Parentwise - March/April 1997
Subtitled 'For Marriages in Trouble', this book is the true story of a couple who separated for 27 months before getting back together again. Written under a pseudonym, the author describes her feelings of being taken for granted by her distant and successful husband, the pain and loneliness of the separation, the return of her faith, and the struggle to believe that a transformed marriage was possible. Now 16 years on from the experience she writes about, the author believes that there is no such time as 'too late', and in an Afterword she give four insights into the ways marriages can be restored.
Renewal - November 1996
This book is dedicated 'to those who desire to help others who are in the midst of separation or divorce'. The author ... writes from the experience of her own marriage breaking up and then being restored when God took a hand. The surprise was that God was similarly at work in her husband, which opened the way for reconciliation with both God and husband. Jane Bullard offers encouragement and practical advice to all who are going through marital problems.
Book Description
We know how to deal with singles and divorcees, but society seems to leave couples very much on their own during the period of first rumours and then through the process of separating. How God played a hand in bringing this Diplomatic couple back together.
From the Author
True - a badly detoured marriage finds its way (234 pages)
The reader goes with me at a fast pace on a winding journey -- the ending of a marriage of seventeen years and the beginning of a serious, yet confusing, search for a life with meaning. There is anger, loneliness, despair, jealousy, fear -- and the unspoken question: "Where is God?!" The short Preface reviews some major challenges of every marriage and, in fact, of life. The Afterword sets forth "H-E-L-P", an acronym for aspects of the story with which the reader would be familiar and would then see highlighted. This approach gives a way of thinking about how to help those who are going through the (often disguised) pain of separation or divorce. More than two years of separation between my husband and me ended, not in the expected divorce but, in a surprising renewal. I could not have written this book believably without having lived many years beyond its story, as I now have. In this new, enriching life, I know for certain that its basis, found in disaster, is solid. The book shows my conviction that this holds true, as well, for every individual and marriage. Faith, neglected in the opening parts of the book's journey, is seen eventually as something that is necessary. I share how, as a stubborn analyst of life, I was re-introduced to faith through the authenticity of others who pointed me to Jesus Christ. It is true that love never fails. Our story shows that individuals can grasp much of the wonder of unfailing love. More than we have suspected before. This gave my husband and me a new life, and fresh relationships with each other, and with our family. In certain ways, we had not really known before how to love, or how to be loved. I hope all readers will have the satisfaction of finishing this book with gladness that it came across their paths. Some have told me it reads like a romance novel. One has called it a love story. I think it is primarily the latter, in a way new readers will come to understand, I believe. Thank you. Jane Bullard
The reader goes with me at a fast pace on a winding journey -- the ending of a marriage of seventeen years and the beginning of a serious, yet confusing, search for a life with meaning. There is anger, loneliness, despair, jealousy, fear -- and the unspoken question: "Where is God?!" The short Preface reviews some major challenges of every marriage and, in fact, of life. The Afterword sets forth "H-E-L-P", an acronym for aspects of the story with which the reader would be familiar and would then see highlighted. This approach gives a way of thinking about how to help those who are going through the (often disguised) pain of separation or divorce. More than two years of separation between my husband and me ended, not in the expected divorce but, in a surprising renewal. I could not have written this book believably without having lived many years beyond its story, as I now have. In this new, enriching life, I know for certain that its basis, found in disaster, is solid. The book shows my conviction that this holds true, as well, for every individual and marriage. Faith, neglected in the opening parts of the book's journey, is seen eventually as something that is necessary. I share how, as a stubborn analyst of life, I was re-introduced to faith through the authenticity of others who pointed me to Jesus Christ. It is true that love never fails. Our story shows that individuals can grasp much of the wonder of unfailing love. More than we have suspected before. This gave my husband and me a new life, and fresh relationships with each other, and with our family. In certain ways, we had not really known before how to love, or how to be loved. I hope all readers will have the satisfaction of finishing this book with gladness that it came across their paths. Some have told me it reads like a romance novel. One has called it a love story. I think it is primarily the latter, in a way new readers will come to understand, I believe. Thank you. Jane Bullard
From the Back Cover
Please can we talk? I think my marriage is breaking up. How many times has this been said to us or to someone we know? What on earth do we say? And, if asked, how can we help? Through the experience of her own marriage breaking up and then being restored (God took a hand in a most surprising way) Jane Bullard offers encouragement and practical advice to all who are going through marital problems of whatever kind and at whatever stage. When you or your friends read this important book you will realise that there is no such time as 'too late'.
