One of the greatest joys of being a husband is boasting about my wife. My favorite preacher on the planet is my bride. Keeli boldly goes where few dare. This isn’t just when she ministers to hundreds at a time, but she also demonstrates valiant boldness when speaking to individuals. Most of the time, I’m thinking, “I wouldn’t say that to someone.” She can be brutally honest and simultaneously loving. She has made I Corinthians 13 a reality… Especially the passage that states, “Love rejoices in the truth.”
In the moments Keeli speaks the truth of God’s love to people, I begin to see how selfless love is. Knowing the truth and holding it from others is an instrument of control and manipulation. Unfortunately, we see this in the church at an uncomfortable level. Imagine being invited to speak at a church and being told, right before you begin, not to mention the Holy Spirit because some might see Him as controversial or divisive (even though He is the key to unity).
How selfish it is for someone to have experienced the healing power of God and not offer it to those in pain? How selfish is it to know the benefits of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and not teach it? How selfish is it to build a ministry based on a preacher’s closeness with God rather than helping bring others to the realization that Jesus has already closed in on us? How selfish is it to know Jesus' limitless love and not shout it from the rooftops? Each time Keeli teaches people how to hear the voice of God, leads them to Jesus or in the baptism of the Spirit, or releases the healing power of God into their bodies, I see how unselfish she is. When I hear others say, “Why haven’t I heard about this before?” I realize just how fearless my wife is because of the boldness she has received from the Holy Spirit.
Since the moment I fell in love with Keeli, I felt it was my duty to make sure she was able to fulfill her call to preach the Gospel each time the door opened. We were married and opportunities followed. She was invited on multiple occasions to address crowds with the Gospel. To my shock and awe, she declined. I asked her why she didn’t go and this was her response:
“I married you so we could go together.”
The opportunities didn’t end there. We still get invited to speak but we never fly solo. We believe there is something that has been missing from the message being preached. Crowds of hundreds or thousands of people cannot compare to the best ministry life has to offer: family. In the words of Keeli, “We always go together.” As my wife forfeited opportunities to travel abroad to do what she loves to do, she remained with her family, waiting for the opportunities to do the very thing we love to do more than anything – together as a family.
-Jonathan Fawcett