devinhudson.com

"You will not make it three years! Your so-called marriage is destined for failure." The words leaped off the page at me. They hurt deeply. They angered me. This remark was just a small part of a long grace-less diatribe I received from one of former mentors.  I had reached out to him to seek his forgiveness after a year of silence.  Like many, he contacted me shortly after my sin was exposed and harshly informed me how wrong I was and how deeply disappointed he was in me.  And then I didn't hear from him again until I reached out to him a year later to seek his forgiveness and convey how God had been working in my life over the previous year. His response? A harangue on how unrepentant and narcissistic I was and how my second marriage was destined for failure. I guess I wasn't surprised. We tend to talk about grace more than we display it.  He really didn't know what steps of repentance, restoration, and healing I had taken so he didn't really know the s...

This weekend my oldest daughter Kayleigh turns 16. I still remember the moment she was born. I cried as much as she did as I witnessed our incredible gift enter the world. It is a moment that cannot be described. It can only experienced. I can hardly believe she is now turning 16.  As I reflect on the past 16 years God has given me with Kayleigh, here are a few thoughts that I have for her this weekend. 1. You are beautiful.  My daughter Kayleigh is beautiful inside and out. Like any teenage girl, she battles her own insecurities with the unfounded pressures our society places on young people to look, think, and act a certain way. In reality, she is one of the most beautiful 16-year-olds I have ever seen.  Even more importantly, she is beautiful on the inside.  Kayleigh has an incredible heart for God.  Her inward beauty dwarfs her outward appearance.  She seeks after Jesus. She is a leader. She loves to serve. She worships passionately. She listens t...

I am divorced. I am remarried. This is my reality (and the reality of many others). The circumstances that led to my divorce and remarriage are not pretty. I was unfaithful to my first wife. I sinned against her. I allowed my heart to grow hard and refused to turn from my sin and trust God. And as a result, my first wife rightfully filed for divorce. I did not fight it. I simply allowed the process to happen in order to get my way. I live with this reality every day. Unfaithful. Divorced. Remarried. Over the last 18+ months, I have listened to multiple sermons on divorce and remarriage. When I was a pastor, I preached several messages on this difficult subject. Heck - I even wrote a 300+ page PhD dissertation on the subject. And yet, my reality remains: unfaithful - divorced - remarried. Of the many homilies on this subject I have listened to or presented, almost all of them deal with the "how to avoid it" side of the issue. Most approach it from a preventative ...