The Lord your God is with you;
the mighty One will save you.
He will rejoice over you.
You will rest in his love;
he will sing and be joyful about you.
the mighty One will save you.
He will rejoice over you.
You will rest in his love;
he will sing and be joyful about you.
Zeph. 3:17(NCV)
I want to tell you all about my husband. He’s a wonderful man. He is a real partner in our marriage, taking on household responsibilities alongside me, running errands I don’t like to run, and sharing in the joys and achievements of our children. He seasons my life in many ways keeping me from being the dull person that I most likely would be left to my own devices. He is a much more fun person than I am. He makes me laugh and encourages me to not take myself too seriously. He is intellectually challenging, forcing me to think outside my own perceptions. He is more socially gifted then I, often bridging the gap in what for me might be an awkward social moment many, many times. But these are not the best gifts he has offered me in the time we have been together.
No, the greatest give that he has given and continues to gives me is unconditional love. I don’t mean that we never fight or that he always agrees with me or that he does everything my way. Quite the opposite is true much of the time. We have had our share of difficulties and problems at times causing our relationship to feel much like a roller coaster ride.
What I mean is that he absolutely loves me despite my all the problems, imperfections, and ugliness found both on the outside and inside of me. When we first started dating, he used to tell me I was perfect. That scared me. I was afraid he wasn’t seeing me for who I really was. I was worried I would at some point fall off of the pedestal he placed me on and he would lose all respect for me because he wasn’t looking at me from a realistic point of view. But after being together for almost 20 yrs (3 dating and almost 17 married) I have come to realize that all along he saw everything about me, the good and bad, and he loves me anyway. He sees the extra pounds, the stretch marks, the blemishes. He sees the grumpiness, the selfishness, and the tendencies to be reclusive, shutting myself away from others. He sees all that garbage and so much more that I am not ready to share here. He has flung held any of that stuff back into my face. He has never made me feel ashamed, humiliated, or worthless. He sees the junk. My garbage pile has often stunk up our relationship and caused us to argue, disagree, or be hurt. We have spent days in silence and nights with our backs to each other in bed. And yet, none of it has changed how much he loves me. His love has not wavered or diminished. He loves me. Oh, how he loves me.
Having my husband’s unconditional love is more than enough in itself. But being able to be loved like that every day, is a constant , tangible reminder that this is how God loves me. God knows me even more intimately than my husband, and loves me even more deeply. I do not have to pretend to be what I am not. I do not have to try to be perfect. Just as I am able to rest in the knowledge that my husband loves me despite of my many faults, I can rest in the knowledge that God has accepted me as I am, he knows what I am, and he loves me still. He will never fling my own garbage in my face to remind me of how wretched I am. He just loves me and oh how he loves me.
Thank you Billy for creating this picture of God’s love in my life. Thank you God for blessing me with such a man as my husband who teaches me every day what true love is.
