Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil. -Ecclesiastes 9:9 NLT
This verse reminds me that I might still be a man without faith if it were not for my first wife Ellen. It causes me to think of a time when my agnosticism was challenged. Here it is as told in The Weekend that Changed my Life:
On a weeknight in the fall of 1975 Ellen interrupted my TV time with a few questions ... ones that would impact me for the rest of my life. She started with “Do you believe in the bible?” I replied sarcastically “Of course I do ... Episcopalians believe in the bible.” ... I wasn’t going to let her get the best of me ... my religion was just as good as hers. She asked another question: “Do you believe in evolution?” I said “Of course I do ... it is science.” Then she said something that rocked me – “Then you don’t believe in the bible”. Of course being a New Yorker I had to say something, so I retorted “I don’t know about all that but whatever the Episcopalians believe is what I believe.” I had no clue what the bible said because I had never read it and for some reason this bothered me.My life began to change that night because of the blessing of a wife who challenged me to leave the safety of agnosticism. My heart opened a bit that night to Jesus and a desire to read the bible began to grow inside me. It is amazing how all of this happened through the faith of the woman who loved me enough to speak truth to me.
Thank you Lord for the people of faith in our lives who, by their words and their lives, challenge us to believe.
Speaking the truth in love is powerful.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you were challenged and stepped up to it.
Thank you Lord for putting people in our lives that help us become more fine tuned.
What a beautiful and powerful testimony to God's Word. Thanks for sharing it Bob.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sue and Wanda for your continual encouragement in my life.
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