Sharing in Suffering/Wicks

Randy has asked us to share some of our experience with you. Some of you may already know some of this. About 4 years ago, Elliott's ex-wife decided that she wanted their daughter, Emily, to come back to live with her. At that point she had been living with us for about 3 years. During those 3 years, I was the one responsible for raising Emily and making sure she had the things she needed. If the school called Judy, she would tell them to call me. She rarely came to any school functions such as open house or plays. When she learned that I was pregnant with Sara, she decided that I no longer had any say in how Emily was raised, just the responsibility of taking care of her. She would see Emily about every 6 weeks at her convenience, even though she only lived 1 mile from us. We would see her more in the grocery store than she would on her weekends. As a result of the legal battle, there have been enormous attorney and court fees that we have had to pay. There have been times when we literally did not know how we would be able to buy groceries. It has never been that we did not want to do what is right for Emily, but that we did not have the same budget as her mother. As for what Fred said last Sunday about his wife not signing on for some of the things they went through at their previous church, a lot of people have said the same thing about me. Yes, I could just walk away from all of this, but it would only get rid of one problem. I would then have to deal with Sara living in a one-parent home and everything that goes along with that. I have been in that situation before with my ex-husband and it is not something I want to do again. A lot of people do not realize just how far reaching mistakes from your past can be. Because of the legal issues we are going through with Judy, I am no longer able to teach, which I love to do. God has blessed me with a wonderful new job with a Christian boss. I am very thankful for all of this, but I have to make peace with the fact that a mistake from Elliott's past will have an effect on the rest of our lives. I have to ask God everyday for patience and peace to know that he will work everything out to His glory even if it is not what I think I want that outcome to be. This has been a large obstacle for us to deal with in the past 4 years and probably will be for years to come. I covet your prayers for God to grant me the peace and patience that I need to be a testament to God's faith in my abilities through Him and that I am an example to not only my girls, but to Emily and Judy as well.
-Tonya Wicks