The Amish Voice 10
Hello from Indiana!
Well, it's been awhile since I
wrote... but that does NOT mean that
God hasn't been teaching and revealing
things to me! I'm gonna tell you about
the biggest thing that has happened to
me this year. It might not sound big
to you but to me it was HUGE, Thank
You, Jesus! :)
This year started off VERY rocky
for us in more than one way, but in the
middle of all the chaos God gave me a
golden nugget. You know, I've always
desired to be a good wife but felt like
I failed miserably in many different
ways, but Psalms 37:4 says:
"Delight thyself in the Lord; and
He shall give you the desires of
thine heart."
I believe God always knows the de-
sires of my heart and He gives me wis-
dom in little doses as I can handle
it. I also believe that sometimes God
has to shake my world (sometimes in a
not-so-pleasant way!!) so I'm willing to
listen to what He wants to tell me,
which is exactly what happened the
beginning of this year.
My husband and I had hit some
rocks in our marriage and weren't sure
how to fix things and move forward. I
was bent out of shape and not at all in
a praying mood... I did a lot of
"groaning in my spirit", tho. :) But, one
day, God so tenderly and mercifully,
planted a beautiful thing into my
mind... and our marriage has soared to
heights we had never known! Ladies,
let me tell you, God has given us a
huge, important job when He created
us to be a man's helpmeet!!
But, anyway, the words that God
put in my mind was, "Joy, have you ev-
er TRUELY been your husband's safe
place?" At first it was a little like
gears grinding inside of me, because
don't we all want to think "it's his
fault, he should come apologize to me
first"? :)
But the words, "safe place" kept play-
ing over and over in my mind like a bro-
ken record so finally I grabbed my Bi-
ble, in a rather heated manner, and
started looking for the verse that had
those words in it. Now, I had read
that verse many times but it had never
soaked in like it did that day.
"The heart of her husband doth
safely trust in her, so that he
shall have no need of spoil."
—Proverbs 31:11
Think about the safest place you
can imagine. I don't know where that
is for you all because we're all differ-
ent, but for myself, I think about a
beautiful room where I can cry if I'm
sad and laugh when I'm happy and I
don't have to worry that someone will
say I'm crazy or weird. I can say any-
thing that's on my mind.
Anytime the world is going cra-
zy around me and things feel out of
control in my life I can go into that
room and be safe in whatever mood
I'm in. I can always totally relax and
let the cares roll off of me in that
room.
What if, one day, I'd be sad and
upset and I would want to go into my
beautiful, safe room to get sweet re-
lief... only to discover the door is
locked? I would probably go around
looking for other doors or a window
because I know what's inside of that
room and I need that feeling so I can
cope with life and whatever situation
I'm in. I would probably bang on the
door and walls and shout things that I
really didn't mean, out of despera-
tion. How long would I try to get in
before I'd give up? How would I feel
when I'd finally give up? I would
probably feel rejected, unloved, un-
wanted, worthless, ugly, etc. Would I
try to convince myself that I don't
need a safe place, or would I be
tempted to go look for another safe
place?
Well, it was a bitter pill for me, but
that's exactly how my husband feels
when I am not his safe place. When I
told him what God had revealed to me,
he cried and said that is exactly how
he feels but had no idea how to tell
me, and he was afraid to try to tell me
for fear of what I would say. Our
marriage hasn't been the same since
that and we both love the change! :)
Is the door to my husband's safe
place always open or does he some-
times have to look to another place? I
praise God He shook me up and chal-
lenged me with this even if it took
something painful to wake me up!
I will pray for all of you reading
this, because I believe God wants
amazing things for our marriag-
es! Love you all, Joy
Joy Knepp, Loogootee, IN.
(812) 259-2634
A Safe Place to Cry and Laugh
—by Joy Knepp
Dear reader, you are going to be blessed reading Joy’s article. It is
written from the heart and I have no doubt that, like me, you will be
able to relate and soak in every word. I remember so well when I
started dating my wife, Esther. I thought to myself, we will never get
into an argument. As far as I was concerned, everything was going
to be rose beds and sweet honey. That, however, changed early on
in marriage. I found out that marriage takes a lot of hard work, sweat
and sometimes many tears and lots of prayer. Having said that, I
would also like to say: marriage is well worth it — I would marry my
wife a hundred times over. —Joe Keim