Isidor Buchmann includes excerpts that describe his wife’s advancing mental illness and how the disorder led to family dysfunction and divorce. Christian media avoids issues that conflict with biblical interpretation on divorce. Isidor’s writing does not attack religion but supports troubled families seeking help. Experience speaks louder than academic rules and this book serves as extension when therapeutic marriage counseling falls silent.

Life rarely turns out as we expect, but even with fervent prayers I could never have imagined divorcing my wife. I begged God to intervene and save the marriage, but help never came, and the advancing bipolar illness began tearing the family apart. Even though an illness commands compassion toward the afflicted, words cannot begin describing the hurt and chaos inflicted.


Part One reflects on the author’s childhood and longing for the love of his life. After marrying, the young couple does well until the wife retrieves the expensive engagement ring given to her by her former fiancée. Troubling behaviors begin evolving and extreme mood swings take its toll with big spending and grandiose ideas that interlace with malicious conduct, lies and verbal abuse. Life becomes unbearable and the children get involved in illegal activities. On the order by the city to take parental counseling, the counselor recommends divorce but the husband (author) strongly rejects this notion as being unbiblical. The dysfunctional relationship leads to a crisis point, one child gets hurt and the authority steps in.

• Coping with Mental Illness
• Personality Disorders
• Circumstantial Depression
• Deep-Rooted Fault Lines
• Divorce for Just Cause
• The Decision to Divorce Falls on You

Part Two tests the faith in God and triggers a spiritual freefall that leads to the betrayal barrier, a passage that takes several years to traverse. The book talks about forgiveness when it seems least possible and describes the blessing received by letting go. This leads to a spiritual renewal and a new beginning.

• Struggling with God
• Betrayal Barrier
• Forgiving Sophie
• Friends that Help and Hinder
• Solid Answer on Divorce

Part Three. With the wounds from the divorce still hurting, the single dad restages the theatrical play – there is a household of hungry kids to feed and the company he founded needs attention. He packs the emotions into boxes and places them in the attic. With the obstacles removed, he begins building a new home by doing things that bring healing, joy and happiness into the family. We learn how the torn fabric of a once dysfunctional home can be stitched together again and look at the incredible miracles that have happened, some visible, others hidden. No, God did not save the marriage and divorce became a reality, but the ending is victorious in that the Lord replenished what the locusts had eaten.

• Visiting Hours
• When Divorce is a Solution
• Leaving the Nest
• Report Card on my Parenting
• What Counselors Say
• Unfulfilled Dreams
• God Works for the Good of Those
  Who Love Him