🩷💘❤️‍🩹🏆🥇When I first heard the 1874 song titled: “Underneath the Gaslight Glitters” from my elder sister, Cecilia Ahman, I was less than ten years old.
Please read the lyrics of the first verse and its refrain below:

“Underneath the gaslight’s glitter,
Stands a fragile little girl;
Heedless of the night winds bitter,
As they round about her whirl.
While the thousands pass unheeding
In the evening’s waning hours;
Still she cries with tearful pleading,
Won’t you buy my pretty flowers?”
Refrain:
“There are many sad and weary
In this pleasant world of ours,
Crying in the night winds bitter.
Won’t you buy my pretty flowers?”

🩷💘❤️‍🩹🏆🥇SELLING FLOWERS ON A FROSTY WINTER’S NIGHT
When I heard this song as a child, I didn’t understand it, even though I found the melody very touching. But now, as an adult, I do, and I see it telling the age-old universal story of human pain and suffering.
The little fragile girl selling flowers in the dead of night during the cold winter season wasn’t there because it was convenient. Neither was it convenient for her parents, as no parents would want their daughter to be out on the street so late, especially on a cold winter’s night. But in all probability, the flowers desperately needed to be sold, or there would be no money for food or critical medication in the home the next day. That is why the little girl braved the piercing and biting cold, pleading with the uncaring multitudes of passersby, “Won’t you buy my pretty flowers?”
Behind that Victorian-era child were her parents—a couple who were probably godly, loved each other deeply, and were hardworking, yet had constant battles with finances—one of the many forms of human pain.

🩷💘❤️‍🩹🏆🥇STRANGER THAN FICTION, YET TRUE
In the course of preparing this message, the Lord mysteriously led me to the true-life story of Terry Gobanga, a Kenyan female pastor. It is another instance of how God allows pain for a purpose we may not understand.
On the morning of her wedding day, she was abducted by gangsters in Nairobi and driven six miles away. She was gang-raped by the three criminals, who, at the end of their dastardly act, stabbed her in the stomach.
Back in the large cathedral where her wedding was to take place, her groom, her in-laws, and a huge congregation waited in vain until the wedding had to be cancelled.
Her abductors threw her out of their moving vehicle and sped away. She was taken to the hospital and later recovered, but the doctor informed her that she would never have a child because the stab wound had penetrated deeply and affected her womb.

🩷💘❤️‍🩹🏆🥇HER HANDSOME GROOM STILL LOVED HER
After her full recovery, her groom still wanted to marry her. It was at this point that someone—a woman she had never met, but who had herself survived rape and had read her story—came into the picture with a beautiful offer: she and her friends would take care of all the expenses of her next wedding!
And the next wedding, exactly seven months after the first, was bigger, brighter, and better than the first!

🩷💘❤️‍🩹🏆🥇AND DEATH CAME CALLING
But just twenty-nine days after the wedding, her husband suddenly died! Now, don’t forget that she was a pastor—not a Sunday school teacher, but a PASTOR!!
As would be expected, tongues wagged, mouths whispered into ears, and elbows dug into ribs. Some even said she was cursed, and, in fear, frantic mothers pulled their children away from her. She patiently endured everything with a fortitude that only God can give.

🩷💘❤️‍🩹🏆🥇A DREAMY NEW BEGINNING
Then a new suitor appeared, but she wasn’t willing, let alone excited. The man, however, was determined. She told him she would not be able to give him children, but he didn’t mind. So she finally consented.
Three years after her first successful wedding, she and her new husband tied the knot.
The following year, she conceived, contrary to the predictions of modern medicine. She gave birth to a bouncing baby girl. Two years later, she conceived again and had another baby girl. What a testimony of glorious victory!
But I want to let you know that tonight—yes, tonight—I also read true-life news reports of other pastors and workers in God’s vineyard whose wives were abducted and raped to death. Their wives never survived. Yet they, too, are loved by God.

🩷💘❤️‍🩹🏆🥇A PATRIARCH WHO WENT THROUGH SORE PAINS
One of the men whom the Bible tells us God loved was Jacob (Romans 9:13). Jacob lived a life of purity and sexual abstinence, unlike Esau, who was promiscuous.
He set out to marry at the advanced age of seventy-seven and only at the bidding of his aged parents.
But alas, his beloved wife, Rachel, was withheld from motherhood for a long time by the Lord (Genesis 29:31; 30:2, 22–23). Then, when his joy overflowed after the birth of Joseph and during the pregnancy of their second child, as he was returning to present her to his parents in Canaan, she died on the way! He had to bury her somewhere on the way.
Can you imagine the depth of Jacob’s sorrow on that grim day?
Yet he never said, “O God, why did You allow this?” He never murmured. He never grumbled. He continued bravely in his walk of faith with God—undiscouraged and unbowed.

🩷💘❤️‍🩹🏆🥇CONCLUSION
Dearly beloved, do not be deceived into believing that God’s presence exempts us from trials, troubles, distresses, pain, opposition, and other manifestations of the storms of life. But God gives us this strong assurance:
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” (Isaiah 43:2)
No matter the trials and pain that you and your spouse are navigating at this time, be assured that the Lord is fully aware. He is not just aware—He is right there with you.
The fire will not consume you, and the waters will not drown you. You will come out stronger, with a glorious testimony, as you hold on to the Lord and refuse to give up on Him.🏆

💕❤️ Tonight’s Bedroom Assignment:
Reread this devotional together just before bedtime and discuss it with open and sincere hearts.

📚📖✒️ Quotes For Reflection:
“Sexual intimacy in marriage is fighting a war of territorial defence for your matrimonial kingdom, and you are doing it from your bedroom and from your marriage bed. It is a tactical warfare of territorial protection. It is fortifying the divine hedge that surrounds your marriage, family, and home.”(Anselm Ahman. Lovebirds’ Devotional, June 5, 2026)

✝️ Altar Call:
Jesus Christ is calling you! Come to Him today and be saved!

🌡️⚗️ Scientific Info To Boost Your Marriage:
“Berries are loaded with flavonoids (nutrients that give fruits their vibrant color), which are proven to lower the risk of erectile dysfunction by protecting artery walls and improving blood flow. Blackberries also contain zinc, which helps regulate testosterone production.”

🎸🎷🪘 Anointed Music Section