My Mom (pt.2)

The Lord saved my mother when she was 42 years old; twenty-two years into her marriage. She began attending a church where the gospel was preached and where she was discipled in the faith. My father was not happy about this change in her. He was jealous and embarrassed by this new life. Though early in her Christian life my mother saw from Scripture that the Gospel gave her the motivation and the grace to be a better wife, my father did not make the connection. And so it was for 24 years, until the Lord graciously and powerfully saved my father, mom lived with a great deal of rejection from dad. He loved her and in most ways was a far better husband than many, but he did not love her faith and he had his ways of letting that be known. Added to this stress was the fact that my father, due to a disability, was at home with my mother 24/7 beginning the same year my mother came to faith. He kept watch lest his wife become overly religious. She was expected to be home 15 minutes after church (including the 15 minute drive home), if he saw her reading the Bible, or when she got a telephone call from a Christian friend my father let his displeasure be known by giving mom the silent treatment for the rest of the day.

So how did my mother respond to this kind of persecution? How did she maintain her joy in Christ?

My mother's love for my father was only exceeded by her love for her Savior. Whenever Dad wasn't around she tuned into Christian radio and allowed the songs of the faith to water her parched soul. She would literally rise while it was night and spend time with her God in prayer and reading. She would have telephone fellowship when Dad was in town running errands. And, she boldly (though lovingly) insisted that she be with God's people for worship on Sundays and for prayer on Wednesdays.

In another post l will share how Mom demonstrated her love for Dad. But today I have wanted to honor Mom by writing of her uncompromising faith in God. I have also wanted to use her as an example to encourage my many friends who are married, yet "spiritually single". For these women I carry their burden in prayer. I pray for their faith in God to be increased so that they may by God's grace live out their calling as a witness in their home. I pray their love for their husbands would deepen and their "unbelieving husband would be made holy because of his wife" (1 Corinthians 7:14). To these dear friends I say, "Do not give up. Do not compromise. Hold fast to God's means of grace both public and private. God sees your life. He knows your needs. He hears your prayers. Seek Him daily in His word and in prayer to find His will and His strength for your mission field: your marriage." I pray that your husbands will be "won without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct" (1 Peter 3:1,2).