Her Story Continues

We've written about her before--a woman from our church who has been abused by her husband for years now. He became hard of hearing from a work-related accident, and since then he has regularly flown into a rage and taken it out on his wife. Once Ian and Andrew intervened just in time as he was coming at her with a machete and threatening to kill her. That was not the first time either.

About 2 months ago, she decided that she had had enough and left him. Since then, she's been sleeping with various friends in nearby settlements and only going back to the house to see their daughter when she knows he isn't there or already asleep. She will no longer endure the abuse and has met with a leader in the community to begin divorce proceedings. The leader wrote out her story as she told it to him and was her witness--living not far from her, it was not news to him. She then brought the papers to the courthouse only to be told that the judge who deals with divorces will not return until May. So the game of hide and seek has continued until one day last week he found her. Actually, they happened to meet on the road. He got angry with her and began to hit her and try to rip her clothes off. It was then that the police intervened! We couldn't believe it when she told us, but they actually stopped him from beating her. This is almost unheard of here--but they did and told him that he couldn't beat his wife 'in public'. The police then proceeded to beat him up quite badly. She said he saw "plenty stars" that day. They took him to the police station and later sent him home with a letter, which he was afraid to read himself. It told him that if he beat her again, he would be put in jail. We praise God for making this happen! He protected her and sent the police who were actually ready to do their jobs that day.

Still, she carries a heavy burden. She continues to live in hiding, which is physically and emotionally draining. She has faced criticism from some in her community for wanting a divorce. She says, let them talk. There are rumours she has been unfaithful to him (and therefore 'deserving' of the abuse); she insists she hasn't been and we have no reason not to believe her. We have encouraged her several times to spend some time in her village where she would be safe and with her extended family. At the same time, we have also cautioned her to think very carefully before getting a divorce. We have encouraged her to pray and wait on the Lord. When Ian and another elder from church met with her a few days ago, the elder pointed out to her that the police intervening the way they did was no accident. The Lord caused it to happen for a reason. Maybe He will use it to convict her husband of his sin and need for a Saviour.

That remains the prayer!