In an interview, Lisa Terkeurst told Today show hosts Jenna Bush Hager and Dylan Dreyer that she and her husband Art had both been doing the hard work of reconciliation.
“There is a big difference between complete restoration and redemption,” she said. “Redemption can be ours today even before the complete restoration and reconciliation has happened,” something she said she and Art were both pursuing in a spiritual and emotional sense, as well as a relational sense. Signs of redemption had been evident as recently as this past Father’s Day when Lysa posted a photo of she and her husband with their children on Social Media, wishing Art a “happy day.”
On a sunny December day about a month following that interview, near their Waxhaw, North Carolina, home, Art and Lysa dressed up and with their entire family and close friends by their sides whispered healing words, heartfelt prayers and renewed their holy wedding vows. Lysa wrote: “A million prayers. A miracle answer. A marriage restored.”
Art responded, “The way that you have loved me with grace and forgiveness gives me an undeniable understanding and perspective of how much God loves me.” He continued, “And what He did for me on the Cross, you have lived out in my life. You never gave up, you disarmed all of the dark with your grace and forgiveness.”
Lysa responded with emotion in her voice, “You, Art, are the great love of my life. I’ve never known love like this apart from you, and I never want to know this love without you. ‘Together’ is my favorite word for us, and what a together we have.”
“Forgiveness is a process. Healing is a long journey,” recounts Lysa. “I’ll never ever criticize another person for choices they made that were different than mine when placed in the same heartbreak as me. Or maybe they had no choice at all. I have nothing but tender love and understanding. It’s a brutal walk.”
So why did she stay?
“I love Art. I was given that chance.”
“And,” Lysa concludes, “I’ve discovered imperfect love is still full of sacred possibilities, redemptive strength, and it’s own purity.”
Editor's Note: As of 2022, circumstances have sadly changed for Lysa TerKeurst and her marriage. A word from Lysa: "As many of you know, three years ago, Art and I renewed our marriage vows after a painful separation. It has crushed my heart to know he has broken those vows...It's hard to face a future that looks nothing like what I desperately and constantly prayed it would look like...the truth is relationship restoration doesn't always work, but forgiveness always does...Sometimes the culmination of all our efforts and the answer to our prayers is that God restores us in relationships. And sometimes He rescues us out of relationships. I don't understand why circumstances sometimes go the way my story is now going. But I'm standing firm in my faith and trusting God with every step. I treasure your prayers and compassion."
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