Chop Chop

She was furious with her husband. He was mean and cruel towards her with his foul mouth and often beat her with his fists. Several times she called in “sick” at work because of the bruises on her face. She always wore long sleeves and pants so no one would see her welts and bruises. She had called the police on several occasions but they did nothing. She was tired of of her “so called husband” and didn’t know what to do, so she came to us for help.

As she told her story, we wept with her. We encouraged her to accuse her husband before her Heavenly Father. She poured her heart out telling Him what her husband had done and how angry and ashamed she was and how deeply hurt she felt. Gently, we suggested she ask God to do justice for her, so she did. Then she prayed “I just want you to chop him up into little pieces.” I stopped her in mid-prayer and suggested that she didn’t get to tell God how to do justice. So, she prayed again, “if I were God, I would chop him up into little pieces.” After a short pause, she quietly added ” but I am not God, so you decide what to do, I know you are just and I will be satisfied, so I forgive him.” Despite all the evil he had done to her, she then added “I hope he believes, I hope Jesus blood will pay for his sin, please show yourself to him,” displaying her willingness to show mercy to him. After she extended forgiveness to him, suddenly she felt overwhelmed by her own sin against him.

She too had fought with him with words and even with knives. She began sobbing when she realized that she had never respected him as her husband. With a broken voice, she confessed her sin, begging God to forgive her and He did. She also asked God to tie up the anger and shame and sadness into a bundle and to take it away. She didn’t want it anymore. At last she was free from it all.

A week later her Heavenly Father told her to speak to her husband. She went to him and apologized for never respecting him as her husband and his eyes filled with tears. A week later he too became a believer. When he saw the change in his wife, he knew there must be a God and he wanted to know her God also.