by Barbara Stanley

Created on: March 18, 2009   Last Updated: March 28, 2009

My husband and I were too young to get married, I was sixteen, he was nineteen, but we were so in love. Neither of us had experienced salvation, although I had been told by my pastor when I was fifteen that I was saved simply because I had answered correctly the questions he posed to me about Christ. That first year of marriage was something akin to two wild animals of different species caged together with no way out. We were both childish in handling disputes, our finances, and personal beliefs. Somehow, we survived those early years without a major casualty.

We managed to find a routine to settle into, albeit an unequal one according to responsibilities. I took on the role of responsible parent, money manager, responsible wage earner, and spiritual leader. My husband enjoyed all the benefits of being married and none of the responsibility. Both of us, having been raised in the Baptist faith, would readily agree that the Baptist doctrine was the only true religion. I took our two year-old daughter to church with me every Sunday while Mike stayed home to watch television.

I was playing with my daughter in the front yard one Saturday evening when my pastor and a visiting revival preacher stopped by to remind me of the services that would begin the next day. The visiting preacher asked some questions that were provocative and to which I had no good answers. I realized at that moment that I was still lost in my sins. During the revival, I gave my entire self to Christ for salvation and leadership. A week later, I was baptised for the second time in my life. My husband refused to attend this ceremony while insisting that he had been saved as a young boy. I knew he was as confused about salvation as I had been before the Holy Spirit convicted me of my lost state.

We will have been married for thirty-eight years this June. Throughout our marriage, I have remained the spiritual head. I raised our son and daughter in the Baptist faith. Mike has yet to attend even one church service with us as a family. While my son was little, I had great difficulty getting him to attend church services. His argument was the fact that his father did not attend. This was a major impediment to my son's religious beliefs. My daughter received salvation at the age of twelve. My son did not surrender to Christ until he was a grown man on his own.

I cannot count the number of church invitations I gave my husband through the years. Each one was declined. I used every opportunity to witness to

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