By Fungayi Sox With divorce rates at an annual spike of over 10% over the past few years, Pastor Rhoda Mafukidze recently launched a Marriage handbook titled 31 Secrets to a Failproof Marriage at a colourful event, which coincided with her 37th marriage anniversary in Harare.
Pastor Mafukidze is a holder of various qualifications including a MSc in Strategic Management as well as diplomas in Nursing and Theology.
Her experience brings a breath of fresh air with writing her debut book being a dream turned into reality.
She is a mother and grandmother to five daughters, four sons in law and nine grandchildren. She finds inspiration from her family life, service at church and nursing career and is happily married to her husband Kingstone.
Her debut book 31 Secrets to a Failproof Marriage is endowed with practical tips which encourages the partnership of human efforts with divine interaction as the recipe for success in marriage.
Guest of honour at the launch Roy Musasiwa, who is the principal of the Domboshava Theological College and a member of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe commended Pastor Mafukidze for penning a book which “prioritised God above anything else” .
Musasiwa said the book would come in handy as it was written from a “biblical perspective”.
Pastor Mafukidze said she wrote the book when she and her husband Kingstone were celebrating 31 years of marriage back in June 2016. She said her book was a “summary of some of the main lessons we gleaned about life, love and marriage in a period of more than three decades. It does not describe everything learnt but only the highlights”.
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“We owe what we have learnt, firstly to the Holy Spirit, the greatest teacher, and to our parents, the church, friends and relatives,” said Pastor Mafukidze.
“We have also benefited immensely from various speakers, books, audio recordings and numerous marriage seminars and outings in a period spanning over three decades.”
“Having only learnt some of the issues addressed in this book after making mistakes, we do not desire anyone especially those younger than us — to make the same mistakes that we have made.
“We humbly offer this book as a source of real-life examples other couples can learn from?
The launch was facilitated by TV personality and entrepreneur Sympathy Mangwenya Sibanda.
According to Pastor Mafukidze, her book is rooted in three convictions.
Firstly, that God desires that we thoroughly enjoy our marriages and not only endure them.
Secondly, that it is possible to go through serious challenges and never contemplate divorce — (a forbidden word in their marriage).
The Bible is a love story of how God explicitly, continuously and persistently sought to reconcile with His bride, the church rather than divorce her.
Finally, that there is nothing impossible with our God, the same applies with marriages.
l Fungayi Antony Sox works at TisuMazwi — a social enterprise which specialises in book publishing and storytelling projects including book editing, ghost-writing, content creation and digital media. He writes in his personal capacity. For feedback contact him on 0776 030 949, follow him on Twitter @AntonySox, or connect with him on LinkedIn on Fungayi Antony Sox.
