Heather & Eric
Crowley, Texas
"I'm Heather, and my husband Eric and I married in 2011. We had a decently good marriage with love for each other. Then in 2018 Eric fell off the wagon in a way that was more than sneaking alcohol or weed; he embraced it, chose to do whatever he wanted, and did not care what God thought. His personality totally changed. It was like he held hands with the enemy and was a different person. He had so much bitterness towards me and had a twisted view of reality in his thinking..plus he was high and drunk daily. Eric left me and moved to Oregon. I begged him to return, which he did five months later. He put the blame on me. I accepted it and enabled his drinking so I would feel loved by him again. It was terrible. The drinking and smoking increased and any little thing set him off. He spoke to me in ways I had never heard from him before. If I was perfect, then he was loving, but it wasn't real love to me. His actions were selfish otherwise. He knew he had a problem and tried to stop drinking several times on his own but since he didn't really mean it, he always drank again. Eric left and moved nearby, living with his daughter in September 2020. There, his drinking and smoking got worse and his daughters prepared their minds for those things to kill him. He went to rehab for a month. He wasn't seeking God fully, so his heart still wasn't changed, and he relapsed immediately when he got out. He was still living with his daughter and would ignore me, then text me, see me, then ignore me again. Then Eric moved to Oregon again in June 2021 and did more destructive things as he thought he was single. This whole time, I prayed, fasted, cried out to God and prayed with others. I got counseling. I wrote down declarations and prayers but nothing changed. This is the short version but I got to the point of letting him go. I knew Eric had to look to God for himself. It's a choice. I knew God was pursuing him and trying to get through to him, but ultimately, it was up to Eric to look back to God and say yes to Him. I will leave out the whole process, but I did file for divorce. I was done with the games and abandonment. I learned that I relied on Eric to fill me with what I should seek God for. I finally knew how important I was to my loving Father. Eric never expected me to stop enabling his behavior or wanting to end our marriage. I was very codependent. It devasted him. I got my confidence in God finally. I mostly stopped praying for him and our marriage, too. I did sometimes, but barely. Eric started to humble himself before God. He wanted Him to be back in his life and not walk with the enemy anymore. He knew the alcohol, weed and lack of seeking God was ruining his life. He also didn't want to lose me. He had a heart change and started on his way back home to Texas. He was determined to stop drinking and smoking, so he went to a short rehab and quit those things. I didn't believe any of this was actually happening. I told God, "I want Eric sober and seeking You." No games. I still needed to trust it was real. Trust took time for me and I'm still trusting more and more. This is the condensed version, but God moved in Eric's life in a tremendous way and he is sober and seeking God. He says he never wants to forget where he was and never wants to be there again. We are better than ever before. Eric and I both give God the glory and are so thankful for God's mercy!"
