This sermon reflects on the life of a godly woman who exemplified kindness, forgiveness, and grace towards her husband despite his shortcomings and challenges. It emphasizes the power of forgiveness, the importance of not harboring bitterness in relationships, and the impact of a Christ-like attitude in marriage and family life.

This lovely soul, she couldn't say an unkind word about anyone. Have you met a Christian like that? She sat agonizing if something was being said wrong about something, even if it was true. She tried to find something good to say about somebody, and if she couldn't say anything good to defend anyone, she sat there in agony that someone was being pulled apart. Even if it was true, she was like there was nothing in her ability to be angered and anybody's wrong. Now that you might think is going too far, but listen. The fragrance of her life struck my heart. The gentleness. Years went by. Last year, I went back to that town. Years and years had gone by. Thirty years. Her children were now women with their own children, all teenagers grown up. Those girls were now married. And that lady came down from the farm up. The son brought her for a meal while I was preaching in the town on the Sunday. And she sat at the table, and I looked at this woman and the godliness of her life. It came back like a vengeance to me. Of the impact, the fragrance she had been. That in the whole town, no one had left the unmarked impression on me those years. And as I sat there and we were talking, the same fragrance, only more was just there. The gentleness, the tenderness, the inability to have anger and hatred. No matter what was being said, she just had kindness to say. Otherwise, she said nothing. And when she left, I looked at her daughter and I said, You know, your mother is so godly. I don't think she's capable of saying an unkind word about anyone. And her daughter looked at me and the tears came down her face. And she stood up and she said, Keith, you don't know the half. She said, You know, Keith, my father was not a good man. My mother was saved, but my father was not saved. My father was a monster. He was so evil that one day when he walked out the door, my sister and I screamed at my mother and begged her, weeping quickly. Let's run. This isn't what God wants of you, mommy. This isn't Christianity. God doesn't expect you to face this all your life. God doesn't want this. Mommy, let's get away from him. He's evil. You can't live the rest of your life like this with this man. Let's get off. And we begged her, weeping. And my mother stood there, tears coming down her face as she looked at us. And she said, No, no. When I said to God, to death us two part, I meant it. For better or worse, I meant it. I didn't stand there lying. I meant it. My girls, your father is not a psychopath. If he was a psychopath and our lives were in danger, I would run. I would say to any woman, if their lives and their children's lives were in danger, run. I'd take them by the hand and run with them. But your father's not a psychopath. He's just unsaved. He's just a sinner. And I'm going to bring him to Christ, girls. I'm going to bring him to Christ. I'm not leaving him. But then she said these words to us, Keith. My mother looked at us and said, Listen, girls. One day, when I stand before God, I will never have to give account to God for anything your father did or said. I will never have to give account for anything your father said or anything he did against me. Your father will have to give account to God. But I won't have to give account to God for anything your father said or did. But, but, I will have to give account for how I reacted. Don't doubt that. I will have to give account to God for what I said and how I reacted to your father's wrong. And I don't want to give account to God for anything I said or did to your father, no matter what he did to me. I don't want to have to give account to God for one word I ever said, no matter what your father did. You know what that lady said? Keith, we are married to Christian men. And they're not perfect. They sometimes fail. And they sometimes fail badly. But before we say a word, our consciences remind us of our mother. In 53 years, Keith, she never failed once toward her husband. She never failed once, and he came to Christ in the end. And before we react, we remember the grace our mother had. We remember the words she said to us and the example she was to us, that by grace you can. You can forgive. And forgive. And forgive, Peter. And forgive, Peter. Not seven times, Peter. On and on and on and on. By God's grace, you can reveal Christ. You can reveal Christ. I have been in many, many thousands of homes in the last 30 years preaching. Many, many thousands of homes of Christians. And there are very few Christian homes I've ever been in where I didn't become conscious that the husbands need to forgive their wives. I say it's a shame. It's shameful. I've been in ministers' homes in the hundreds where I didn't become conscious within moments that the minister, let alone a normal Christian, is bitter against his wife. You can't hide it, you know. And God says, Husbands, this can happen, but I don't want you to allow it. Be not bitter against your wives. Do you know what God says about a man who doesn't love his wife? He hates himself. Now, sir, God is not a psychiatrist. God knows man so through and through that man doesn't know where his thoughts are before God sees where they're coming from. If God says you hate yourself, I guarantee you if you don't love your wife, you hate your own body. You hate yourself. God knows you. You literally live in self-hatred if you don't love the one thing that must be one if you're right with God as your wife. I can tell you how holy a man is by the way he speaks to his wife. Full stop. I'd have to go a moment further to inquire about his life. Don't get bitter. Forgive. She's the weaker vessel. God says. Why do they say that to a husband? She's weaker than you. I want you, therefore, not to become bitter. Why does God say that? Oh, beloved, listen. Listen, husband. She bore your children. Do you know what that cost a woman's body? She raised them. She washed their clothes. She made their food. She made their beds. She raised them for you. And not only them, she had your clothes washed. She made your food. She kept your home. Do you think you were the only one tied at the end of the day? Do you know what went out of her body? And she's weaker than you, sir. She's not a little bit weaker than you. God made her so much weaker than you that you have to forgive her. You have to forgive her. Because God asks you and tells you, forgive. How many husbands need to forgive their wives so they can get right with God? Forgive to be forgiven. And it starts in the home, sir, not with the enemies out there. How many wives are bitter against their husbands? I could shock you by taking you to some of the names that are almost household names in the world where I've been in homes that husbands and wives are living together as good as separated in the home. When it finally comes out, you know, they open their hearts. And the wife, there's a bitterness. They cannot forgive this man for the way he failed. But she's saved. He's saved. God forgives.