Category: Marriage and Family

When I got into the Word, I had just gone through a very hard divorce, and my older daughter had decided to live with her father. I grew up with divorced parents and, therefore, I carried much bitterness, anger, and a judgmental attitude. When I was taught the Word rightly divided from The Way Ministry, I learned to renew my mind to powerful truths from God’s Word, which I never heard before. In the ministry classes I learned that I am a daughter of God, born again of His spirit, and with that, I learned to give thanks well, to praise God perfectly, and how to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

As I grew in God’s Word controlling my mind, my confession and acting on the Word, I became a different person. I no longer had bitterness and anger, but thankfulness, and my attitude toward my ex-husband changed from blaming him for all the failure in our marriage to taking responsibility for my part also. And I began to build a friendship and a respectful relationship without criticism and judgment with my ex-husband. This allowed us to provide for our daughters a better situation where we were partners in raising them. One of the added victories in my life to my responding to the Word I learned was that my older daughter, when she saw my life and the person the Word had helped me to become, said to me, “Mom, you are now ready for me to live with you.”

I dedicated my life to teaching my children the Word and raising them in the household of The Way. Romans 12:2 and II Corinthians 10:5 were the promises I claimed and chose to act on, and the result has been the greatest, sweetest relationship with my daughters and my ex-husband, and we have harmony as we move through the different stages of life. My daughters love God, the Word and the ministry of The Way, and I get to see my grandchildren being raised in the Word. What a joy!

Romans 12:2:
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

II Corinthians 10:5:
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Another major victory in my life has been the comfort of knowing without a shadow of a doubt that I will see my beautiful mother at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. My mother grew up in a very oppressing religion, but I know my mother had a heart for God and His Word. She was a woman of prayer and loved to give to others. I had the unspeakable joy to lead my mother into the new birth and hear her speak in tongues in our ministry’s Foundational Class.

I thank God daily for The Way Ministry, and I am doing my part so that the next generation has the light of the Word available to them as I stay faithful to the Word I have been taught.

I Have Not Been Disappointed in My Expectations

By consistently applying God’s Word that I have learned regarding marriage and family, God has provided the keys and tools needed to build a marriage relationship that is both fulfilling and enduring, one that before learning the Word, I had not thought was possible. I’m blessed to say that after more than thirty years, God has been faithful, and I have not been disappointed in my expectations.

Romans 10:11 [The Amplified Bible (1987)]:
The Scripture says, No man who believes in Him [who adheres to, relies on, and trusts in Him] will [ever] be put to shame or be disappointed.

Very Blessed and Standing Strong with Each Other

One huge blessing in my life is that my husband and I have celebrated over forty-five years of marriage!—quite an accomplishment in today’s society.

We took the Foundational Class, became fellowship coordinators, and got married within the first six months of coming to this ministry. We honeymooned in Michigan at a Way Family Camp. The theme of the camp was the Christian family, presented live by Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille. Talk about jumping into something with both feet!

One thing we learned at the camp was that in marriage, it’s not as important who’s right, but what’s right—God’s Word of course. We also learned that our marriage was a micro example and illustration of how God’s family is to work together. This info went straight to our hearts and lodged there. Through the years, we clung to this learning in times of intense changes and conflicts in our marriage. We had made a commitment to God to keep our marriage strong so we wouldn’t introduce weakness in our example to others of how God’s family lives together and stays together. I am so thankful to have had these principles to guide us. And now here we are—very blessed and standing strong with each other over forty-five years later in this fabulous family of God in The Way Ministry.

One of the first verses I learned when I first came to a Way Ministry fellowship was Philippians 4:19: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

A couple of years ago, my daughter moved to California to accept her first job. We had begun looking for housing before her move, but were told over and over again that you had to be there because they got rented so quickly. We had one week to find an apartment and get her settled. This was not an ideal way. This was an opportunity to believe God.

With the “I Can Do” attitude, we headed west. It was amazing to see how God supplied the need. As a family we were of one mind, determined to see the victory, and continued thanking God. We found the perfect apartment after four days.

Our next believing adventure was to furnish it. We found quality items at excellent prices. One thrift store was having an extra 40 percent off sale the day we purchased a Crate & Barrel table. We went to another store and found chairs that matched it perfectly. As we were driving down the street, a business had a sign taped on a bookshelf on their sidewalk—FREE. A marble lamp we purchased was the exact color of the marble top of her roommate’s table. One of her coworkers gave her a shelving unit that was a perfect match to the dining room table and chairs. Everything she needed to have in order to be settled into her new home was supplied. We got to see how God supplied her need. She could be reminded of how our heavenly Father takes care of us every time she looked around her apartment.

I’m so thankful we were able to have this verse, Philippians 4:19, cemented in our minds. It was truly a time of bonding as a family. We took a stand together on God’s Word and saw the victory. It is through this ministry that we have learned to trust God and believe that He will supply our need.

I first took the ministry’s Foundational Class when I was twelve years old. Ever since that class, I have had the joy to stand with this ministry. Many of the concepts taught in that class were not new to me, as I had been taught them from birth. Growing up in the ministry has been a profound advantage to me in that I learned to walk according to the Word of God, and it just became my way of life. Tithing and abundant sharing are just natural and logical practices for me. Giving and serving others are just what I’ve learned to do. I have always had my needs met. I haven’t always earned a lot of money, but we’ve never gone hungry and we’ve never not been able to pay our rent on time. We, as a family, have believed God to meet our needs, and He ALWAYS has.

I remember as a child, our family had need of a new car. Dad got us together, we talked about what we needed and wanted the car to have, we prayed about it, and within a few days we had exactly what we said we needed plus a few extra things we hadn’t thought about. That was how life was for us. We believed God to meet all our needs, and He did so without fail.

As an adult, we received news that my wife was diagnosed with cancer. The nurse that gave us the news was surprised when we didn’t seem shocked, scared, or devastated when she told us, like most of her patients were. We simply told her that we believed that God would take care of my wife, so there was no reason to be alarmed. Today she is cancer free.

The numerous classes and teachings we have heard over the years have put us in a position to help others and to serve God’s people. We have been household fellowship coordinators, we’ve been Branch coordinators, we’ve worked on The Way International Staff; and at each position we have felt that we were called to carry out that particular responsibility. We did each one with joy and all the love of God that we could put into it, and God has blessed us at every turn.

We told a young man about our approaching anniversary. He said, “Congratulations, what’s your secret?” I replied that with God at the center of the family, everyone is on the same page, believing together, and life is GREAT! I can’t think of a better way to live, nor would I want to try to live any other way.

The Privilege to Raise Our Three Children with the Truth of God’s Word

I was raised in a large family, and my parents were very loving and giving people. From a very young age, my siblings and I were taught the value of being interested in others and helping out in any way we could. Having had this great foundation, when our family got involved in The Way Ministry, the Word I received helped me see the love and compassion we can exhibit in our lives, like Jesus Christ and others we see in God’s Word. As a young person and an adult, these examples showed me that I could step out of my comfort zone and not only extend this love to people I knew but to others that I had just met. God’s Word enables us to be bold and fearless in our concern for others.

I was sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office with one of my young children when I saw a gentleman in great pain and coughing rather loudly. As the other patients moved away from him and he was sitting all alone, I realized I had a decision to make. I could sit there and ignore him, or I could get involved and pray for him. As we prayed together and he visibly became more comfortable, I couldn’t help but think about how thankful I was for God and our wonderful ministry!

One of my greatest joys has been the privilege to raise our three children with the truth of God’s Word that we learned in The Way Ministry. These truths have enabled them to stand strong with believing and have great love in their lives as well.

The Witness of the Family

Psalms 37:25:
I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

The Way Ministry has been an integral part of my life since I was nineteen years old. I am now almost sixty. Throughout these forty years, I have served in many capacities, married, raised a family, and I now have believing grandchildren. There are many, many incidents where God healed, delivered, saved, and just taught me so I could grow. But the greatest blessing, aside from salvation and eternal life, is the witness of the family that my husband and I have raised to love God and His Word. As I reflect, I see the strength and love of God that my children manifest. They have taken what was taught and run further and harder than we could. In addition, we all enjoy health and peace. It is the knowledge of the Word which has been taught by The Way Ministry that has had this mighty impact on my life and that of my family. Without this ministry, we could not have been so blessed. For this I am most thankful.

Psalms 4:1:
Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

God promises to hear our prayers and care for us unconditionally. He made us righteous through Christ and without penalty for our failings; He answers our prayers with exactly what each believer needs. I was introduced to the truth of God’s Word at a Way Ministry fellowship and began to understand this promise after completing the Foundational Class at age eighteen. Many years with The Way and many classes later, I was confronted with a very challenging situation. I remembered this verse and God’s promise to deliver me.

My marriage had ended, and I was the single mother of two beautiful boys, ages eight and eleven. My confidence in myself was shaky, and I felt insecure and lonely. My responsibilities were many, and I was painfully aware that my children were missing a dad. There was a large gap between what I desired for my family life to be and what my daily experiences were. This verse was my encouragement to take action before fear could set in. I cried out to God, and He heard me!

Remembering the four Ds of deliverance (decision, desire, details, and deliverance), I prayed to my heavenly Father to help me find the courage and wisdom to move forward. Knowing that God hears our prayers and sees us as we are—spiritually righteous—was comforting. The decision was made. I wanted a new relationship. Next, there came a desire to move forward. In thinking through the many specific details regarding the attributes I was looking for in a believing husband, I made a thoughtful, prayerful list. Seventeen qualities from spiritual to physical, even including personality and cultural traits I desired, were written down. I worked the Word, prayed, claimed God’s promises, and acted on the Word I knew.

After a short time, an opportunity became available. An Advanced Class Special was announced, and I registered to attend. It later occurred to me that the right man could be at this great spiritual event, and I thanked God again for answering my prayer and fulfilling my heart’s desire. It was months away; I had not yet found the courage to go on a date, but there was still time. I believed that my heavenly Father would work out the details, and I began thanking Him for finding the best husband for me and for getting him to that meeting. After a couple of months, I was so confident that my new guy would be there that I began praying daily that he was blessed, healthy, and happy. I believe God revealed many pieces of information to help me prepare my heart and life before the event. My confidence in His ability and willingness to care for me was so strong that I was completely convinced that my prayers were answered already.

That November I excitedly arrived at the Special. After registering, I went to the ministry Bookstore where I met my future husband. We were married two years later and have enjoyed sixteen years of fun, adventure, and service together. About a year after our marriage, I found that prayer list and rejoiced as I checked off each and every attribute I had prayed for in the husband God found for me. God is very good! He hears our prayers and gives us a personal and perfect answer of deliverance. He is always able and willing when we believe!

One of the things I’m the most thankful for in standing and serving in The Way Ministry over many decades now has been being able to raise my children in the Word.

While other moms were reading up on the current methods of child raising to steer away from what they were hearing that their own parents did wrong, I was blessed to be learning God’s Word on the subject by way of our ministry’s Christian family class and the Word in Business and Profession Conferences sessions on marriage and raising children. In addition, I had the great opportunity to teach Children’s Fellowship for many years, utilizing material like Teaching God’s Word to Children and Heirs magazines. These resources, along with faithfully attending fellowship and seeking counsel from wonderful believers who were already successful at applying godly principle in their families, helped us teach and train our children with confidence in our method and in what we were teaching.

Our confidence allowed peace to rule in our family as we trusted God throughout the years. We saw God work in countless ways: miraculous healings; protection in danger; so many incidents of perfect timing that we knew were not just coincidence; and not just answered prayer, but answered prayer with amazing “God stories.”

Our children learned of God’s great love and the blessing of living by God’s standard. We could and did say with utter conviction to our children that something was right or wrong because God’s Word said it, regardless of what any other source of information may have said. As they grew, they had confidence in themselves because of who God says they are, and they understood and practiced godly principles like prayer, positive confession, working heartily, giving, serving, and believing. When our kids reached ages of making their own choices, they had a solid background in the instruction and practical application of God’s Word.

Today parents have blogs, chat rooms, podcasts, etc., where they may go to give and seek advice from each other on dealing with the different stages and challenges of raising children. Trends in child psychology are ever changing. I am thrilled to see our granddaughter being raised in the unchanging stability of God’s Word as it is still held forth through the resources available in The Way Ministry.

I think I understand when God says in III John 4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” It is such a joy to me to see our next generation take on the responsibility of providing teaching and training in God’s Word with even greater confidence than we knew. It is the reward now for the effort put into raising our children in God’s Word, and I am so grateful that The Way Ministry taught me how.

One of the great things I have learned in The Way Ministry is how to believe—how to appropriate the promises of God and see them come to pass.

Mark 11:24:
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

One area where I saw this very vividly was when my husband and I decided to have a baby. What we thought would take a year or two took several years. We found ourselves facing several challenges and obstacles along the way. Physicians told us the statistics and probability of having a child at our age and with our medical history were very low.

We appreciated the help and the facts from the physicians, but we also knew that the truth of God’s Word is greater than medical statistics. We went to God’s Word.

We held this verse close to our hearts:

Psalms 37:4:
Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

We had learned in this ministry that God’s Word has integrity and it says what it means and means what it says. So, we set out to delight ourselves in the Lord wholeheartedly and prove God’s Word.

We studied records in the Word where women conceived and had a child after having been barren. We took action on the Word we had been taught from The Way Ministry, specifically the principle of believing images of victory, and we served wholeheartedly in the ministry.

We studied the record of Sarah and Abraham and how they had a child when it seemed impossible. We studied the record of Hannah praying to God for a child and receiving her deliverance. We made notes from these records and kept them close at hand to review them. This simple yet very powerful method helped us to deal with the disappointment of what felt like failure after failure, year after year. We had been taught that God does not change, so the God we worship today could do the same for us!

We built believing images of victory by making a file which included pictures of me eight months pregnant with our other child. We also added a picture of a tender figurine of a mother holding a baby. We had a cartoon version of a pregnant woman with the caption “Mother of the Year” with these verses underneath:

Deuteronomy 28:4,11:
Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

Throughout those years, we made it a priority to give and serve in the household. We coordinated a household fellowship, we enthusiastically coordinated and participated in outreach events, we helped plan and execute Branch meetings in our area. We gave in any way we could to support our leadership. At one particular Branch meeting, we were serving wholeheartedly; we helped plan the meeting, helped set it up, and participated in a skit. At the closing of the meeting, our Branch coordinator ministered to us, and we received God’s healing. Nine months later, our beautiful, healthy baby was born.

I am so very thankful for the truth of God’s Word I have learned in The Way Ministry, including how to believe!

Mark 9:23:
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

I was sixteen years old when my father sat me down and informed me that he was divorcing my mother and within weeks would be marrying my mother’s best friend. My whole world fell apart in a matter of minutes. I had thought my whole childhood that my parents were happy. They were devout Christians. Why, my father was a minister for a denominational church.

During the months that followed, my three brothers and I were torn between what we thought was real and what we discovered was false. I concluded that if this is what a Christian marriage was—a facade for infidelity—then I would have nothing of it. My fear of getting married and failing at it was so great that I decided then I did not want to marry.

Only two years later, my college roommate introduced me to The Way Ministry. As I took our ministry’s classes, the Word of God I learned showed me His plan for a Christian marriage. I learned in Ephesians, chapter 5, the roles God meant for a Christian man and woman to fill in marriage. I saw powerful examples in the household of The Way of married couples who lived the Word of God in their marriages. These husbands and wives taught me the fundamentals of a strong marriage, in which both man and woman are like-minded and committed to put God first in their lives.

The Word of God I learned showed me what went wrong in my parents’ marriage. There was no companionship. They each lived separate lives. The only thing that kept them under the same roof was raising their four children. I decided that my life would be different from my parents’ lives. I wanted God’s best for marriage in my life. And as I built the truths of His Word about this vital category of life into the fabric of my thinking, God delivered me from all the fear of failure that enslaved me!

I began to date my sisters in Christ in the household and endeavored to live God’s love in these relationships. I built my believing to find the woman whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, moving God’s Word together. I got clear and concerned about what my heavenly Father wanted for me. At age twenty-six, I married my best friend. We have enjoyed over thirty-five years of marriage now. Because of the Word of God that I learned in The Way Ministry, I overcame my fear of failure, married a beautiful and virtuous woman, and today enjoy a wonderful life of serving God and His people together!

I truly have loved growing up in this ministry. The truths that I have learned over many years have helped me be victorious through many situations I have faced. God’s Word really is so practical for every stage of our lives!

One of the ways that I have most recently been applying truths I have learned in this ministry is in motherhood. My parents are great examples to me of diligently teaching the Word to us kids as we lived life. Now this was something that would be my responsibility. Before I had our first child, I wondered if I would be able to apply what God’s Word says in Deuteronomy 6:7:

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

It seemed that this would be a daunting task—to teach my children the Word diligently when talking, when walking, when lying down, when living life. It seemed like a huge task! I doubted whether I could do this all the time. However, as God always does, He works in us to help us accomplish whatever we set out to do. This is what I established in my heart after our first child was born and then again after our second child was born.

As our first child was growing, I realized that I really do know plenty of scriptures that apply to the situations we were facing. I also realized that I was already applying so much of the Word in my life, but usually quietly to myself. A big difference when you put children into the mix is that it is more of a verbal, out loud recognition of a verse that applies to the situation. Teaching my child how God’s Word applies to life’s situations was something that I could do. It can be an easy part of life because “It is written” is my standard!

One of the scriptures that we have utilized many times is II Timothy 1:7:

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

This verse has helped me keep my sound mind in the face of a whiny child who is pushing his boundaries. This verse has helped my children keep their sound minds when they are learning different emotions and how to deal with them or when they’re simply learning that obeying their parents is the best option.

There have been a few times when I have been helping one of our children calm down, and sometimes I have been tempted to think, “How can I get him to stop crying? I don’t know what I can do!” Then quickly after that, I remember that I can always give him the Word. It always works.

So I will usually quote II Timothy 1:7 (or have him quote the verse to me if he is old enough) and remind him that God has given us sound minds. It doesn’t take long for the tears to stop and for his body and mind to get peaceful. I know that as our children grow older, this verse and many, many more will continue to apply to all of life’s situations.

How thankful we are for the truths of God’s Word which help keep the peace in our homes and in our hearts and in the hearts of our children.