TheWork God
has started thru you is awesome, after last year's day
long meeting, I had passed on the four key points to two
of my friends and they also said, they had seen benefits
by applying in their families. I'm sure, this is the need
of the hour not only in US but also in India. (India)
(from a husband
in Kenya) It was on Tuesday of this week and as our kids
were preparing to leave for school in the morning, as
I was about to walk off the door, my wife calmly called,
"Do you remember we don't have any water in the house?
Could you please pray with us that the Lord may provide...
?" It struck me hard and made me remember that I
had a duty to fulfill as the head of my home even on water
matters. I immediately called upon the childrenl and we
all stood together in a circle holding hands and I called
upon the Lord to provide us with water for our house use....AND
right before we said our amen, there was a knock at our
door - I got the door and there stood a young man, whom
I did not know and he was asking whether we may be in
need of water. I said yes, but told him we had no money
to pay for it ( men in bikes go around our estates selling
water for 30/= for a jerrican of 20 liters ) In our house,
we had only 10/= that morning. The man exclaimed, "Am
looking for anyone who may require water for free since
my bike has broken down right by your gate and I've got
an appointment to make in 10 minutes time". We hurriedly
emptied the 5 x 20 litres cans into our empty water vessels
and were left blessing the Lord's name for it. (Kenya)
I conducted
meeting yesterday with another group of women since i
can not meet them all together.the sharing was so wonderful.
Some wife received their deliverance fron depression,hatred,
self pity etc as they share experiences being a wife.
The Holy Spirit lead us in a way they can freely ease
their feeling and sentiments etc. Praise God for it. (Middle
East)
One of our ladies, Margret, decided to begin with a low-risk
situation after our second week, by asking her husband
if he would mind praying for her sickly eyes. She has
been ailing for some time now and her husband knew, so
it was a place for her to give him an opportunity to have
a moment of leadership. He's not a believer, but he didn't
decline. He went ahead and prayed for her and that God
would give him finances so he could take care of his "dear
wife's eye treatments and medications." They have
two sons, aged 4 and 2 years, and in eight years of being
married, he has never led a prayer. Then, Sunday, he came
to our Sunday worship service. I (the pastor) spoke with
him a little bit after service and his wife standing beside
him was beaming with true joy. He said that for some days
he had noticed some 'changes' in his wife and at the moment
she asked if he would lead in pray it suddenly hit him
that she was trusting him as her leader, which she had
never done before. Seeing this, plus the prayers for the
husband from your book that she had left in an envelope
for him each week, had made him decide to come and see
where all this was 'originating' from. Praise God for
him and we trust that more Moments of godly leadership
will arise and eventually have him where God had intended
him to be in that home. (Kenya)
One woman from
the group came to our house this week and was speaking
with gladness as to how the Lord is beginning to work
in their marriage after just two weeks of class. She told
my wife and I how she has begun to see her husband 'soften
up' as she herself has begun to put the teachings into
practice and begun pleasing God rather than previous,
her husband. She was speaking of how, on several occasions,
she has been creating Moments of Leadership opportunities
for her husband. For example, one day, their son came
back from school after the schools reopened and had been
told not to come until he had the proper uniform. The
child explained it to his mom (as usual), and this time,
instead of her rushing to go and fulfill her son's need
without consulting her husband whatsoever, she asked her
son to hold on until Dad was back home. During dinner,
she brought up the issue and asked the son to let Daddy
(here Dad is called BABA) know. After the son was done
(it was difficult, for the boy had assumed all the time
that Mummy was the master of his affairs, not Daddy) Daddy
simply replied "Good. I will talk with Mummy and
see what we shall do by tomorrow." Later on, the
husband brought forth the issue and went on to suggest
a solution. He asked whether it would be all right for
him to go by the school himself, or both of them (he had
not been given the chance to do so before). The wife agreed
after he suggested they go together. The husband saw at
least, a chance for him in that home, of being a leader.
That may look cheap, but the excitement in this lady's
eyes was a sign that something new was happening in their
marriage. (Kenya)
It has been exciting all the time to see and listen to
bits of testimonies and praises to our Lord from many
of the ladies. Margaret (we and the ladies here call her
mama Jimmy - Jimmy here is her son and every woman, as
our custom and culture is, is normally referred as by
the name of one of her child's name), is still very praiseful
over what the Lord has been doing in her marriage relationship
with her husband. She believes that with every bit of
prayer she has been putting forth for her husband and
for herself before the Lord, she is seeing 'results'.
She says for instance, that her husband, who is still
unsaved, has quietly quit and stopped drinking. She has
not 'preached' to him but by practicing active submission
and creation of leadership moments for him has been the
result of his change of heart and out ward behavior. I
know this man in a little way and since he has attended
our Sunday morning church services, I can quite agree
with Margaret that there is something new happening in
this mans' life. It has been really wonderful to see the
beaming of joy in her face, as she desires to please God
in her marriage.
Last week was a great week for our main group and the
rest of the study groups here. They all met and as were
were sharing the on-goings of the meetings, there seemed
to be a great enlightment on the ladies minds and hearts
upon the issue of their role in marriage. One lady instance
was revisiting the study on chapter 2 (reverse the curse)
and wanted to know what would a wife be required to do
if for example she got an education sponsorship say in
a foreign land away from home. She wanted to know whether
one should go for it or leave it. Several answers, in
opinions and suggestions were given and then they had
peek at chapter 10 (the blessing). With the view of Jane's
question, she seemed to have wanted to know whether studying
to take up a job as a wife, to be able to assist in the
upkeep of the family would be wrong and in this case,
it was agreed that it would not be wrong, so long as this
was a matter that had the blessing of the husband.We do
an extra job of hammering in the point - pleasing God
first, and not yourself or your husband - is the key to
a great relationship in marriage. (Kenya)
! Isn't it sweet and wonderful just to see the excitement
and desire to have transformed marriages; the attendance,
punctuality and the short, simple testimonies that are
in the lips of the ladies who've been coming to these
studies just tell it all. (Kenya)
