Why You Should Never Give Up on Family

Why You Should Never Give Up on Family
14 Feb 2017

As I celebrated my  Zion Daughter Testimony CD release and joined my family in thanking God for blessing my parents with 50 years of marriage, there were many times I had to hold back tears of joy.  My parents, my siblings and I had overcome so much to celebrate both of these milestones. That evening, the public witnessed a testimony of our family overcoming adversity, contention, misunderstandings, pride and unforgiveness through the power of prayer.  As I stood in awe seeing my family’s Testimony come to life, I felt the need to encourage others who may have struggles within their own families.

I know our family is not the only one that faces trials and at times are tempted to give up on each other but we really should not because that is what the enemy wants. We have to recognize his tactics and know that he tries to use us against each other.  The Bible reminds us that no matter what things look like, we are not really fighting our spouse, our sibling, our child nor our parent. The sooner we recognize this fact the better for life is short and we may not be given a chance tomorrow to mend broken fences.

A couple of months after celebrating the Lord’s goodness in our lives, our family faced a tragedy. I witnessed my aunt struggle with a grave illness that took her life within a very short time.  In the midst of losing their beloved mother, my cousins shared how they considered it a blessings to have been there for their mother in her last days to take care of her.  Oh, and how they took care of her!  The spirit of sacrifice my cousins demonstrated by giving up all comforts and conveniences in order to focus on their mother left me in awe. I couldn’t remember ever seeing Christ’s teaching on laying down one’s life for another  so beautifully demonstrated as my cousins chose to sleep on couches in the hospital room for weeks and refusing the comfort of a hotel across the street, in order to take care of their mother 24/7.  I saw the love of Christ working through their  hands and voices and they literally came to serve their mother who had demonstrated this same spirit of service and sacrifice to them throughout their lives.

These two occasions drove home the point that whether on a public stage or in our private lives Christian families should be a demonstration of Christ’s teaching in both word and action.  We need to be the Bible others read in how we take care of each other, serve each other, forgive each other and unconditionally love each other as Christian families.  This is not easy when we  feel that a family member is being annoying, inconsiderate, unloving; or even when the issue is that we’re dealing with our own jealousies, pride and other vices. But I’m here to testify that with God all things are possible.  Because we are in the flesh we will always face one challenge or another within our families but when we do, let us allow the light of Christ to show us how to:

  • Take the battle to Jesus and fight the battle on your knees instead of with each other;
  • Ask God to reveal what fruit of the spirit is God trying to grow in us;
  • Ask ourselves what our role is in the conflict (it takes two to tangle);
  • Take the time to compliment and show gratitude to our family members (give them the flowers while they are still here and not at their funeral, as my dad advised us during my aunt’s funeral).
sundown-family-1553623Let us recognize that God doesn’t make mistakes by giving us the family members He’s given us (though often we wonder…okay maybe it’s just me).  If we face our challenges always asking ourselves how to apply God’s Word to the situation and how to serve one another, God will be able to do the impossible in and through our families. Let us let the light of Christ shine in the midst of our families’ tests, trials, temptations and tragedies to help us remember that in the end our goal is to help each other get to heaven as a united army for the Lord for together we stand victorious and divided we fall.

Photos courtesy of KizPics and Freeimages

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Mary Kiganda

Mary Kiganda created Zion Daughter music ministry for the purpose of producing and sharing Gospel and inspirational music. She is a native-born Ugandan with mixed Rwandese heritage raised in America. Her musical influences vary from Contemporary Gospel to African, Rhythm and Blues, Classical, Jazz, Rock and Reggae. She has been in the performing arts industry over 20 years ago through Kayaga of Africa and more recently with Mbuutu of Uganda. Over the years, she has used her gift to evangelize through music while celebrating her cultural heritage with various choirs at numerous events in the Washington, D.C. Metro area. Through her Zion Daughter music ministry, she wants to encourage others to grow in the love, knowledge and the fear of God through music.




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