What Can Separate Us?

"I love my husband, only death will separate us"

was the piece of paper wrapped in plastic and nailed on the wall of my friend's home. As I sat at her dinner table and read those words, my prayer was that more Zambians would actually put those words into practice and obey their vows to one another "until death do us part". In the past few weeks, Kendall and I have been overwhelmed in disbelief and concern for the marriages in Zambia. In this culture, to have only had one wife can make a man seem weak to those around him. Our guard and good friend, Paul has one wife and has only had one wife. In a recent conversation with him on this subject he said to me, "people in the market laugh at me because they say that I am a man of no strength because I only have one wife. I know that God commands us to have one wife, and why would I want to have many wives with AIDS and HIV everywhere in Zambia?" Paul is such an encouragement to Kendall and me because of his faithfulness to God and not to culture. "We need to be reminded often that one major purpose of Christian marriage is to be a vibrant testimony to the outside world of the difference that Christ can make. Nothing shows the love of Jesus Christ to this world better than a committed Christian couple sacrificing for each other and lifting each other up."- Jack Graham

The most surprising and hurtful thing that we have learned about the men and their "girlfriends" is that many of these men are in high ranking positions in the community. I know that adultery is everywhere, even in our training during 40/40 when we arrived in Zambia, we were told that adultery was everywhere, I do not think that we really believed it until now, 2 years into our time here. Satan is attacking the families of Zambia, just as he is in America. We must cling to one another and not give up when times get tough. Stand strong for marriage, by taking time to pray for your marriage…and for the marriage of someone you know. Pray for the families of Zambia and America that God would protect them from the evil one. Pray that husbands and wives would love each other without condition and in all circumstances. Pray for the children who are caught in between these struggles in marriages.