Page 81 - Evidence of Things Unseen

parents’ house that she had my permission, but I would remain in Payne City. Tony was
greatly relieved to hear me tell her this, and she told me that, as soon as the sun was up
good, she would call her parents and ask them if she and the kids could stay with them.
Tony’s heart was considerably softened toward me by this time, and she had quit
speaking of divorce when she shared her fears with me. God was ordering everything in our
lives according to His wisdom, and His timing was impeccable. Tony’s parents said she
could come stay with them, so she and the kids packed up some belongings and left in the
car. Later that evening Tony called me from her parents’ house and told me that she really
didn’t want to be there, wanting instead to be with her husband. This was a major
breakthrough, but more was to come.
Tony called me every evening so I could speak to her and the children, and each
evening I could sense in her words that she found the idea of leaving her husband to return
to her parents’ household less attractive. Her mother told Tony that she could move in
permanently, suggesting that she should divorce me, but she told Tony she would have to
do as they instructed her to do. Tony would have to get a job and place our children in
public school, which were two things she was greatly resistant to. Our children had been
home schooled from the beginning of their education, and Tony felt it was her place to be
at home with them. Tony repeatedly told her mother that she had no intention of divorcing
me, and that she had only come to stay because she was frightened of the neighborhood.
By the end of the week Tony felt she could stay no longer, and called to tell me that she
and the kids were going to rejoin me at the house in Payne City. I must add here that our
children were never frightened of the neighborhood, and they had made friends
immediately with some of the neighbor children. They were excited to hear that they were
moving back. I too was excited about their return, and I could see that the hand of God had
orchestrated all that had transpired to reveal to my wife that her place was with her
husband. Like Moses, she had come to choose “rather to suffer affliction with the children
of God... esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt”
(Hebrews 11:25-26).
The atmosphere of our household was vastly changed when my wife and children
returned, and the threats and outbursts of emotion were replaced with a great measure of
peace and contentment with the will of God. I am really proud of my wife, for although she
struggled greatly, she overcame in the end. I do not know too many women who would be
willing to endure the chastening hand of God that we experienced. Most prefer the
“pleasures of sin” and would trade away a future hope in Christ for a season of personal ease
and self-gratification.
My wife was to go from “glory to glory” from this time forward, as the Spirit led her
into ever increasing reflections of a woman of godliness. Tony would begin practicing those
things written by the apostle Peter:

I Peter 3:3-6
Your adornment must not be merely external -- braiding the hair, and wearing gold
jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the
imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of
God. For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used
to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; just as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right
without being frightened by any fear.