@3angelsmsg I am in similar but different situation and found your insights helpful. My situation is slightly different in that my wife, as a born again Christian, neglects the children, and even teaches our children that lying and deceit are acceptable behaviors to manipulate and take advantage of others. Despite my challenges, she is so manipulative that it confuses the kids and takes me hours of discussion to undo. I believe she has narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), every attempt at counseling just resulted in her lying and manipulating counselors against me with false accusations and crying. What counselor is going to challenge a crying woman? One time the counselor set some communication rules, within minutes she violated his rules so deceptively and manipulated counselor against me that he didn’t even realize she was breaking his rules, after he started giving me dirty looks from the misinformation she was giving him, I raised my hand and asked him why he was allowing her to violate his communication rules! He looked stunned like a deer in headlights completely unaware of her manipulation, then acknowledged his error, then asked my wife to comply, She did it again and I finally had to point out that I don’t think we will be able to make any progress, even though he was highly experienced counselor, he was no match for my wife. This same pattern repeatedly itself with 13 counselors. The hardest part is seeing how it tears up my kids. They are strong and after 23 years of hell, my kids are now able to see through her manipulation and deception. My kids are now 21, 18, 15. My 18 year suffered the most due to his sensitive heart. It is a heartbreaking situation. I have always been healthy person but just found out last month that I now have elevated blood pressure from 23 years of stress and hell of trying to protect my kids from all of her deception. I have something called complex ptsd from the ongoing sustained stress of it all. I worry what will happen to my 15 year old if my health fails, who will standup for him? Living with a pathological liar and raising 3 kids is like a living hell I would never wish on my worst enemy. I forgive her, she is very broken, but I don’t trust her and I know no human can heal her, only God can help her. I don’t believe God will override her free will choice to continue her deceptive life style which benefits only her at our expense. But I wish God would at least try to influence her more, I see no evidence of Him doing so. I would have left but know in my heart that that she would have manipulated the authorities against me and I would have lost all ability to influence and protect my kids because she is ruthless as Jezebel. So I only have 2 more years of hell before my youngest reaches 18. Do you have any perspective why God would not offer more help? I am not asking for much, just a little support to help my wife see the destruction of her deceptions and irresponsibility, just a little to give us some hope is all we ask for. I would appreciate any insights you may have. Sincerely, HisWaysAreHigher