format is a mix between memoir, personal essay, and journal. Since our life has been so eclectic, my writing about it only seems appropriate to meld together my experiences in a nonconventional manner. Please know I am not an expert in the slightest! I am just a woman of faith trying to balance my own perspective with my husband's Atheistic views. I sincerely pray that you as the reader of this hodgepodge of a novel will find some comfort knowing there is hope for all marriages despite differences. In Christ, Janelle Stear Visit amazon.com to purchase the complete book.