Thursday, April 30, 2009

Please pray

Last night, an Indonesian friend of ours called me (Rebecca) with some sad news. Her husband of some 25 years or so is leaving her.

Our friend, who we knew during language school on a different island, has had a hard life. She and her husband have four kids together, and live in poverty. They just can’t seem to get ahead. My friend has worked as a maid since she was a child. Her husband is a driver. But they have been in a good deal of debt for several years due to needing to pay some medical bills when their daughter had dengue fever and spent over a week in the hospital. (Like most Indonesians, they don’t have health insurance.)

Right now, my friend doesn’t have a job because her daughter, now age 9, has been sick often this past year and my friend feels like she needs to stay home and take care of her. She left a job as a maid that was an hour away from her home, and she worked long hours there. She just started running a very small store from her home, selling snacks to school children.

Now her husband has left her. Honestly, he’s never been that good of a husband for her. In many ways, he’s a really good guy. He works really hard. He’s a nice man, so friendly. But he has this other side of him that my friend often sees. He’s been abusing my friend for most of their marriage, usually using his fists, but he has used a hammer to beat my friend.

Now he’s told her he wants the freedom to sleep around and not care for a wife and children anymore. In Indonesia, it is very difficult to get a man to pay child support. So, my unemployed friend will have to take care of herself.

In the meantime, her middle son, 17 years old, has threatened to beat up his dad. Understandably, he is very angry, and has been for a long time, as he has witnessed the abuse. My friend fears a violent confrontation between her husband and her son. And at the least, she worries about the stress and anger her children harbor due to their dad’s behavior.

My friend continues to hope that her husband will change. She asked me to pray that he would, and to tell my friends to pray that way, too. So, I’m spending much of today fasting and praying for my friend and her husband.

Will you join me in praying for comfort and provision for my friend? Please also pray that her husband will choose to change. Her children also need prayer as they deal with their parents’ impending divorce.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Rebecca and Brad - We will join you in prayer for this family. That they may see Christ through your life as you befriend the mother of this family. I continue to pray for Eko daily.
    Thinking and praying for you all - Lew

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