Peru Mission Trip: Day Six

Today we went to Sausacocha Lake and passed out tracts.  The area was not very big so after we divided into teams, it was difficult not to overlap.  At one point we made the decision to back track over another teams area.  We were asking people if they had received tracts and had a chance to read them.

We spoke with a woman working in front of her home.  The woman told us she did not have a relationship with the Lord and that she had tried to go to church but her husband physically abused her.  He saw a man of the church shake her hand or hug her, I don't recall which, and it angered him.  She continued to share with us the different occasions in which she would try to learn about Jesus and her husband would hurt her.   Being lost himself, he did not understand the difference in her having a relationship with him and having a relationship with the Lord.  With the help of a interesting evangelism cube, Mike began to explain salvation, how sin separates us from God and how we need accept His free gift of  love and forgiveness in order to have eternal peace with Him in Heaven.  Still, she had concerns about her husband and living a life for God and not being able to go to church.  I explained to her that this is a problem even in America.  Quite often the woman draws near to Christ before her husband and as wives, it is our responsibility to pray for our husband's relationship with the Lord.  We shared with her how she could be a witness to her husband of God's love and forgiveness. 

The woman came to Christ and as the Heavens rejoiced, I wept in sadness.   What would her husband do when he found out that despite his best efforts, his wife just received the greatest gift of all - unconditional love from her Lord.  I was thankful for her security in His kingdom but grieved over the possibilities of her immediate future. 

God revealed many things today through woman at the lake.  What a testimony to total abandonment.  Talk about taking up your cross.  Unhindered dedication.  Hunger for Christ.  This sweet woman had no idea that the Lord had used her to minister to me.  I realized today that as women, we often put our husbands before our God.  We wake up to them, we talk to them throughout the day, we divulge our deepest thoughts to them, we share an intimacy with them unmatched with any other on Earth, and sadly... unmatched even compared to our intimacy with the Lord.  God revealed to me that just like this woman, I had placed my husband on a pedestal above Him.  I would never outwardly tell someone that but if you were to take an account of my day, my thoughts, my conversations, my feelings, you would find more of a record of my affection for my husband than for the Lover of my soul.  It's time for change.