Good morning…
“Good morning, Sue,” emailed a reader I have never met from Tennessee. “Just had to share that your message on marriage came to me on what would have been our 34th wedding anniversary, having been married at Northside United Methodist Church June 6, 1987. You and I, as believers, know that there are no coincidences! Thanks for sharing God’s light and love through your wonderful devotionals. I am a grateful recipient! As our brother Paul would start and end all of his letters, grace and peace to you and yours.”
“God’s timing is perfect,” I replied. “I actually was thinking as God and I wrote our message on marriage, ‘How will this post speak to people who have never been married, those who feel trapped in a toxic marriage, or those who have lost a spouse to death or divorce, disease or dementia?’ I sensed that somehow this message might give meaning to the grief inside the heart of those living without a soulmate. We are all created by God to enjoy healthy relationships, to have and to become helpmates, counterparts, complimentary partners. Yet in the absence, something strong and empowering expands into our aching void, like a starfish who loses a limb before gradually growing a new one. A new wholeness develops in a different way than originally expected.”
“What do you think about these thoughts?” I asked. “How did you feel as you read this morning’s message on marriage? What lessons have you learned about deep loss and new growth? I am grateful to be conversing with you honestly today, on the anniversary of your own wonderful wedding.”
“I think the blog post was 100% confirming of how important marriage is to God, and it made me so appreciate the gift I had through my marriage for nearly 32 years!” she emailed back. “Now that my husband has left this earth, I sense that God has said ‘I will now complete you and fill that hole in your heart,’ recreating in new ways that ‘wholeness,’ that oneness that occurs in every good marriage.”
“So I found your message to be one of hope and encouragement, and right on point for God’s purpose in our lives,” she concluded. “Thank you again for sharing God’s truth and shining His light on the path before us!”
Over a lifetime, many of us feel left alone. And I swear when that day comes, she’ll call Me “my husband” and never address Me again as “my master”… To His reclaimed bride, God says, “I’m going to marry you, and this time it’ll be forever in righteousness and justice. Our covenant will reflect a loyal love and great mercy; our marriage will be honest and truthful, and you’ll understand who I really am—the Eternal One” (Hosea 2:16-17, 19-20, VOICE).
It’s such a joy to call God “my husband.” As we grow in oneness with our living Lord, then the important people in our lives can be loved, imperfect people, not elevated as gods. With God as our God, we enjoy a forever marriage, honest and truthful. Our wholeness is reclaimed with loyal love and great mercy, as we grow to understand who God really is – the Eternal One.
…Sue…
