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Second Chances
Clint and Penny Bragg learned even the most broken marriage can be healed by God's reconciling love.
by Dawn Zemke | posted 9/12/2008
 2 of 6
They rarely spent time alone together the way they used to, and when they did, Penny would end up busying herself with cleaning or schoolwork.
"As soon as I'd come home, she'd jump up and start doing things," Clint says. "I'd tell her to take it easy, but she was never willing just to sit still and relax with me."
Although Clint knew something was wrong, he felt inadequate to change or fix it. "I was a John Wayne kind of guy," says Clint. "Men should be tough, just suck it up and keep going. I didn't feel I could share with Penny how unhappy I was, and I didn't ask what was bothering her. I just thought things would work themselves out."
A growing distance
Over the next few months, as Penny talked less and spent less time connecting with Clint, he realized things between them weren't going to get better unless he did something. He cut back on his work hours and church responsibilities to be home more. But to cope with her growing insecurities about her faith and her role as a wife, Penny poured herself into what she felt more secure in: academics. As a student teacher, she received accolades that gave her the confidence and security she craved.
Never verbal fighters, Penny and Clint simply clammed up and became more like roommates, withdrawing and suppressing their frustrations and anger.
"I felt horrible, but I didn't know what to do or how to change. And I didn't feel I could talk to anyone from church," Penny says. "They'd thrown us the wedding of all weddings. No way was I going to tell them we were having problems."
The silence and their avoidance behavior created fertile ground for someone else to enter the picture. Three months after the Haiti trip, Penny developed an emotional attachment to a classmate, Chris.*
"Chris offered me the kind of connection
I hadn't received from Clint, and seemed so attuned to my feelings," Penny says. Before long they'd crossed the line into a physical relationship. And Penny didn't know what to do.
"I felt trapped," she admits. "I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't tell Clint. And Chris kept urging me to leave him."
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