Today is a very, very important day in my life. 20 years ago today I married my best friend.
He is my perfect counter balance and is strong where I am weak, wise where I am foolish, sensible when I am not. He has been completely devoted to us since before we married, knowing he would be accepting two children from my former marriage as his own. He did so joyfully and without reservation.
He has demonstrated the love God has for each of us, even adopting those two little boys at the first opportunity he received. He did so without hesitation, giving them his name and full rights to all that was his. They were never his adopted kids or step children; they have always been his boys.
As I struggled through my pregnancy with our only biological child, he prayed over me and brought me to the elders for anointing with oil. When our child was born he was excited to help care for him and raise him in to the godly young man he is today. He has been a wonderful father to all our children; instilling in them morals and values, showing them how to treat a woman, modeling what it means to cherish her.
My husband is a tower of strength and he leads his family with quiet, firm wisdom. In spite of sometimes insurmountable obstacles he has remained true to the calling of a godly man and a faithful husband. He has made difficult decisions in leadership, including moving us far away from everything and nearly everyone we ever knew. He has prayerfully undertaken difficult challenges knowing everything of worldly value hung in the balance.
My husband married a strong and opinionated woman and he has always accepted that in me. I am not easy to live with haha! He has challenged me, encouraged me, corrected and rebuked me when necessary. He has been an integral part of the many changes that have taken place in my heart and life.
He was the one who "suggested" I go to counseling all those years ago. That therapy is what led me down the path toward biblical counseling and is in part the reason I am involved in it today.
He has been completely supportive of the thousands hours I have spent in ministry service, encouraging me, standing both beside me and behind me. He has given me courage to step out in ways I would never have had the guts to do alone. He is my biggest cheerleader and my greatest “fan.”
This man completes me. He is truly a part of me, flesh of my flesh. When he hurts I hurt, when he rejoices I rejoice. I love pretty much everything about him! His humor brings out a side of me I tend to squelch. He makes me laugh.
He says love is sacrifice. He demonstrates his belief every single day he breathes. Each day he sacrifices of his time, his sleep, his comforts, himself...for me. Each and every morning for the past twenty years he has brought me tea in bed. I have only to mention a want, a need, and he is figuring out how to make it possible. I am beyond blessed by this man.
He is my lover and my best friend. I am so thankful to God for bringing him into my life, for giving us to each other. I would not trade one moment of any year we have spent together.
So there you have it. I surely hope and pray this special kind of love is a part of your lives. It is God-given and irreplaceable.
Happy Anniversary, my wonderful husband! Here's to another milestone, another touchstone on our way to eternity. We have passed every test, and climbed every mountain together. I am thankful to God for you, my love. Our next milestone will be the celebration of a quarter-century together. I look forward to seeing how God will use us and how our love will deepen over the coming years.