God Can Restore Broken Marriages. This Dad’s Story Reveals How.
By Movieguide® Contributor
Being a husband and father isn’t easy. Podcaster Jerrad Lopes knows from personal experience, and he dove into his story with Christian artist Matthew West.
Following 12 years in ministry, Lopes found himself not working in the church for the first time since he was 18. This change resulted in an identity crisis that nearly destroyed his family.
He was on the verge of divorce “because I pulled myself away from her, pulled myself away from my kids.”
“In my mind, I had already checked out, and I was like Googling like divorce lawyers, and I was trying to figure out like custody stuff in my head,” Lopes described. “Who’s going to take who? Where am I going to live? It was messy.”
“I was in a weird dark spot, and so anyway, we were in the middle of a fight one day and we were in our bedroom, and I came in and I was already mad at her,” Lopes continued. “I was in such a sinful dark spot.”
He confessed that he wanted to “be mean” to his wife at that moment, so he said some things that really hurt her. Her response, though, changed his life.
“She looked at me and she had tears in her eyes. I’m like, ‘Finally. I’m up. I’m winning. I’m winning this fight.’ And she said to me — it was a moment that changed my life — she said, ‘Jerrad, I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night. I’ve been setting my alarm to wake up in the middle of the night and I’ve been going into our living room and I’ve just been begging God to capture your heart again.'”
“She went on to say, ‘I just want my husband back. I want my husband who loves Jesus back.’ And I was ready for like every scenario of a fight,” he explained, “but I was not ready for that scenario. You know when the book of Romans says it’s the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. It was really the kindness of God through my wife that melted my heart. All the anger that I was feeling just went away, and I was like, ‘What am I doing?'”
That conversation with his wife started his healing journey and return to Christian community. Now, he hosts the “Dad Tired” podcast, which boasts over 8 million downloads. It’s a place “where dads can stumble toward spiritual leadership, find real community, and grow in fatherhood, husbandhood, and everything in between.”
He frequently reminds dads of the important role they play in their kids’ lives on social media.
“Your child’s greatest need isn’t to be happy, but to be holy — set apart for God’s purposes,” he shared on Instagram. “As Christian parents, we aren’t trying to simply raise happy kids. We’re trying to raise holy ones.”
READ MORE: HOW Matthew West USES STORIES TO POINT FANS TO GOD
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