Together by God's Grace: Serving the Lord with Unsaved Sweetheart

By Rose Isheaneni

Follow Roses life from childhood as a devoted Catholic to a zealous born-again Christian who walks a remarkable life of faith amidst obstacles as an unequally yoked wife and mother.

Not only is this book interesting, it is humorous, captivating, and inspiring in ones faith.

Rachel Khoath, B.Com.

This book is for everyone. It shows how much potential we have in Christ Jesus. I enjoyed reading every part of it.

Lisa Bosa, Accountant

I really loved this book, very candid and honest, easy to read, and I liked the scriptures and spiritual knowledge shared throughouta lot of funny parts too. I was laughing out loud when reading some parts, like at Bible school.

Love Vepurua, Journalist

The book is really interesting, worth reading. I totally agree with the epilogue. Its just nothing but the truth. The most hilarious part for me was when the author went to this other church looking for counseling and Sweetheart ended up advertising for the convention they were going to have. I wish this book could be developed into a movie.

Titan Shatsi, B.Sc.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512730357

Rose Isheaneni

Rose Isheaneni is a pastor in one of the fastest growing Pentecostal churches in the world, based in Zimbabwe, Africa. She holds a business management degree and a diploma in church pastoring and leadership. She is a married mother and grandmother.

Book preview

Together by

God’s Grace

Serving the Lord with

unsaved Sweetheart

Rose Isheaneni

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Copyright © 2016 Rose Isheaneni.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3036-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3035-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016902147

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/10/2016

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1     My Humble Background

‘Warming up Ice Cream’

Growing up With my Brothers

Devoted Catholic

At Mambo Secondary School

Christian Yet Not Catholic?

Chapter 2     Meeting my Sweetheart

Falling in Love

Beer in the Village

Chapter 3     The War Disruption

What’s the use of education under oppression?

…I sought him, but found him not… Songs of Solomon 5:6

Chapter 4     Married Life

In the West Indies

Big Test for Our Marriage

Chapter 5     Gracious Women Fellowship

Key to Enjoying Our Marriage

Chapter 6     Turning Point - Surrendering to Jesus Christ

Do You Pray?

Receiving Jesus Christ as Personal Savior

Ask in Faith Without Doubting

Chapter 7     Journey of Faith Begins

We needed a Computer

Looking for a Floppy Disk

Chapter 8     I had to go to Church

Church Goers Are Not Perfect

Chapter 9     God Speaks With Me Too

God Told Me About the Baby I was Expecting

Painless Labour

Chapter 10     All My Children Shall Be Taught of the Lord

Help, Our Children Are in Danger

Chapter 11     How The Calling Began

They brought us the book but not the Author

Jesus is the Boss

Bible School Challenge Exam

Chapter 12     Pamberi Nekutenda Church

Chapter 13     The Final Call to Bible School in Zimbabwe

God’s Grace is Sufficient in Church

Caught Between Two Rocks

Chapter 14     The Bible School in Zimbabwe

The Challenges

I Have Many Spiritual Gifts

Chapter 15     Epilogue

Don’t Be Unequally Yoked - It’s Not Fun

The Bible - God’s Love Revealed

Salvation by Grace in Three Stages

Story Behind the Cover Photo

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my love, gratitude and appreciation to the following:

Firstly to the Almighty God for saving me from eternal damnation and showing me His enduring loving kindness.

Secondly to my spiritual father and spiritual mother, the Archbishops of Pamberi Nekutenda Ministries for their love and encouragement for me to pursue my goals in life and teaching us, as a church, to pray and seek God for our God-given talents so we can exercise them for the furtherance of God’s kingdom as well as for our own personal development. I want to thank them for encouraging women to stand up and work in the ministry side by side with their men and for letting us, women, know that we are the backbone of the church.

Thirdly, I want to thank my husband and my children for their encouragement and sacrifice in letting me pursue my goal in life in the Ministry of Jesus Christ. May God bless you for your endurance and love always. You are the best family one can ever wish for.

I also want to thank God for the first church I pastored after graduating from Bible School. Thank you for giving me a taste of what it means to be a Pastor and for growing with me in the love of God. Keep on growing and loving.

Lastly, I want to thank all my friends and relatives who gave me the rich experience to be able to write the book and for your encouragement.

Introduction

This book can be of help to people in all walks of life. Maybe you are a young single person, looking forward to a wonderful marriage someday, then you might want to avoid some of the pitfalls as outlined in here. This book can also be a source of help to the married, to the divorced or separated. It can help someone who needs encouragement in believing in the Lord Jesus Christ or in growing in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.

I also felt motivated to write this book as an encouragement to some ‘Deborah’ women or women whose husbands are not saved yet. In most cases fellow Christians and non-Christians alike judge you as a failure because the Bible mentions in 1 Peter 3:1-2 that, …husbands… may be won, without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Some have taken this to mean that if the husband does not obey the word of God, then the wife is to blame. They will tell you that you don’t know how to pray for your spouse’s salvation but I can tell you that you can pray and fast all you can, if your spouse’s time is not up, nothing will happen. They will also tell you that you don’t know how to treat him well enough but I can say again you can treat them as well as you can and if their time of salvation is not yet, nothing will happen. It’s not your fault. Don’t despair. Just keep worshipping God.

I personally feel that just being able to serve God and living patiently with such a spouse is a super heroic effort in itself. I salute all married women who serve the Lord diligently while their spouses do not come to church with them. In most cases those women are the most dedicated. People put pressure on you for the salvation and behaviour of your husband and your children and yet you need help for yourself, your personal issues, the marital issues and raising the children in a godly manner.

In our church we label such women as ‘Deborahs’ because in the book of Judges, we read of a woman whose husband is mentioned only once but she was a powerful, gifted woman, who led the Israelites to victory against Jabin, king of Canaan (Judges 4-5). So if you feel you have a gift and your husband does not share the same sentiments but is ‘pleased to live with you’ as in 1 Corinthians 7:12, go ahead and serve the Lord in all fullness. You are not a second class Christian. The fact that he is not leaving you is proof enough that you are treating him nicely according to 1 Peter 3:1-2. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:16, How do you know…if you will save your husband? This means that it is not up to you whether he will be saved or not. There is a saying that You can take a horse to the river but you can’t make it drink. This is so true of most unbelieving spouses.

I believe this book will help to empower and encourage Christians and non-Christians of all walks of life but especially Single Women and ‘single’ Married women. By ‘single’ Married I mean those serving the Lord without their spouses’ backing, the ‘Deborahs’ of our time. It is the story of my life and how God’s grace has prevailed throughout. Of course, I have chosen only some significant highlights of my life. There is something for everyone. Although I go into deep spiritual insights, don’t be afraid to laugh at some of the hilarious accounts narrated in the book. After all laughter is the best medicine (Proverbs 17:22) and I believe God does have a sense of humor.

Background

This is how I began to write the book:

I feel sleepy, I need to buy some coffee to keep me awake while driving.

I said this to my ten year old daughter while driving from a city in Saskatchewan to one in Alberta. We had just passed the border city. The time was around 4pm and the weather was nice and warm, towards the end of August.

Tell me about yourself. Tell me something I don’t know about you, said my daughter.

So I started telling her my life history from the time I was born, how I grew up, went to school including University and how I got married and finally became a Pastor.

That is so interesting. Seriously Mummy, you should write a book about your life. I asked you just so you do not fall asleep but what you are telling me is incredible, very interesting. I bet a lot of people would love to hear this.

So I began writing the story of my life:

Chapter One

My Humble Background

I was born in a little village south west of a Catholic Mission, in the area of Rusape, in Zimbabwe. The Catholic Mission was central to our lives in the village. We went there for school, from Grade one to Grade seven. We went there for church every Sunday. If one was sick, the Mission hospital was where we went. If we needed to do some grocery shopping, we went to the shops at the Mission. We received our mail at the Mission and if we wanted to make a telephone call or if we expected to receive a phone call, we went to the Mission. The Mission was so central to our lives, I couldn’t imagine life without the Mission.

I was the 6th born of eleven children. Because I was born after 3 boys, my mother showed me more love than any