Two Marriages and Three Meetings

Chandrapura and Jalandhar

This month, the Lord gave me the opportunity to participate in three meetings related to the weddings of two different couples. The first one was a brother I have known for the past decade. Though I have not been able to shepherd him as I should, still he reckon me as his spiritual brother and invited me for one of the most important meetings of his lifetime. He is in his forties and has remained a bachelor for long enough. Last year when he was to meet the sister he has found, he along with his father and mother came to meet me for fellowship and prayer. As requested I prayed for them. A few days later, he called to praise the Lord and thanked me for the prayer that the sister said "Yes” to him. A few months later, he called and invited me to join his engagement meeting in Jalandhar. And this year, he invited me to the actual marriage in Khambra in Jalandhar and also to the reception at his hometown in Chandrapura, Jharkhand. I considered his invitation before the Lord and felt peaceful to oblige to the two meetings, one for his wedding and the other for his reception. I also fellowshipped with my co-working brothers and planned a ministry literature trip together with attending these meetings.

In all the meetings  I simply followed their arrangement. I traveled along with his family by car from Delhi to Jalandhar and stayed in a house prepared for the family’s stay. The duo was prepared by the Lord and his family paid the price to come all the way to Jalandhar for a very important meeting, the marriage meeting of their son. But as went to the marriage venue, organized by a brother who has many followers in Punjab, I felt that enough care and attention was not given to this couple despite them being informed well in advance. We were made to wait for three long hours before the marriage actually could take place. But I used those three long waits to read the Life-study of Revelation on the New Jerusalem. In spite of being such a “mega” Christian organization, I felt that their treatment of the believers was pathetic. The key pastor himself did not even bother to come for the wedding but sent his representatives. The same thing was done for the engagement meeting last year. As a brother, I stood with the couple and prayed for them, and did whatever I could in order to shepherd them. Despite all the inconveniences amidst my busy schedule, for the sake of shepherding, I took the Lord's grace and was with them throughout the meetings; for the engagement, for the wedding  in which, on the family’s request I even signed as a witness on behalf of the groom, and also went to his hometown Chandrapura for the reception.

 At the engagement and reception, on the groom’s request, I shared the word from Ephesians 5 on marriage. I pray that the Lord would bless the marriage for His testimony in Chandrapura and Jalandhar one day. All the price that I paid was not merely to please men to attend their marriage meeting, but to sow the seed of shepherding to shepherd them ultimately into the church life one day.

Bilaspur

The other wedding is in Bilaspur between a brother and a sister. We have been visiting the local church in Bilaspur a couple times for ministering the word to them. The key brother requested our presence to grace the first marriage in the church life in Bilaspur. Therefore, when we received the invitation, we detoured from our original plan and decided to attend the marriage as a way to shepherd the saints in Bilaspure, especially the leading brothers whose daughter was the bride. 

Without any prior information, we were requested to minister the word of God just before the wedding meeting began. Therefore, a brother and I shared the meaning of human life and the meaning of marriage life. In the midst of a few hundred people, we used the wedding meeting for the ministry of the Word. It was indeed the Lord's sovereign arrangement that we could attend the meeting and fellowship with a good number of saints, especially the leading brothers of the local churches in Chhattisgarh. This we did with the view of God’s economy of shepherding the saints for the sake of the church life in Bilaspur and the neighboring local churches who are on the way to take the scriptural way of meeting and standing for the Lord's testimony.

To both the couples in the two marriages, we gifted the Holy Bible Recovery Version, Leatherbound Burgundy, the best gift we could ever think of. The gift I received from the former marriage I gave as a return gift to the latter marriage.  

May the Lord bless the two marriages for His divine economy.