I have always been able to look at my wife's shortcomings and successes from both a father and brother's point of view. I would come home after work and Joyce would have prepared a "not so good meal" this happened quite often simply because we both come from different families that prepared their meals differently as well. When this happened the husband in me would wish to complain and criticize her but then the Father and the elder brother in me would quickly come to the surface and understand her point of view with regards to the meal at hand. I had to override my criticism with a compliment and a bit of help to make it a better meal. And this was purely my own opinion of a better meal because I was using my moms cooking as a point of reference, and Joyce was preparing the meals using her moms methods. At this point allow me once more to say that if you are looking for a wife or a husband just like your mom or dad then you might as well call off the search as there are no duplicates in that department. This could even be worse if you are already married to someone and you are trying to transform them into becoming that.

What I have shared in the past two articles; about the type of families we come from, the experiences we had, and above all else the possibility of us not becoming any different from our parents became the very reasons why that afternoon 29 years ago we decided we were going to get married anyhow. That day as my father's son I knew that his failures were not transferable at all.That I was an individual created in the image and likeness of God with a written plan for my life by God. My heart was filled with great compassion, compassion I could not explain even up to this day. When I looked at Joyce at that time the first I realized was that the last thing she needed in her life was a husband. I knew she was right when she said she was not going to get married to any man. Joyce being the her mother's only child needed first an elder brother, then a father, then a friend, and lastly a husband. I knew that if I can successfully became all these in the same order then I can ultimately become the husband she never wanted.

Joyce told me how she grew up in a family where her father was never present. She said she never knew him or saw him, and she was told that he passed away when she was still too young to can remember anything. This apparently led her to experiencing a life that was not the kind that any kid would appreciate have. To top it all off even the house they were living in did not belong to her mother, it was a "family house" as they are known in township lingo and all the homeless relatives had the right to find shelter in it. She witnessed how her mother single handedly struggled to make ends meet, and how the only male figures; her uncles also did not have much time for a kid who was not their biological offspring. As we spoke I could pick up that she had a deep rooted resentment for men. This put me at the crossroads of whether I should give up or try harder to convince her to give us a chance since we both came from dis-functional families. At this I must say that in my heart I felt much drawn to her than before. I knew it in my heart that I could be that man who can make both Joyce and my mother to believe that there are still better men in this world . But as to how I hoped to pull off this one, only God knew. I had no idea at all as to how I would embark on the task. Well, the truth about Joyce's father was that he was alive and well all this time, but she only met him on the afternoon after her mother's funeral, and this was 17 years after we got married.

First I wish to indicate that I'm not a marriage counselor at all. therefore I'm not too sure if this disqualifies me from speaking on the subject, Especially trying to speak to others about it at this level. But I'm trying to convince myself that being a product of a broken marriage myself yet having succeeded in remaining committed to the same woman for 28 years should at least give me an audience with my peers and those who are younger than myself in marriage. Having said that I also wish to indicate that I will not be able to speak on the whole matter all at once in this article. I will speak a little each day until I have said all I can.

A CALL TO CONTENTMENT
Most people think that a call to contentment by God is a way of keeping us mum and depriving us of our freedom to question God about situations and the things that we don’t like. I wish to highlight that I was not taught contentment by the Church but by my parents. In our family you never complained just for the sake of doing so, we were taught to make sure that our grievances were legitimate or else you got an hour long lecture for ‘taking things for granted’. More than this affecting us negatively it helped us to view things in a more realistic and Godly manner, and unlike most kids we grew up more appreciative than negative. As I mentioned in one of my previous articles; my family was more on the average side of life, not very poor but definitely not rich either. We grew up knowing and acknowledging that it took a lot of efforts from our parents’ side to keep us the children alive. How I wish that today’s generation could just realize that too.

I THINK THAT PROSPERITY SHOULD BE VIEWED IN A RELATIVE WAY

Please note that what I’m sharing with you in this article should not be viewed in a doctrinal manner at all. But it should be done so just as another opinion, which is based on my personal understanding and the practice of the scriptures, and the results that I saw when combining the two.
The subject of prosperity and poverty is often a very confusing one. More especially confusing because every time the issue is addressed one finds himself with a fresh or new view about it and all these come as a result of different speakers or writers bringing ‘new’ revelations that leave many more confused and often poorer than they were before. In my case I only became aware that our family was defined as poor or ‘under privileged’ when I came into contact with kids who came from families that were better off than ours.

I have always been challenged by how people approach God. They seem to forget a number of things that are actually very critical in our search for reality, meaning, and prosperity. One thing that must forever stick out in our search for God is that, God owns every thing and this is a ‘life fact’ and not a ‘Christian fact’. Our search for every thing else in this life must therefore be preceded by an honest, full hearted search for a meaningful relationship with Him. I come from a family that always conscientised us about Godliness, the fear and respect for God, and that His invisibility did not in any way suggest that He was non existent.

Our First Gift Was For Our Liberation – Part 2
That evening we parted with our very first gift that made a significant difference in our lives. Significant in the sense that it left us without the only means of transport in the family but it also left us so excited that we finally obeyed God. We believed in our hearts that one day we were going to look back and make reference to that day with regards to material breakthroughs. When I told this young man that we have decided to give him our car he was so surprised and did not believe it but we assured him that we were sure that it was the most perfect move we made up to that point in our lives.

Our First Gift Was For Our Liberation From Possessions
In the book of Matthew Jesus said something that will forever be my motivation for giving. I believe that without the words of my master I would still be languishing in poverty like most people. Here Jesus speaks about three things and they are; the Heart, The treasure and some place. ‘where your treasure is there your heart will be also’ Matthew 6:21 this simply tells us how much power possessions can have over people, but this scripture read in reverse also reveals the power of the heart; ‘where your heart is there your treasure will be also’ now it depends on how you read the scripture.

When my mother offered us her house we were very thankful to both her and to God for such grace, but we were young and had a desire like most guys of our age to live in a better area. This house was owned by my parents since 1956 and I was born in it, and so were both my kids. Not only was the house old but the area too was very ancient. It was in one of the three oldest townships in Soweto. But we were glad. We planned that we were going to use the house to be our ‘passport’ out of this township.

It was only after I had lost all my earthy possessions that my definition of success changed. Like most folks to me success was being able to accumulate both, the things that I needed and those that I did not need just in case life dealt me an unfair blow then I can have something to fall back on. At the age of 17 I joined the South African Police Force as it was called back then, and my first pay check was a whooping R85 per month! The year was 1976 and back then the salary I earned was roughly equivalent to about R4000 because a household of 4 could manage well on it. I did not spend much time in the police and by 1978 I resigned and worked for the city council at a Bottle store, and my salary was doubled.

One morning around four I woke up with something very strange happening to me. There was a voice coming out of my stomach reciting what I would later identify as Psalm 91. The part that remained with me for the rest of the day was the last verse which says: “with long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” KJV. And it was actually being said in the King James Version. This is the version I was introduced to when I became a Christian in 1983. This is verse 16 of Psalm 91. At first I thought that this voice was coming from somewhere else but on recognizing that it actually came from within my stomach I did not feel comfortable at all, especially because I did not even know its meaning. It went on from when I woke up and continued as I was preparing to go to work. This voice was far from being like mine it was sharp and very authoritative but peaceful at the same time. I went and fetched my Bible and as if someone told me where to open I went straight to Psalm 91 which I was seeing for the first time. This also was not natural. I read the Psalm line by line while the voice continued to recite it.

I have never been good at praying but looking back it seems like I have succeeded in conveying both my message and concerns to God through the ‘monologue’ that I engage in daily. The challenge that I had from day one was that I am introvert by nature. It’s such a great pity that most people don’t believe it. I also don’t like crowds. It’s truly amazing how I manage to speak to multitudes. My own interpretation of introvert is a person who gets more excited than everyone else but is unable to convince others to that effect. The first time I went to Church I saw a lot of both males and females who could have been my age praying and expressing themselves in the most admirable manner I have witnessed in my life up to that time. And to me that was what praying was all about.