“She must have been a remarkable woman,” I said. I was listening to a woman discuss her mother who had died a few years before. Hearing this extraordinary story I felt I was being treated to a lesson in faith. I hope you will find it as inspiring as I did.

This remarkable woman had just delivered her eleventh child when her husband walked off and left her to fend for herself. Living in the country she had no way of turning to the government for relief; she worked where she could and raised a garden so she could feed her children that remained at home (one had married and moved away).

The sister-in-Christ who was telling me this story beamed as she recalled her mother. She told of the times when they didn’t have food to eat. She said her mother would just get all the children down on their knees and they would pray. She said: “Let’s pray, God will provide.” One day after prayer, a chicken came strolling into the yard, God did provide. I was told, “We had chicken and dumplings that night.”

“We were never allowed to speak ill of our dad,” she said. “Momma never allowed us to say anything bad about daddy, we had to pray for him every day, and we did as momma said.” This remarkable woman did not neglect the spiritual growth of her children. “We were taken to church, and all of us became Christians,” she said. Hearing this I began to think this woman must have had the genuine faith Paul wrote that Lois and Eunice had – Timothy’s grandmother and mother (2 Tim 1:5).

“Daddy finally came back home after ten years.” It seems that he had taken up with some woman and with her had several more children. When he came back his wife accepted him back along with the children he brought back with him. Here was a philandering husband living in adultery while his wife raised his abandoned children, and when he gets tired of his “live-in” he decides to come home and bring along the children he had with another woman, and his wife agrees to raise them along with her own. Remarkable!

This woman reminded me of Hosea who was willing to purchase his adulterous wife back from the slave market (Hos 3:1-5). His faith in God and his love for his wife Gomer propelled Hosea to forgive her and bring her back home. Those who make life about themselves cannot do this. I have heard men and some women say, “If my wife (husband) ever cheated on me, I’d boot her (him) out faster than you can say scat.” It takes a person who has a tremendous faith in God to be able to forgive and heal. I know  God  has  allowed  for  the  innocent  to  divorce  an unfaithful (adulterous) mate