THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN
Evangelist Bamiloye who has been married to Gloria Bamiloye
for 27 years, encouraged single ladies who are searching to learn from his
marriage and shouldn't make money topmost priority when choosing a man to spend
the rest of their lives with
Popular pastor and founder of Mount Zion Faith Drama Ministry,
Mike Bamiloye marked the world's Mother's Day by narrating how his wife
influenced his success and that of his ministry.Evangelist Bamiloye who has been married to Gloria Bamiloye
for 27 years, encouraged single ladies who are searching to learn from his
marriage and shouldn't make money topmost priority when choosing a man to spend
the rest of their lives with.Narrating his marital journey, he showered sweet words on his
wife, saying that if not for his wife, he probably wouldn’t have been where he
is today or his very popular drama ministry.Bamiloye narrated how his wife's family had protested against
their relationship including how his elder sister who had gone to his wife's
family and pleaded with them not to give her brother their daughter's hand in
marriage because he was jobless and poor.Read his story below:(Tribute to My Wife – Sister Gloria Bamiloye)Proverbs 31:10-12, 23, 28, 30 NKJV[10] Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above
rubies.[11] The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will
have no lack of gain.[12] She does him good and not evil All the days of her life.[23] Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among
the elders of the land.[28] Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband
also, and he praises her:[30] Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman
who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.February 4th, 2015, was my wife’s 51st Birthday. And this
year would be the 27 years, since 1988 the year we got married, when she was
only 24 years old and I was 28. Since then, we have travelled through the
thicks and the things together, we have climbed the mountains and descended
into the valleys together. We have faced adverse physical and spiritual
situations together. We have both confronted together, daunting challenges that
have stood and those that are still standing against our lives and ministry.She was 51 and she got phone calls and congratulatory text
messages on phone and on Facebook page throughout yesterday till late in the
night. Our two sons brought her gift – two digitally painted pictures of her
early years on film set. And I also bought her a small teddy bear. The several
phone calls and congratulatory messages of the birthday made us feel a large
crowd of well-wishers had attended our birthday party. Thank you all.But what is special about this great woman is when I remember
how we started and how we have been journeying this journey since then. And
when I recall some of the things that happen today among our single and
marriageable sisters, I cannot but give praises to the Lord God who brought
this simple and humble sister my way several years ago.I have written this story in some of my write-ups and in one
of my books, however, there is need to recall some of it for the benefit of
some of our single sisters who might need to learn from it. I graduated from
higher institution in 1983 and served in 1983/84. Right from the Campus days, I
had been involved in drama ministry, all through my Youth Service, I was
sending drama scripts back into the fellowship for drama presentations and I
would travel down from Plateau State to direct the rehearsals and participate
in the major drama presentation on Drama Night. After my Youth Service in 1984,
I was involved fully in campus drama evangelism with the fellowship drama
group, travelling to other campuses and churches outside the campus for drama
presentation. And Sister Gloria was among the new members that joined the drama
group.In 1985, sometimes in early July, I proposed to her to marry
me and she told me she would pray over it. On August 4th, 1985, she revisited
my proposal and said “Yes” to it. So, our journey began. Now, the real issue
was that, I had nothing. I had nothing physical or material that any lady could
be proud of. I had only one single room, with one bed, one table and chair, a
standing hanger where I hanged my few fading shirts and only one suit which I
used to iron from time to time and red tie from special occasion.Inside the single room was my cooking stove and a dilapidated
standing fan, which had lost its foot and the head was tied facing the bed. And
of course, a precious item – my bookshelf serving as a small library.So, when Sister Gloria visited my abode for the first time,
these were all I had and she saw. My physical and material possessions could
never be compared to what I was on the campus. “Bro Mike” was famous among the
fellowship as a “gym-gym” brother full of zeal for drama and drama only.And the drama group of the fellowship became the most
influential of all the sub-groups of the fellowship, because almost all the
executive officers became members of the sub-group, including the President and
the Vice-President and the General Secretary of the Christian Fellowship. So I
was so rich in spiritual substance and full of great visons, but had no
enviable physical or material possessions any young lady could be proud of.But,
when Sis Gloria entered my room, one afternoon, she never saw all those things
I mentioned but only one thing arrested her attention: my bookshelf containing
several spiritual books, including the books of Kenneth Hagin's, Oral Roberts,
T.L. Osborne, Oswald J. Smith, etc. She hasten to the shelf and shouted
“Whoa!”, and she sat by the bookshelf and began to look at those precious books
she had longed to have and read. Ah!.I was happy I had what she wanted and desired. She wanted
spiritual books that would make her grow. And I had just that! All other things
never mattered to her.I had nothing physical, but I had a great vision of the
future and she embraced that vision with all her heart and might. When her
senior brothers and her parents were demanding from her to know the work that
her fiancé was doing that could qualify him to marry her, she stood on my
behalf to defend me before her people that I was into drama ministry and there
was a great future ahead of us.The people could not see what she was talking about, because
I was already on full-time drama ministry and I had no physical enviable thing
they all could hold on to. They were furious with her and thought she must be
out of her mind to have decided to marry “a man who has no job and no physical
possession and no appreciable future”.When we informed them we wanted to get married three years
down our courtship, they revolted and my Mummy ( my elder sister), led the war
to Sis Gloria’s parents to warn them never to give their daughter to me in
marriage because I had no job to take care of their daughter. She stood by what
God had told her about me, that there was a great future ahead of us. The Lord
convinced them all and they supported us and we married in 1988, three years
after the Mount Zion ministry launched. And our journey to that future began.
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