CHAPTER 6
Pastor Gillespie sighed. Well, that took care of that, he thought. Deep down, he was hoping that his wife would have humbled herself and done the right thing. He sat in front of his computer to record all that had just taken place in case any issues came up in the future. He also recorded the meeting he had with his deacons before settling down for a peaceful evening. He prayed that God would protect his wife and help her to make the right decision and return home. He turned over in his mind the best way to present the matter to the church or even if he should say anything at all about it.
Even though Monday was his day off, Pastor Gillespie felt compelled to stop by the church. He was surprised to see Mother Louise there. “Mother Louise, what are you doing here so bright and early?” Pastor Gillespie said reaching out to give her a hug. “I thought you’d be in the bed resting up from this past week.”
“I’m just stopping by to encourage my son in the Lord,” Mother Louise said with a smile. For her to be almost one hundred years old, she was energetic and lively. Her long walk with the Lord had given her an overflowing well of wisdom from which Pastor Gillespie often made withdrawals.
“Me? Resting up! My secret is to take a little rest every day. How’s my pastor-son doing?” she said returning his hug.
“Quite well, Mother.”
“And how’s the first lady doing?” Mother Louise was concerned, especially after Sis. Gillespie’s rather smug attitude and response toward her husband during the conference.
“I hope she’s all right,” Pastor replied, leading her into his office.
“You hope she’s all right?” Mother Louise questioned closing the door. “Now what happened between last week and today?”
“I tell you, Mother, it’s been a tough week; I need your godly advice. Promise me you’ll give it to me straight,” Pastor said sitting down at his desk.
“Do I ever hold back?” Mother Louise said as she made herself comfortable on his plush couch. “I tell you, Pastor, you ought to give me this couch. It’s enough to put you to sleep. Anyway, I’m all ears. What’s going on between you and the first lady?”
Pastor Gillespie told her all that had taken place over the past few days and throughout their marriage, some of which she was already aware of. “I tell you, Mother, she has been the typical Proverbs 14:1 woman where the Bible says ‘Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.’ Throughout our marriage, she has been trying to pluck down the house little by little. In fact, a lot of people don’t know this, but she is one of the main reasons why I left my last church. The people saw how she disrespected me and how she was rebellious towards me, and she reaped what she sowed by the folks, especially the women, turning against her. The women began to disrespect her and a couple of them had set out to try to take me from her. But, Mother, let me say this, in fairness to her, one area of our marriage that she did not fail in was in the bedroom. She was always willing to take care of my needs in that area. No matter how mad she might get, she never denied me sex.”
“Well, that’s good to hear, but sex can’t keep a marriage together,” Mother Louise said. “She needs to get herself together in those other areas because that is what is causing the problems here,” she continued shaking her head.
“I wanted her to become a truly virtuous woman and to be a biblical example before other ladies. She had what I thought were the makings of virtuousness—she seemed to have a teachable spirit. I bought her all the books I could find on being a godly woman. She attended just about every woman’s conference there was. But all seemed in vain, Mother Louise, she got worse. She had all the material blessings she could want. She had no need of nothing—bad English, but you get my point.”
