Marriage is on our hearts and minds a lot here. It always seems like there is a problem and a
need for prayer. In this culture, there isn't much privacy. Most all work is done in their yards and as you
pass by, you can see clearly what people are doing. It may be wash day and the women of the house
are bent over a washboard and big bucket scrubbing laundry. Each morning and
evening you can walk through our village and see women bent over with a broom
sweeping their yards. Some mornings we can hear the thud of women pounding rice
for hours. On one particular day Michael
was walking through the village and he saw a husband and wife fighting. It wasn’t just any fight,
but an all out physical fight. Michael
was taken back by the fight, not only because he saw a husband hitting his
wife, but the wife was also hitting her husband with an equal amount of
strength. Michael, along with other men
that were around, interceded and were able to calm the husband and wife down
and help them to reconcile. This is the
normality of life here.
We had a woman recently come to us for prayer. She told us that she was coming
secretly and she did not want others to know she was coming. She was worried of what others would
say. This woman is an older woman, a
mother, a grandma. She wanted us to pray
for her child who is making some horrible decisions. This child has already had one divorce and
was on her way for another one. The
mother was devastated. She told us she
came because she believed the only thing left to do was to pray. She said only God could help her daughter.
The woman continued to tell us she couldn’t understand why
her daughter was acting the way she was.
This woman proceeded to tell us a little bit about her life story. One sentence has stuck with me. She said, “I
was married to a mean man who treated me badly, but I endured because he was my
husband and my family. I didn’t
run away, but I endured and now God has blessed me.”
The strength of this woman amazes me.
She sat there beside us with tears in her eyes, begging us to pray for
her daughter. We all three started praying together, her in her tribe language, Michael in English and me in Creole and God
heard all three of us. The faith of this
woman is humbling. She cannot read, will
never understand the depths of the Bible, she will never be a theologian, but
her faith is the same. One day we will be together in heaven. Our education is not what matters, our
profession will be nothing one day, but our faith will remain. The verse that comes to my mind is 1
Corinthians 1:27, “But God chose what is foolish in the
world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the
strong.”
We, Michael and I, are so thankful for God leading us to serve in
Guinea Bissau. We have learned so much
through our time here and God isn’t even done yet! One thing we have
learned is humility. If I were to say
one thing that makes our marriage a happy marriage it is humility. Being humble to admit when we are wrong,
being humble to allow each other to speak without interruptions and being
humble enough to be quiet when you know you are right, rather than fight. The woman that came to our house in secret
for prayer was filled with humility. I
can only pray that God will continue to fill me with humility and with love for
others.
