A True Partner

I haven't written a blog in quite some time. I do not think that it is because I have absolutely nothing to write about...but, as most people that write know...you have to be in a certain mood, a frame of mind to be able to express all that is bursting to come out. We writers can be very arrogant at times...thinking that if we do not have that perfect adjective to describe or that specific word that will move someone..then we just will not write at all. Hmmph!

Lately, I find myself a little down in spirit. I had taken a fall in January down a few stairs and unfortunately, injured my foot. Now, being the stubborn woman that I am, I refused medical treatment for close to two weeks. When I finally made the appointment, the pain was at an all time high. I think that instinctively I knew that there was a fracture or a break...but, hearing the doctor confirm it and then send me on to an orthopedic surgeon, just heightened my fear.

When I got the call from the orthopedist office, the appointment was still two weeks away. I called them back the next morning and just asked that if someone happened to cancel an appointment, I would be more than happy to take it. Be careful what you pray for.....there was an appointment open the next morning bright and early! I woke up that morning feeling sorry for myself....I had to go to the appointment alone. My husband had to stay home and get our little girl to school. There were xrays to be taken and I was in pain....poor me! After the doctor examined my foot and checked the xrays, he said that he really couldn't see anything on the xray but that did not mean that there was nothing wrong. He assured me that this could very well be a stress fracture and we needed to treat it as such. He put me in a boot cast and sent me home, with a follow up appointment three weeks later.

I went back to the doctor this week and new xrays were made and there was a very visible hairline fracture. The prognosis was horrible. He said that this was a 3 month healing process and that the pain could last anywhere from 6 months to a year. To a very active, always on the go Preacher's wife, this was not the news that I had wanted to hear.

After I was finished being "full of myself" I got out my computer in the hopes of getting "lost" by reading others tweets and seeing what all of my friends were up to on Facebook. What I got was a true lesson in humility.

First, I checked on the progress of my friend, Heather. She had recently undergone her THIRD (yes, you read it correctly) brain surgery. She was in a hospital in excruciating pain...swelling, headaches and even a black eye (yet she still looked beautiful and wore that precious smile). From her bed, she was tweeting special messages to her friends. Her precious husband Christian, had been keeping everyone up to date on her progress by blogging and sending texts...all the while, trying to work and take care of their precious 8 year old daughter Tory...while facing his own fears and having to know his beloved wife was in pain.

In another hospital many miles away, my dear friend Randy, who is more a brother than a friend, lay recovering from open heart surgery. He was still being kept "under" with his chest still open....while the doctors and nurses worked to keep him alive. His devoted spouse Angela, right by his side, texting everyone and keeping them up to date....exhausted and scared....praying for the best possible outcome.

Then...there is my sister. Just moved into a new home after recently losing her husband of 30 years. As she was unpacking, trying to make a place with newly painted walls and steam cleaned carpets a home for herself and her 9 year old son....5 miles away, under 8 inches of snow, her husband was buried. Mike had been a very devoted and loving husband for many years. In his final days, Joyce was able to take care of the man that had always been the caregiver.

My own husband, a pastor of a busy church, on different committees and a loving Papa to our little girl...has been taking care of me. Not allowing me to do a lot and trying to do anything possible to help in the healing process of this old foot. He has cared for me with so much love and even though it has increased his workload, he never complains or loses his cool.

These are all examples of a true partner in life. If you are blessed to have such a spouse....thank God every day for them. Ephesians 5:25 came to mind this morning as I was reading Christian's blog about Heather....."Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...." What if we all lived that way and loved our partners in that same all consuming way?

I know that just seeing the examples of love that my friends I have mentioned in this blog, possess and openly express to their partners, makes me want to be a better wife to my husband. How about you?