Bleeding and Bent Over

Lucy was born into the faith, and so was her mother. An only child, she stood out in church from an early age, and everyone loved her. For many years she could not see her father because her mother prevented it; her mother had left him when she was three months pregnant with Lucy. He was not a Christian, but she had loved him anyway, evidently believing she could change him one day.

Mistreatment, humiliation, prohibitions: her father endured it all until Lucy was old enough to make her own decisions. She went to find him and discovered that he loved her. They decided to move, and at the new church she met a young man with whom she fell in love, with her mother’s approval. They married, but before long the young man began to change. He no longer wanted to go to church, did not care about having fellowship with his Savior, and began to mistreat her.

They had their first child, and the mistreatment continued until it became beatings. Lucy would flee the house to escape the violence and take refuge at her father’s home. He protected her until she decided to return to her own home. Then came their second and third children, and with them the physical and psychological abuse and humiliation intensified. Finally, Lucy decided she had had enough. She asked her husband to leave the house, proposed that they separate, and he did leave.

A few days ago, the news came: Lucy was stabbed to death by her husband in front of her two older children as she was taking them to school. Afterward, her husband, the father of her children, hanged himself. The result: three orphaned children, two lives cut short. Lucy’s mother had to be hospitalized because she has not been able to bear the ordeal. Lucy’s father took in his grandchildren. Lives shattered, with very little chance of recovery.

Women, beloved of the Lord, princesses of the Kingdom, precious jewels to God, what are you doing with your lives?

How much time does a Christian woman today devote to praying for the man she believes God has reserved for her?

How much time does she take to get to know him deeply?

How much do we let ourselves be led by our impulses, and how much by the Spirit?

If a woman does not wear out her knees in prayer, bringing the man she believes will be her husband before the throne of grace and asking the Father to show her whether he is the right one for her, what she will wear out is her life.

Do you think this story is not real? You are wrong! Only the names have been changed out of discretion, but she was my son’s age, and it hurts deeply to know that there are many Lucys in the world. Some had no father figure to serve as a model because the model was distorted, and, incredibly, they repeat the pattern. Others, like Lucy, had no model at all, not even a distorted one, because her mother deprived her of it.

It does not even cross our minds to compare the man who will marry us with Jesus! The day we see the model of Christ in the man who will sleep beside us and hold our hand for the rest of our lives, these things will stop happening. Then we will be healed, loved, exorcised of any of the demons that have pursued us since childhood. For a man like Christ will protect us and love us to the point of giving his life for us. He will treat us like a delicate flower, for it is written: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25) and “He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cares for it, just as Christ does the church” (Ephesians 5:28 and 29).

Poor women who do not know their Savior, but infinitely more wretched are those who, knowing Him, seek “strange fire.” They truly are playing with fire, because they are not innocent; they are transgressors. Unequally yoked marriages never bless a home.

If you still have time, meditate on the Word. If your time has passed, pray for those who come after you. There are many bleeding and bent-over women in the world, and only Jesus can heal them.