Naomi, a woman in south Asia had
grown up in a Christian home, worshiping God, going to church, and looking
forward to raising her children to know Jesus. But her parents forgot their Christianity
when it came time to arrange a marriage for their daughter, and the groom was
not a believer.
Yes the wedding was in a church,
but the marriage was far outside the church. Tarak refused to let his wife
attend church services, and the things she knew best, prayer, bible reading and
attending worship were forbidden, and hidden. Naomi knew that it would take a
miracle, or extreme courage on her part to be able to pass on her Christian faith
to her children.
In addition to being antagonistic
to his wife’s beliefs, Tarak had something else going on: he liked to drink—a
lot. As his alcoholism progressed things got worse for the family. He made
money working, but spent most of his pay check on booze and tobacco. Usually there
was not enough left for the basics, and when two children were born into the
family, things got worse.
Finally Tarak’s poor choices caught
up with him. He got sick and needed an operation. As is often the case with
alcoholics, there was no money for the needed medical attention. Naomi and her
children resigned themselves to a life without dad.
But as Tarak was drinking himself
to death, Naomi had returned to church, and the children had been enrolled in a
Bridge of Hope school. One day Tarak’s son shared with the staff what was going
on with his father. Some staff members came to the house and shared the gospel
with an emaciated and obviously dying Tarak.
At that point something changed, and
his animosity toward Christianity left. Naomi was allowed to pray, to read her
bible, and to go to church. At church
they prayed for Tarak’s healing, and healed he was. Now Tarak is a committed Christian,
he brings his family to church, and his son and daughter have the hope of
continuing the family legacy: raising each generation to serve God.
Yes they were unequally yoked, but
prayer is a powerful weapon, and the grace of God is exceedingly great!
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