My husband left me one Christmas Eve

My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible

‘My husband left me one Christmas Eve. My children were 9 and 13 at the time. He had left previously, and we had got back together and then he decided that the person he had met was someone that he still loved and he wanted to be with her. Lots of marriages break up over Christmas. It’s such a stressful time.  

‘I became hedonistic. I was trying to fill myself with love, like if you eat too much, or are a gym bunny or buy too many handbags. I tried to fill myself with love. I was living a life of death really. I drank, I smoked, I partied. I was trying to get away from the sense of abandonment and being alone. My mum had also left when I was a teenager.  

‘When I became a Christian, I instantly stopped doing these things. About a year later, I read Isaiah 61.1–7. It talks about bestowing “a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of despair”.  

‘These verses spoke to me and said that what had been didn’t have to be any longer and that there was new hope for the future. Reading it made me feel special and loved. Once you’ve changed inside yourself, it can change how you feel and how you act, so once you love yourself, you can love others too. I think these verses changed my life. I’m definitely much happier and have a sense of joy and peace.’

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