James and Judith love their children. Christable is 10 and Vanessa is 5. Yet, somehow over time, life seemed to have gone wrong. They seemed to have drifted apart. The family wasn’t attending church anymore. James spent less time at home, more time at the local bar. They weren’t talking, and when they did talk it seemed it was only to argue. No one in the family was happy.

As things continued to deteriorate at home, one of the churches in their area announced the launch of a new Sunday School program. The church is part of the Church Network with Y-Malawi partner World Relief. When the children heard about the Sunday School, and that some of their friends were going, they asked Mom if they could go also. While Mom didn’t want to attend herself, but she saw no harm in it. She agreed they could go with some neighbor children.

Christable and Vanessa loved Sunday School from the very first day. They just couldn’t wait to go and be with the other children, singing, learning Bible verses, and hearing stories from the Word of God. After Sunday School they would come home and tell their parents about what they had learned. They would share the verses, the songs, and the stories. They even demanded that the family start praying before meals.

One evening James came home drunk. As he sat in the dirt listening to his children sharing about Sunday School, he couldn’t help but notice the joy they seemed to have in being a part of what was happening at church. The joy he saw in the faces of his children spoke to his unhappy heart. He had to find out what this was all about. He told Judith that the next Sunday, he was going to go to church with the children.

James did go. So did Judith. It changed their lives. Now this restored family never misses a Sunday. They are not only Sunday School members, but they are happy again. The fighting is gone, the drinking is gone, the anger is gone. It has been replaced with love and respect. It has been replaced with praying and sharing together. God used these two children to teach James and Judith about the love of God. Now, with a new passion, they are sharing with everyone they know how God used Christable and Vanessa to open their eyes to joy.