We all know that compassion helps lead us to a prayerful heart. I think of compassion as a gift and that with that gift is a responsibilty. We are responsible for praying for one another. I also think that along with that there is a kind of compassion that can only come from enduring a similar situation. For instance my parents were divorced when I was around 13, and I know what happens to the children, and my parents divorce was one of the most civil I have seen. And with that kind of compassion there is another responsability on top of prayer, it is an anger that needs to be dealt with appropriatley, which brings me to my request. I am asking for you to pray for one of my really good friends. I was over there yesterday and she and her husband could really use your prayers along with their family. There are two members in their family on her husbands side that are having problems with infedelity, one of the marriages is pretty much over, the other one her husband is in some sort of denial, 2 of his brothers have went to him and his dad has talked to him and he thinks that they are just telling him lies. Here is the background, his wife has been seen in public behaving in a very unbecoming manner with their foreign exchange student (he is 17). This behaviour is more than likely (logically speaking) happening in the home in front of the children (they have 6 kids). My friends husband has a very difficult decision to make. There is something obviously that screams to turn her in for investigation and then there is the fact that if he does his neices and nephews will blame and hate him. He is stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. I do not associate with this couple so I cannot make that call without saying I saw it first hand. Other people can make it but haven't. My friend believes that her sister in-law is bi-polar and needs help. She has thought this way for a long time but her brother in-law will not listen to anyone. He thinks that she is the reason his family is telling him lies and him and his wife have said some very nasty things to my friend. Please pray that God steps into these situations and gives my friends the strength to do what God needs them to do.
We will keep your friend in our prayers. I believe sister you have been given a double portion of the gift of Mercy. What a great gift. A true trait of a believer.
I believe sister you have been given a double portion of the gift of Mercy. What a great gift. A true trait of a believer.
Rev
Brother Rev..she is also a female. I love godly Christian women. They are already born with motherly traits..how much more when filled with the Holy Spirit. Katrina is a real God sent here.
proverbs 31:30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
your friends will be in my prayers, that is a tough one [&o]
but i think if that were my brother or son i would be doing something to bring light to the issue, letting it go on is not healthy for the young children in that family, i mean what kind of example are either setting for the kids, the kids are the ones that suffer in the end because of "grown-ups" poor descision making
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John 3:16
things are more like right now than they've ever been
It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.
William James
your friends will be in my prayers, that is a tough one [&o]
but i think if that were my brother or son i would be doing something to bring light to the issue, letting it go on is not healthy for the young children in that family, i mean what kind of example are either setting for the kids, the kids are the ones that suffer in the end because of "grown-ups" poor descision making
I agree m.t. I get knots in my stomach thinking about what they are doing to those children. And it doesn't help that their family is also hurting.Her husband talked to his brother for about 3 hours and the only thing he accomplished was to irritate his brother more who now thinks he is a pervert for thinking that someone else would want his wife, and went so far as using scripture in his defense. They have gone to our pastor which is really important. This is a very touchy situation for all involved and I pray all seek God's wisdom and guidance for any decision they make.
The second situation I have told you about is spiraling and there are now two more people that have been hurt in this couples wake. One of the ladies at our church witnessed the wife's very innapropiate behavior and said something to her and her husband and was told that she was just over reacting and that she looks at the particular gentleman (who is married also) as a father figure, when she said that is not how one acts with their father she was told that she was just being influenced by my friend whom I asked prayers for.
It really bothers me to see this happening and the hard part is what do you do? People have talked them and still nothing changes. I know that God will take care of it but in the mean time it is hard to see all the suffering. And the childrens behavior is also spiraling. Their uncle is the youth group leader and his neice has no respect for anymore because sheis mad at him for saying something to her parents about what has been going on. This whole thing stinks[:'(]
I would gladly accept any advice or words of encouragement.
Although you didn't specify exactly what type of behavior is occurring, it reads (between the lines) like it is something perhaps sexually inappropriate. If that is the case, you might consider calling Child Protective Services (the calls are anonymous) and requesting they investigate. The husband will likely get mad about CPS investigating but sometimes people in denial need to get hit between the eyes (figuratively) with a problem before they accept that a problem is occurring and needs to be addressed. If there is inappropriate activity occurring, it is likely to continue and get worse. It's a sad situation all the way around but sticking one's head in the sand only let's the children learn bad behavior is accepted or tolerated and creates problems for them in the years when they are learning which morals to practice in their own lives.
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This is a hard topic because it's borderline gossip, I have been a backboard for my friend, the only behavior I have seen of hers has been in church, my friend, her husband, and who knows how many others have, I myself have not seen this so to call cps without proof will do nothing. My friend and her husband are dealing with family and if they are the ones who make the call then the kids will know. No one that has seen it is stepping up to the plate. If it were me I would call. This is such a hard thing for them because it is family. I guess the foriegn exchange student has now moved out but I am not sure that all contact has been cut, there was talk of him playing football for the public school in the fall, so he must still be in the area. They have pretty much quit coming to church, they came at the end of service for communion, and one week some of their kids come and another week it will be different ones coming. And I am sorry to say this but here it takes a lot for cps to remove kids from the home. I know because I am a product of their system. Our house was disgusting growing up, my wouldn't clean and she never taught us kids to either, when the dishes got bad enough she would throw them away and buy new ones. I almost never had clean clothes to wear and often I had no socks and the winters here can get nasty. My mom would kick us out of the house and lock us out, I spent many nights at a friends house crying on her moms bed because my mom wouldn't answer the phone and I didn't know if it was safe to go home. When we would spend the night at my aunts she never sent clean clothes, pajamas, toothbrush, nothing. When my mom divorced my dad and moved to Iowa, I stayed with my dad. Until then I walked around on eggshells. The only thing cps did was have someone come to help my mom clean her house,I had a social worker come to talk to me and she would try to get me to talk about stuff, some I did talk about, others I kept quiet, I didn't trust her and I knew if my mom found out there would be a price to be paid and it would be paid when my dad was at work.My niece also was not protected, my sister followed in my moms footsteps, she had my niece and nephew around alcoholics and drug addicts,my nephew one time found her boyfriends syringe, my niece was thrown into a snowbank andher face smashed into the snow and rubbed in it. My sister brought my niece over to my house no clean clothes, no pajamas, and soaking wet.I knew her dad was trying to get custody of her, my sister now had a different boyfriend and he threatened her all the time and she was scared to go home, I heard the threatsmyself, I wrote an affidavit and despite the things thatI saw,the judge still ruled in my sisters favor. But even despite this if I had seen it with my own eyes I would have called, and prayed that they did something about it.
Compassion
