Day 6: Forgiving the Friends and People Who Knew

I thought they were my friends too!

When the scale of the infidelity started to dawn on me, it became apparent that there had to have been people I called friends who knew but hadn't said anything to me. Whatever safety net I had felt came from having friends disappeared. “Lord, give me new friends," I prayed. "Help me to forgive these I'm giving up."

This theme of forgiveness is a recurring one. We cannot find freedom after marital infidelity without choosing to forgive not just our spouse and the person/s they had an affair with but also other people we trusted to have our backs and look out for us but didn’t.

Some distancing will naturally take place. You will lose some friendships, adding to the other losses that infidelity brings, all of which can destabilize us. But thank God that He never leaves us or lies to us. Thank God for Jesus, our friend who sticks closer than a brother and intercedes for us to get through this with hope, joy, and love! Thank God for the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, and the Comforter, who will guide us into all truth and be with us through thick and thin! He will bring us new, trustworthy friends!

Applications:

• Prayerfully consider your present friendships and relationships.
• Social media: Through trial and error, determine who can access your Social Media feeds. Only some people will have your best interest at heart. Of course, you don’t know the truth of everyone’s heart towards you, so pray for discernment in this area.
• Believe that God will bring you new friends and community.This experience has been a pruning of friends and community, and starting over fresh is just what you need. Pray for God to bring those people into your life, for you to recognize them and not push them away.