I would like to write about an experience that my wife (Mary), I and another family are experiencing together. I’m new at this type of writing and I really don’t consider myself a writer at all, so please feel free to comment your thoughts.
Love One Another
1 John 3:16, 18 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.17, If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him.18, Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
Mary and I met Martha and Johnny about 3 months ago through our next door neighbor in whom they were living with and helping. I first met Johnny and started to get to know him as we started having coffee in the mornings together and just talking. Johnny (I learned) didn’t have many friends and I didn’t either. And I believe our wives agreed that it was good for the two of us. Me, I had friends at church, but it was not like I talked to them on a regular basis like Johnny and I talked. It didn’t take long to learn that we had a few things in common. They have 2 boys in high school and a daughter that is 12, and we have a daughter that is 11. Both our daughters are in the same grade but different schools.
The first opportunity that I believe the Lord gave us was at the beginning of summer and what makes this significant is we have a swimming pool. I knew in my heart that our daughter would love having company swimming besides me all the time, you know kids her own age. Well I approached Mary with the idea of letting the kids come over to swim, and Mary wasn’t to keen on my plan because of all the hard work in keeping it clean. After we got past that barrier there was the accountability issue being I was the only adult around most of the time. So we got to know them and got past that. Any time a Christian goes to do something good for others, it seems the devil and/or his demonic forces come against you. So when you discern and stick to the Truth, there is no obstacle too tough for our God. How we got past the 1st obstacle was with Mary my wife I leaned on my belief that God blesses His children to in turn be a blessing to others. I simply told Mary that the Lord has blessed us with this beautiful large house and a swimming pool, how can we not let it be used. Then there was another motive, I love sharing what God does in my life and I was hoping for the opportunity to get to know Johnny’s 2 sons. You see in the time when Johnny and I have coffee God gave me the opportunity to learn their beliefs in God and our Christian faith. Mary and I started praying for the Lord to open up an opportunity to minister to this family, our daughter included. Here’s where all 4 of us would probably have a chuckle. To be honest I don’t think at the time we started praying that Mary and I had even thought what Gods plans might be and how He was going to bless and use each family to love and minister to one another. And that is what we all believe was Gods plan, is that He is using each family to minister to the other family.
Well it didn’t take long to get a glimpse or have an idea in the direction of Gods plan. And what’s funny in away I started trying to guess at what God is doing. And let me let you know it doesn’t work trying to guess Gods plan, His plan as I understand it is for us to love others and be obedient. Johnny and Martha, well to put it plain got told they had to leave in 2 weeks. Let me back up a little. In Johnny’s and mine coffee time I got to learn about their faith in God, and how they stand firm in believing That God is going provide for them. And to me what’s even exciting than hearing about their faith is being a witness to their faith. Being careful not to gossip I went to Mary with what I believe as an opportunity to help them. I learned that they were going to need a place to store their belongings, and proposed to Mary we let them use our garage that we barely use, and Mary and I discussed briefly what we would do if they couldn’t find housing. Through the love of God we decided to open our home to Johnny and Martha and family.
Here’s where life for both families gets interesting, putting it lightly. You see let me remind the reader that this is not just a story of how Mary and I are meeting a families physical needs, they are helping us learn how to be a family, truly help each other, submit to one another. I stand in awe of God and His foreknowledge that Mary and I need to grow not just in our marriage, but as a family also. And I stand in awe in how God decided to use others to grow and mature my family, as far as unity and strengthen us all. You see none of us have it all together, as much as we like for people to think we do we don’t. Mary and I are newly weds. Mary has been married twice before, me I’m 48 yr old and have never been married till 47. Mary has 2 daughters, I have no children. So the only person I’ve ever had to take care of is me, and even as a Christian, I’m still a selfish person. And to be honest a little on the lazy side too. But I’m willing to learn and grow, I believe we all are willing to learn and grow. This is where God is allowing Johnny and Martha to help Mary and I.
For Johnny and Martha this is not the first time they’ve struggled, but what they’ve learned in 16 years of marriage is how to truly love and depend on one another, all the while at times having Gods provisions abundantly and through consequences of not doing with the blessings what they told God they would do with them, their belief is that God disciplining them. To me they are learning what it means to submit to God and each other. They Do things or Don’t things for each other out of love not because they have to. They to us exercise what it means to be a family no matter the struggles and obstacles, and believe me throw 2 full families under one roof things can get pretty tense. So the one thing we do and will not compromise on is we maintain an open line of communication and there are even times in communicating when we feel like we are walking on egg shells. But one thing we do is we share Chris’s Love with each other and stand firm on Gods Promises.
© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011 and 2012
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