"I'm a Changed Father ..."

A child who witnesses domestic violence or is the victim of abuse bears scars from those experiences. Long after the physical scars heal, the child carries the fear, confusion and weight of the abuse.

That was the burden Claude was carrying.

“As a child, I always witnessed my father beating my mother,” says Claude. “I was so afraid of my father. He would come back home at night, very drunk, wake us up and at times beat us for no reason.”

When Claude was 6, he was registered at a Compassion center in his community. Soon, Claude’s mother was able to convince his father, Viateur, to attend the monthly caregiver prayer meetings.

“Before my child’s sponsorship, I had never gone to church besides the time I was baptized when I was a baby,” says Viateur. “I didn’t give any importance to prayer and I always saw evangelicals as crazy people. So, when my wife went to church, I felt that she was wasting time instead of being in the garden digging or doing house chores.”

But something began to take root at those “wasted time” prayer meetings. The teachers there both loved and challenged Viateur. And after eight long years, those seeds that were being planted finally took root.

“The center played a big role in leading me to Christ,” says Viateur. “During the meetings for caregivers, they preached to us and told us about God’s love for us and our families. I was also amazed at the gifts the sponsors send to our children. It was so hard for me to understand how someone can love a child they don’t know or see. It really challenged me.”

Viateur joined the choir at the church and became involved in community outreach and mentorship with other men at the church. But Viateur also had to deal with the pain he had caused his wife and children.

“I regret the pain I caused my wife and children. The only time I realized I was a bad husband and father was after I had embraced salvation,” says Viateur. “Now, I’m a changed father and husband from the time I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. There is peace in my home. My wife and children are happy about my transformation. [My faith in Jesus] made me better.”

Through the support and counseling he received at the center alongside his father, Claude has also found forgiveness and peace. Following his father’s lead, he joined the teen choir at the church, and he says that he and his father enjoy singing and praying together.

The last person Viateur needed to seek forgiveness from was his wife, Josiane. But little did he know that all along, she prayed for him. For his heart. And for their family.

“The day my husband got saved, it was hard to believe it,” says Josiane. “It was a miraculous act to witness. During prayers and fasting sessions at church, God would tell me of how He would wipe away all my tears and save my husband. It felt impossible, but God is faithful.”