Family tells of God’s unending love

By TONY PALME
WHEN the love of a husband or father is missing in a family, that family will be shattered, however, some still find hope in God, the loyal and faithful Father.
Husbands and fathers are referred to as the “tower of strength” that the family needs to lean on through thick and thin.
Unfortunately, many wives and mothers, with their children, do not experience that.
Father’s Day reminds us of how important and special this person (a father) means to the family.
Family members who still have their husband or father that continue to provide the love, care and attention they need, could show their appreciation for him by surprising him with a gift or simply find some ways to show how much he means to them.
For Wendy Takeyako, a nursing officer at the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in Jiwaka, the person she knew as her husband and father to her children is never around for them to say “Happy Father’s Day”.
Wendy and her four children Roselily, Candesly, Robin and Leonie, were abandoned by their father 14 years ago.
Wendy said despite missing him, they have the Almighty Father who has taken care of them and provided them with everything they need.
Roselily, her first born was only in Grade 2 when her father left their family. Wendy and her husband got married in the church at Kudjip in 1994 and 10 years later he left.
Wendy will clock 30 years of service to the Kudjip Hospital next year and also turn 50 years old.
Roselily is now a second-year student at Kudjip Nazarene College of Nursing.
During Father’s Day celebrations at the Kudjip Nazarene Emmanuel Church last week, an emotional Roselily shared her testimony of how she coped, life without fatherly love.
“Even though my biological father left us, our heavenly Father has never left us. He is so faithful and loyal. He is everything we have and need,” Roselily said.
She said the senior male church members, Christian brothers and pastors were also like fathers to her.
Wendy walks around with the help of a walking stick.
Because of her condition, she has been moved to the dispensary section to prescribe drugs for patients.
Wendy is one of the most experienced members of the hospital staff, having worked in all four wards of the hospital since her first posting to Kudjip in 1989 as a community health worker and pioneer graduate of Tinsley Community Health Worker in Western Highlands.  She is from the Lumusa area of Mul-Baiyer district in Western Highlands.
Wendy said she had been single for seven years after graduating from Tinsley and worked at Kudjip. She raised her four children and paid their school fees on her own and never considered taking legal advice to seek welfare assistance for the children.
“God is everything, He is our father. All my life I live for God. I’m content with life and what I have,” she said.
Her favourite scripture verse for and her children is Mathew 28:20, which Jesus said to his disciples “I will be with you always to the end of the age”.
She also based her faith on God’s promise to care for his own in 1 Thessalonians 5:24 and Psalms 50:15.
Wendy said she has been inspired by some very strong women, four of whom have been working at Kudjip, but have never married.
“They’re married to the church,” she said of the four women.
“I’m taking my long leave next year. Because of my condition and having nowhere to go, the hospital has decided to extend my services for another 10 years.”
Wendy’s words of encouragement to mothers, widows, orphans and children out there: “If you are a woman or child abandoned by your husband or father or lost him through death, be strong and know that you have God as your father and your everything.”