Q:  Dear Denise, my husband isn’t a believer and won’t let me go to church. That’s the only reason I’m not going to church right now, but on other days of the week, I’m able to go to home groups and regularly talk with my Christian friends. I don’t tell my husband that I’m doing these things. I’m lying to him and telling him I’m going to see my mother or somewhere else. When I tell him the truth, he doesn’t let me go to church. It’s so hard to live like this, what should I do?

A:  It’s clear you desire to be with believers, and that’s a great desire. I can also clearly see your desire to please your husband. I want you to read a testimony I think will be very helpful to your situation.

A long time ago, there was a woman who loved God with all her heart. Her husband wasn’t a believer either, and he forbade her from going to church. He would say to her, “If you go to church tonight, I will lock the door and you’ll have to spend the night outside in the cold.” But she still went to church, and when she arrived back home, sure enough, her husband had locked the door and she spent an entire night outside in the freezing weather. In the morning, he got up and let her inside, and the first thing she did was make him breakfast! 

This woman loved her husband, but she wanted to honor the Lord and knew that she needed fellowship with her fellow believers. I don’t want to tell you what to do, but I want to tell you who this story is about. This woman eventually won her husband to the Lord with her lifestyle of faithfulness to both her husband and Him. Her husband’s name was Smith Wigglesworth, he was an evangelist decades ago and ended up raising at least 7 people from the dead! What a miracle! 

I want you to read First Peter 3:1, which says, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives.” Smith Wigglesworth would have never become the man he did if his wife never won him to the Lord by the conduct of her life. Again, I can’t tell you what to do. But you have the Holy Spirit in you if you’re a believer, and He can and will tell you what to do! John 16:13 says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that he shall speak: and he will shew you things to come.” The Holy Spirit is going to guide you through this situation and tell you exactly what you need to do. My team and I will be praying for you!