Apart four years and their divorce finalized, God wasn’t done.
Jermaine and Amelia’s son—their fourth child—was three days old when Jermaine walked out on their family and their marriage.
“There were a lot of things going on that made me leave,” Jermaine explains. “I lived a street life, a very fast life. Alcohol and drugs—you name it. I was being what I thought a man was supposed to be. My father … didn’t teach me a lot about the foundation and basics of what a man was supposed to be … We had no instruction about how a marriage was supposed to go.”
For Jermaine and Amelia, it looked like the cycle of broken families would continue. After that heartbreaking day, they stayed apart for four years and their divorce was finalized. But God wasn’t done …
You see, Amelia became a Christian shortly after Jermaine left. She leaned heavily on her heavenly Father and prayed daily for Jermaine, “God, I need You to protect my husband.
Protect him until You bring him back because he doesn’t understand.”
During those long years, God was indeed working on Jermaine. One night, in desperation, Jermaine prayed: “I have no idea how to change my life. I have no idea what to do from this point forward. If there is something different in life, show me.”
God then led Jermaine on a path that changed his habits, friendships and attitudes. He was baptized. And after an extended period of reconciliation … he and Amelia remarried!
Of course, the struggle wasn’t over … which is why Jermaine and Amelia were so grateful when someone introduced them to FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember®. The time was so valuable that they’ve made it an annual getaway every year since 2016. And they’ve also decided to sponsor at least one other couple every year, the first being their nephew and his new bride.
They believe that Weekend to Remember saved their second marriage from becoming a repeat of their first.
“A Weekend to Remember saves lives, it saves marriages, and it builds families,” Jermaine says.
