Three weeks ago today, May 31, I was married to the most incredible woman in the world. How do I begin to share the wondrous blessing of marriage that has come upon my life? Excited doesn't cover it. Thrilled, not even close. Yahoo...getting warmer. You see, one can imagine for years the blessing and thrill of something but until you actually experience it, then and only then can you really understand.
All of my life, I knew God was good. I mean God is good, good God, God=good, etc. I was raised in a Bible teaching home where this was an assumed fact in all conversations. Another assumed fact that I was raised with was God is love, God loves me, and God=love. But 10 months ago, I saw a different side of God's goodness and love that I never truly grasped or conceived possible in my life: a wife. When I turned 29 last year, I never imagined that before I turned 30, God would bring me an incredible woman to spend my life serving Him. Yet, as I type, a shiny titanium ring sits upon my left hand, proclaiming that on May 31, 2008 at 2:29 PM EST, I married my best friend!!
Too often in my life, I truly underestimate God. I proclaim His name, read His word, but fail to truly grasp the character of God. As a child, I heard and received God's precious gift of salvation from sin. By grace, through faith, not by my works, God saved me and made me His child. (Eph. 2:8-9, Titus 3:5-6, Romans 6:23) Hearing the truth of God's word over and over can have a numbing affect on oneself if one does not constantly renew his mind. Thus, after many years of living life, I had become numb to the truth that God saved me, loved me, and wanted to share blessings with me. Only now at 29, have I begun to realize that I have created a storage unit for God in my life. "God goes here and does this because that is my vision of God." Unfortunately for this near sighted child of God, I was wrong, dead wrong.
So what does this have to do with my three week old marriage? Simply put, I had boxed God in and assumed what I knew God would do rather than walking by faith. I headed off to train for the mission field last August, bound and determined that I knew God and His will for me. Well, I did, sort of. The greatest truth that I have realized since then is two fold: 1. God can never violate His character and 2. God will act according to His character and His perspective on time. Thus, I knew that God was good and loving, but I severely underestimated just how deep His goodness and love went. I had already received from Him the most precious gift in life: salvation from sin. But God saw that it was not good for this man to be alone, and he blessed me with a wife.
I could have lived the rest of my life single and satisfied, really. But God, in His great wisdom and love, gave me a partner and best friend to share every aspect of this life for the rest of my days. She is precious, beautiful, patient, but above all she is a gift from God. So on this the three week anniversary of our wedding, I want to honor the Lord and thank Him for the two most life changing events in my life: salvation from my sin and marriage.
To my loving wife, may I truly love you as Christ loves the church and gave Himself for her. I love you and will always be grateful to God for the privilege and honor of being your husband.
