Ismael & Olga Lerma
THREE STRIKES YOU’RE OUT! Olga didn’t think so. The
third time she received divorce papers from her husband she . . . Well, I’ll
let her tell the story.
"We will be married 27 years this November and God
has done a tremendous work in our marriage. August 10, 1987, my husband
had filed for divorce for the third time. I had been interceding for our
marriage, and when I received the papers, I was torn apart. It seemed like
the wounds had been opened again. All I wanted to do was to go to my
friend who lived next door, and cry on her shoulder. But the Holy Spirit
said, "NO, go to your room and pray." So I obeyed and went to my
room and knelt down. The Lord gave me a scripture I will never forget. It
is in Isaiah 66:13 - ‘For I shall comfort you as a mother comforts a
child.’ He knew my hurt, He knew how I was hurting, but He was there to
comfort me.
God turned an impossible situation around in my life. A
lot of people told me to give up, that it wasn’t worth it. But, God told
me different. And I thank God for those who lifted me up when I needed a
word of encouragement, like Val and Dana when I would call them. I praise
God for those who stood with me when there was no hope.
Three times Ismael sent me the divorce papers, but he
never went through with the divorce. But the Lord was always working in
his life and I would tell the Lord, "Don’t let him forget the
calling you have put on his life, and no matter where he is, reach him,
Lord. Send your ministering angels to him and give him no peace until he
comes back to you." God has done it and every time I see him behind
the pulpit, I cry because I see what God has done in his life when the
enemy had tried to destroy him. My home was a wreck. My children didn’t
want anything to do with their father. I felt like I was between two
walls, but God had given me scripture that He was going to bring him back
from the land of the enemy and my children would return back from the land
of the border. He told me there was Hope in my future.
There were a lot of people who tried to discourage me by
telling me my husband wasn’t worth it and God had someone better for me,
but God would tell me different. It was a lot harder to intercede for my
husband after he was home. But, when he was gone, I would set a plate on
the table for him with a cup of coffee and a glass of water. With my
spiritual eye I would start seeing him there. I would leave and when I
would come back inside my apartment, I would call out "Hi, Honey, I’m
home," even though he wasn’t. But, by faith I saw him there.
I thank God for the people God used when we needed help.
Sometimes we just need lifting up. I thank God for having those people in
my life, and for people like Don and Fran Brummer who have Dana and Val's
tape ministry and have copied all their tapes. As I said, my marriage was
a disaster, my children would have nothing to do with their Dad, but, I
thank God that He broke the yoke and we’re a family again. We’re
closer as a family than we have ever been, and I thank God for that."
Ismael, Olga's husband speaks. "I thank God for
being here and like my wife was saying, thanks to everyone who interceded
for me while I was gone. God kept me alive for a reason and He’s the
reason I’m alive. God had called me when I was a young man and instead
of doing the work of God, I was doing the work of the devil. It would hurt
when people who knew I had been a preacher would say to me, "What are
you doing in a place like this?"
God protected me when I was in danger and I could have
lost my life more than 3 or 4 times. But, God had His hand on me and I
knew why. I knew there was a beautiful lady who never got tired of praying
for me. I thank God for giving me a wonderful wife who had an
unconditional love that would not let her do anything but love me, even
though I kept hurting her. I thank God Olga never gave up, even though I
kept on doing the bad things to her after I came back. I was down in
prison in sin. The devil had taken me to the lowest a man could go. I even
started dealing drugs, and used them myself - me a preacher. He took care
of me in time, or I would be dead today. Now every day I tell God, take me
as the potter takes the clay, and do with my life the way You want it to
be, and use me, and send me where You want to send me. Now, there’s
nothing I can do to thank God enough for all He has done for me. I thank
God for this wonderful wife He has given me and for healing the deep
wounds that were in her heart. There's nobody else that can heal those
kind of wounds. Only God. He's the healer, not only of the body, but of
the soul. It was her love, her unconditional love, that she showed me,
even though I kept hurting her, that brought me back home." When
asked, "What stopped the last divorce from going through?" Olga
replied, "Ismael had gone back to Texas to marry the other woman, but
when he went back, the Lord changed his plans. She had somebody else. So,
the day the divorce was to be final, Ismael came home, and the divorce was
stopped by default.
As I said, 3 times I got divorce papers in the mail. At
first I was really hurt, but when the Lord told me to go into my bedroom
and pray, I got up and said, "devil, you’re not going to beat
me." God had just given me that scripture, "I shall comfort you
as a mother comforts a child." I said, "I’m going to church
and I am getting a blessing from the Lord." That night, when I came
home and went into my room, I opened my bible and the Lord gave me the
scripture in Jeremiah 31:16, 17 which says ‘refrain your voice from
weeping and your eyes from tears, for I shall reward your works and he
shall return back from the land of the enemy, and there is hope for you,
and thy children shall return back from the land of the border.’ (Olga’s
translation). That night I didn’t sleep. I danced and I shouted in the
spirit. I was so excited that God had given me that scripture. And all the
scriptures God has given me have been fulfilled in my life. He also gave
me Habakkuk 2:3, that says wait on the vision. Sometimes we get so
discouraged, we want to help the Lord and God doesn’t need our help. We
don’t need to do what we think God isn’t getting done. That’s where
we make a mistake. God was telling me to wait. When Ismael came back, he
would do all those hurtful things like not coming home until 4 or 5 in the
morning. I wanted to give up and tell him how I hurt, but the Lord wouldn’t
let me. All I could do was just love him. I even got to the point I wanted
to tell him to leave - I couldn’t stand the hurt. But, again the Lord
wouldn’t allow me to do this.
The Holy Spirit spoke to me one day and said, "I
have given you so many scriptures of hope, and if you tell him to leave,
he is going to be lost forever. In the day of judgment, I will hold you
accountable for his soul." Oh, I don’t want that, I cried. I will
continue to pray and stand for my marriage and for my husband’s
salvation. I will let God work it out.
Even after we got back together, he didn’t want me to
ask him to go to church. So, I went by myself. I never pushed him to go (1
Peter 3:1 says in the Living Bible, "Wives, fit in with your husband’s
plans, for then if they refuse to listen when you talk to them about the
Lord, they will be won by your respectful, pure behavior"). So, I
decided I was going to win him to the Lord without saying a word.
One of my relatives told me I needed a psychiatrist
because she would see him come and leave and come and leave. She thought I
was crazy for not telling him to leave permanently. I told her I had a
psychiatrist, the best there is, Jesus.
I thank God, that even though I went through a lot,
getting divorce papers three times, God shaped every circumstance for my
good. The Lord wanted to take things from my life. One thing was pride. I
had a lot of pride. I thank God that going through everything helped me to
grow in my spiritual life. I know God has a purpose for everything that
happens in our lives. What Satan meant for our harm, God turned around for
our good. I thank God He gave me strength to hold on and not give up, to
stand firm in His Word. The Word says to cast all your cares upon Him, for
He careth for you, and so I just cast my husband upon Him, and then the
Lord started working in his life. Ismael would tell me that when he was in
Texas, there would be times he couldn’t sleep and he would dream of me
and dream of the kids and would be very miserable. I said, "well,
thank you Lord for that, because that’s the way I wanted him to
feel." When he would call from Texas, I would say I love you, but he
would never reply. I don’t understand the love the Lord gave me for him
myself. I had never experienced this kind of love before in my life. One
night the Lord gave me a dream. I was seeing beautiful waters and there
was like a light, but I couldn’t see His face but it was shiny. He would
tell me to cross the water to Him, but I would say, "I’m afraid, I
can’t swim." But He said to come on, so I did. When I got to Him,
it was Jesus and He said, "Go back now, it’s going to be
alright." The next day I went to a prayer meeting and a lady whom I
had never seen before started giving me scripture and she told me from
this day forth you will never be the same. The Lord has answered your
prayers. And He has.
There aren’t enough words to thank the Lord for what
He has done in our lives. No human doctor could have healed our wounds. We
were shattered in a thousand pieces. No doctor could have healed our
children’s wounds. But God did!!! God is a God of miracles. On July 31,
1993, my husband will be ordained as a minister of the gospel. Only God
could have made beauty from ashes.
Praise His name forever!
Ismael & Olga Lerma
This testimony provided by:
NEW HOPE FOR BROKEN MARRIAGES
Dana and Val Hartong
24652 Featherstone Rd.
Sturgis, Michigan 49091
(269) 651-2187 |
