I can give an example of this. I loved my ex husband and still do, but no longer romantically and I still pray for him as he is a good man underneath the garbage that polluted and tore our marriage apart causing me to leave and divorce him.
When we got married I truly loved him, but I did not know he was an alcoholic and a drug user as he hid that from me at first. He had a good job and was taking classes to become a Hotel manager and I was proud of him, but soon after we were married came the drunken and substance abuse blackout beatings and his control over me. He was having affairs that he didn't think I knew about. I asked him so many times to get help before he completely destroyed his life. If he would have gotten the help he needed while we were married we would still be together today, but there was no trust or respect for him and I feared for my life everyday.
I can only pray that he has changed his life around and I have forgiven him, but all I have left for him is the hope that he has made a change in his life and a different kind of love having compassion on him, but never a romantic love, especially since God has given me, what I like to call my gift from God in that of my husband in whom we have been married for 22 years.
