Today David and I are celebrating our thirteenth anniversary. Two people who met online and married in eight months. We’ve done very well considering our (at that time) very unorthodox beginning. But God’s hand was on us and continues to this day. It is only by God’s grace that we have what we have.
As I was thinking about marriage last night, the Lord impressed upon me the “for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health”. We’ve run the full gamut of these over the past thirteen years. Job loss, spiritual abuse, miscarriage, infertility, financial loss, health problems, family estrangement. The list is lengthy. Neither one of us could have ever foreseen all that would happen to us during these past thirteen years. There have been some very hard times.
And yet I would not trade them because I’ve had a kind and patient man by my side through it all. No, David is not without his faults and he will be the first to admit it. But when I think of all he has gone through over the past thirteen years in caring for me and serving me, I can honestly say that I have a much greater appreciation for what it means when men are to love their wives as Christ loves the church. David has given sacrificially to me and now Caroline over and over and over again.
So as we say good-bye to our thirteenth year and begin our fourteen year together, I praise God for how He has brought us through so much with our love and commitment to each other still there. I am even more thankful for the steadfast love of our God who walks patiently and lovingly with us each day.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
Setting the scene: Caroline is eating banana bread for her before bath snack. She goes to get out of her chair and give a bite to Daddy and somehow falls onto the floor, hard.