Marriage Mondays: Trust Crosses Cultures

Today my mind and heart feel more full than the suitcase I dragged with me to Asia 2 weeks ago. I’m unpacking both rather slowly. Where to begin to try and share a piece of May 24 – June 7th? I’m afraid that to try and share it will be woefully inadequate, but I want to try. “Marriage Mondays” is a place to begin, because as we conducted the first ever tribal women’s conference, we heard the repeated message that the challenges of oneness in marriage cross cultures.

Our team of 4 women and 4 teen girls shared testimonies, songs, skits, and teaching to women who are largely illiterate and own few copies of the Bible among them. We used story telling and teaching to convey God’s truth, taking a cue from oral histories used by so many people groups. After all, Psalm 78:1-7 tells us God’s intent is for those who know God’s deeds to tell others, including the next generation, “so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God,but keep his commandments” (v.7). In between sharing stories to reveal truth, like pulling back the peel on a banana from nearby trees, we had a Q&A session. Expecting questions about what our lives are like, what we eat, and what we thought of their country, we were amazed at the depth and the desperation of the questions that flowed. Tribal women are not so different from us.

She stood up and fought tears to explain that she had come out of a religious darkness like escaping the claws of a jungle tiger tearing at her. The night before I taught about Trusting God with My Fears and Difficulties, using the story of Priscilla from Acts 18.  All women have problems, losses, and fears. The young tribal wife testified that her heart had been full the night before with all she learned, and she went home excited to share with her husband. He told her he didn’t want to hear about it, and she was wounded. Through broken sobs, she asked, “How do I get my husband to teach me the Bible and help me know God?” It was a far cry from questions about what we make for dinner, how many rooms our huts have, and how long we traveled. Globally, wives share similar longings and needs.

For me to try and tell you what we answered would be so inadequate here. Ultimately, though, the answer God gives her is the same He gives you and me. Like Priscilla, all women have problems, losses, and fears, but like Priscilla, we can trust in the true God in our hard times.

Our husbands are human, but the true God is divine, and His love and understanding and teaching and care are limitless. He is not a god made by hands, empty and unresponsive. He does not grab at the heart of a woman like a hungry tiger driven to possess her, but He gently embraces her and draws her to Himself out of a heart of love. He must be our first love and our ultimate hope. He can work in the heart of a husband in ways a wife can not. The true God must be trusted in marriage. Marriage is built on trust, trust in the true God.

When the conference was over, she went home to a cinder block house with little electricity and a heavy heart, but she can trust the true God in the same way that women who have a car and a cell phone and dry wall can trust Him. I pray that the stories she heard and the truths she absorbed will carry her  “so that <she can> set <her> hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.” I pray the same for you, that you feed on the stories and truths of God’s Word and put your hope in HIM.  Marriage is built on trust, trust in the true God.

Your marriage is probably like mine – imperfect. As much as we love our husbands, we are imperfect wives, and they are imperfect men. You may be discouraged by things you want to change, things you wish were different, and things that disappoint you. But are you trusting in GOD as your hope? Remember the stories of God and be encouraged to keep His commandments and hope in Him. It works … around the world.