Lysa TerKeurst reflects on 'healing' after end of 29-year marriage: 'More grateful than I’ve ever been'
Proverbs 31 Ministries founder Lysa TerKeurst has reflected on the “healing” she’s done over the last two years following the divorce from her husband of 29 years due to his infidelity and substance abuse issues.
“Two years of healing. Two years of focusing on my own health,” the bestselling author captioned an Instagram photo of herself on Tuesday. “Two years of learning how to sit in the quiet with myself and be okay. Two years of believing God for goodness even when things felt not good at all. Two years of learning to go home to an empty house and counting the blessings that are still abundant.”
She continued: “Two years… and I’m good. Better than good. I’m honestly surprised by how far I’ve come and how honest my laughter is now. My life looks different but it is full and joyful and I’m more grateful than I’ve ever been.”
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In January, TerKeurst, who has five children, announced she and her husband, Art, were ending their marriage of nearly 30 years after he engaged in “chosen patterns of behavior that dishonor God and the biblical covenant of marriage.” She filed for divorce in December 2021.
On social media, the 53-year-old said that though she and her husband renewed their marriage vows three years ago after a “painful separation,” he had since “broken those vows.”
“It has crushed my heart to know he has broken those vows,” she wrote.
TerKeust said she believed the “wisest (and hardest) choice I can make is to stop fighting to save my marriage of 29 years and, instead, accept reality.”
“While there is clear biblical justification for my decision to end this marriage, I am choosing to hold most of the details private out of respect for our children and grandchildren, and to give space and privacy for my family and me to continue to heal,” she wrote.
In 2017, TerKeurst revealed she would be pursuing a divorce from her husband due to his infidelity and struggles with addiction. In an interview with The Christian Post, she described the experience as an “excruciatingly painful” time in her life. However, the couple renewed their vows just over a year later after working to restore their marriage.
At the time, TerKeurst told CP that while the process of fighting for their marriage was "so, so hard,” it was “one we want to do.”
"And we want to give it the necessary time so that trust can be rebuilt, and trust takes an incredible amount of time,” she said.
Over the years, she kept the details of her situation private. And in January, she said that though there is “clear biblical justification for my decision to end this marriage,” she was again choosing to hold most of the details private out of respect for the couple’s children and grandchildren and “to give space and privacy for my family and me to continue to heal.”
“It’s hard to face a future that looks nothing like what I desperately and constantly prayed it would look like,” she wrote.
In February, Art TerKeurst filed a response to the divorce petition, requesting post-separation support, alimony, an equitable division of property, damages and the rescission of a post-nuptial agreement. In April, Lysa TerKeurst entered a motion to dismiss Art’s counterclaims, a request to compel arbitration and a reply to his allegations.
TerKeurst, the author of numerous New York Times bestselling books, including It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way and Forgiving What You Can’t Forget, previously told CP that she strives to share the life wisdom that she’s gained to highlight the evidence of God's faithfulness throughout her life.
“I would just encourage anybody who's walking through stuff — there's someone else who needs to hear your story," she said in a 2021 interview. "I think everyone has life wisdom, evidence of God's faithfulness and experiences. ... And I think when we share our stories, if we focus on those things rather than the details of how we were hurt, that's where it becomes really helpful for other people.”
Last month, TerKeurst released her latest book, Good Boundaries and Goodbyes, which features lessons she learned about when to biblically end a relationship.
“The main reason I wrote this book, or any book I write, is that I need to learn the lesson most of all. I knew I needed to learn a lot about boundaries,” TerKeurst told Publishers Weekly. “I finally was able to accept that what was before me was an unsustainable relationship.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
