Answered Prayers

In August, I told you about two women I met in Tanzania who lived in fear that their husbands’ outbursts and beatings would lead to their deaths. (Click here to read the original story). They were afraid for their children who cowered in terror as they watched their daddies beat their mommies. The ladies shared that their families told them this was their lot in life, because after all, they married these men. They can’t go to the authorities like we do in the U.S. because wife beating is readily accepted by many in the culture.

My heart broke as I listened to their stories between their sobs. Unless the Lord intervened, they had no hope. Both of these women prayed to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior and I encouraged them to cry out to the Lord on behalf of their husbands. I told them that even if God did not change their circumstances, He promises that His presence will be with them and that God would change them. I left their homes with a heavy, heavy heart.

When I left Africa this summer, I brought these two women home with me in my heart. I’ve not ceased praying for them, asking God to stop the beatings and asking God to make a way for them to go to church (Their husbands forbid them from going to church).

I received an email last week from a Tanzanian pastor who told me that Robi and Ghati are not only attending church, but that the beatings have stopped. Praise the Lord! God heard our prayers!  In a situation where everything seemed hopeless, God intervened. He rescued these women not only from the power of death and sin, but from the abuse of their husbands.

I ask you to join with me in praying that God will draw these two men to Himself. While the beatings have stopped, the two husbands still do not know the Lord. Pray that God will radically transform these neighboring families.

If you are in what seems like a hopeless situation, call out to God. He hears you; I promise. He may not answer immediately, but He hears you and sees your situation and He will respond.