Shiloh - Family Altar
TESTIMONY
By Grace and Emmanuel Bwesigye
Greetings!
We praise the Lord so much for His faithfulness and love above all.
We are quite a big family: Emmanuel, Grace and our daughter Faith, plus three more children the Lord added to us: Elizabeth, who is now in secondary school, and Obed and Deus, whom Grace looked after from the time they started secondary school. This year the two boys are joining university.
We got married on 17th December 2005 and the future seemed smooth and bright for us in all ways. Emmanuel was a bank manager and Grace was embarking on writing her dissertation, as the last part of her Masters programme. To our amazement, the Lord had blessed us with a baby during our honeymoon, so we joyfully waited for Faith Joy Ahereza to come after nine months. We led a happy life up to our second wedding anniversary.
The following day, 18th December 2007, Emmanuel got an early morning call from his office inquiring on his whereabouts because his bosses were already in the office waiting for him. We did not sense trouble. On the way to his office, he got another call and the moment he arrived there he was asked to hand over his staff identity card and keys and explain why two weeks prior, the auditors had noticed a shortage of UGX2.5million (about US$1,100) which was balanced off the day after it was discovered.
Emmanuel gave explanations but in vain and was sent on a suspension that led to a dismissal after three months. The dismissal letter read dishonesty and neglect of duty yet the previous year he had won an award as one of the best bankers and we had enjoyed his prize of nine days in Singapore, Thailand and Phuket.
To cut the story short, this led to a long journey of trouble, suffering, rejection and lack. This was so because we had no option but to use all our savings to service our home loan, and thereafter continue raising UGX1million monthly to service the loan. On this note, we thank our family members, relatives and friends for standing with us all the way during these challenges.
The darkness thickened when Grace was diagnosed with pre-cancer of the cervix. She received treatment and was eventually declared free from the deadly cells after a year, but we were told that chances of conceiving again were minimal. However, we kept on confessing that the Lord would bless us with more children. After a prayer of deliverance, Grace was able to conceive, and as we write this, she is eight months pregnant as can be seen from the photo. We cannot stop thanking God for His faithfulness. He is a wonder-working God.
In our time of trouble we found great encouragement by keeping in touch with other Christians. We stayed in fellowship, believing God for restoration. It was during this time that we met Rev. Christine Shimanya and from our interactions we grew in prayer and fasting, and learnt to seek God earnestly. The Lord spoke to us clearly on areas that needed deliverance. Through prayer the chains that held us have been broken, whether ancestral or what we brought on ourselves.
If we say we have not broken through, we will be lying because as we testify today, Grace has a job that the Lord clearly gave to her; we have sold off the house that was built on loan, cleared the loan and a few debts. We are building a debt-free house on a full acre of land yet the old house was on half an acre. Emmanuel has no formal employment but has started a brick-making business and we are trusting God to enable us to finish paying off the remaining debts, bless His ministries, and continue paying school fees for the children amongst other duties that we have as a family. Our name “Bwesigye” means “trusting God”; we treasure the level of faith and trust in God that we have received out of this journey, and pray that we do not disappoint our God.
It is our prayer that we continue to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding, wisdom, knowledge, properties, jobs or academic qualifications; but acknowledge Him in all situations and indeed, He will direct our paths and make crooked ones straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6).
God bless you!
20 Aug 2010
