I look back to when I got divorced in the late 1970s. When that

Hear, O listener, the words of Ricky Skaggs, musician of faith and strings, who spoke of the sorrow of his past with honesty: “I look back to when I got divorced in the late 1970s. When that happened, I was so broken up. After that, I decided to seek God for my life and my next marriage.” In these words, there is both lament and redemption, the tale of a man shattered by loss yet remade through turning to the eternal. His voice becomes not just the echo of personal pain, but a teaching for all who stumble through the wreckage of broken vows.

The divorce of which he speaks was more than the ending of a marriage; it was the breaking of covenant, the unraveling of a dream once woven with hope. Such a rupture can cut deeper than steel, leaving the heart disoriented, wandering in shadows. Yet Skaggs confesses openly that in that dark night, he was broken up—not hiding his wounds, but naming them. For only in naming pain can healing begin. His story tells us that suffering is not weakness, but the threshold of wisdom.

After the ruin, Skaggs chose a path that many neglect: he turned upward. He declared, “I decided to seek God for my life and my next marriage.” Here is the turning point, the pivot from despair to renewal. For in loss, a man may either drown in bitterness or seek the higher power that restores. Skaggs chose the latter. He did not merely seek another partner, nor rush into another union for comfort; he sought first divine guidance, that his future might be built on a stronger foundation than before.

This truth has been lived out across ages. Consider the life of Augustine of Hippo, who in his youth chased passion and pleasure but found only emptiness. After years of inner turmoil, he too “sought God,” and in that seeking found not only peace for himself but wisdom for the world. His Confessions still echo across centuries, showing that out of brokenness can come greatness when one anchors life not in self, but in the eternal. Like Augustine, Skaggs teaches us that divine seeking can turn personal ruin into a road of redemption.

The quote also speaks of the second chance—the possibility of renewal after failure. Skaggs’s words remind us that marriage, though sacred, is not invulnerable, and when it breaks, it wounds deeply. Yet he does not remain forever in mourning. Instead, he sets forth a vision of his next marriage, one guided not by impulse but by prayer, not by chance but by faith. The lesson here is profound: mistakes and failures are not the end, but the teacher that prepares us for a wiser future.

O children of tomorrow, learn this: when life breaks you, when promises fall apart and dreams collapse, do not remain forever in the ruins. Lift your eyes. Seek what is higher, greater, eternal. Let your suffering lead you not into despair but into deeper wisdom. For brokenness can be the soil in which strength and faith are planted, if you are willing to turn your face toward light.

What then must you do? If your heart is broken, do not hide it in silence. Speak it, confess it, and then place it before God, or before whatever source of truth you hold sacred. Seek not merely to replace what was lost, but to rebuild on a truer foundation. And when you rise again—as all who endure shall rise—let your life be guided not by fear of another fall, but by trust in the One who heals and sustains.

Thus, the words of Ricky Skaggs remain as testimony: divorce broke him, but seeking God restored him. From ruin, he found renewal; from heartbreak, he found a new covenant. Let his story be a lantern for all who stumble in darkness: that no fall is final when one seeks wisdom, and no loss is wasted when it leads to truth.