The Day My Husband Made Me Cry

Now many of you might think that Mike making me cry is a bad thing. However, I promise this is a really, really good thing.

I want to first talk briefly about God's vision for marriage. This is not a sermon but a reminder and frame of reference for the rest of this post. God designed us in his image and desired for us to marry, male and female, for it is not good for us to be alone. Marriage brings us closer to Christ as our spouse models for us the life-saving love that God has for us. We are still humans and imperfect, only Christ's love is perfect, but our spouse comes closest to modeling this perfect love for us. In his book, The Meaning of Marriage, Tim Keller says that to be fully known and fully loved is our greatest desire. Our spouse sees everything, all of our crazy parts that we are ashamed to show the rest of the world - and our spouse still loves us deeply.

So, with that in mind, I want to share with you about a recent glimpse of the way Mike loves me that can bring me to my knees in awe of our perfect God.

Praying together before our wedding ceremony.

I had my first admissions interview with Northwestern. The interview kind of "snuck up" on us - I received an email to sign up for my interview on a Friday at which point I realized the only available time slot was the following Friday. I flew out the Thursday before my interview and so as I packed and prepared on Wednesday I was a bit of a mess. I did not feel confident in my preparations, in my appearance, and in my chances of getting into the program. Mike suggested that I go to the mall and buy something to wear that will help me to outwardly reflect the inner confidence he knows I possess. Those tracking with us know that we started using the envelope system this month and so our "Clothing" envelope (which is intended to be a rolling envelope where we slowly save some money for clothes) did not have enough in it to purchase anything for the interview. Mike went in our room and counted how much money was in the envelope then went to his wallet and grabbed his Christmas money and handed it to me.

I'm crying now just thinking about this moment. My sweet, sweet husband desired to see me succeed in my interview and believed in me so much that he actively sacrificed something of his (the gift he had received, Christmas money) to support me. I wish I could explain to you just how powerfully this hit me. This is a picture of what marriage is made to be - a daily sacrificing and dying to ourselves in support of the other person.

If you are unfamiliar with this picture of marriage, I invite you to explore it. First, take a look at the Bible - read Genesis 2 and Ephesians 5. Then, check out some of the books below all written by amazing dudes and their wives. I would argue that none of these books are perfect (they are written by imperfect humans, after all) but they nail it on the key points.

• The Meaning of Marriage - Timothy Keller
• Sacred Marriage - Gary Thomas
• You and Me Forever - Francis and Lisa Chan
• The Mingling of Souls - Matt and Lauren Chandler (Disclaimer: I haven't had a chance to read this one yet but I definitely respect the Chandlers and feel certain this one won't disappoint).

We are praying for you - we are praying that those of you who are married may know this deep, sacrificial love both with your spouse and the Lord and those of you who are single may receive this love from the Father who gives perfectly and that it will compel you to love others in a brave, new way. Trust me, it's worth giving up your own comforts to stand alongside your spouse and show them that you love them so much that you will make personal sacrifices to support them.