I Am Woman

I very unexpectedly learned something huge about who I am yesterday. This revelation came at the end of a long and winding sermon, a series of sometimes unconnected thoughts from the speaker sprinkled with mispronounced words and questionable theology that was difficult at times to sit through. But I trusted that God had something for me, and at the very last possible moment, it came. I was so glad I stayed and waited for it!

I'll back up a little bit first to explain this wonderful thing God is teaching me about marriage along the way. More and more, I am seeing how my husband is literally Jesus' hands and feet to me. When we first started dating, I experienced acceptance on a level I never had, the willingness of a man to look beyond all my obvious flaws and see the treasure hidden beneath all those shortcomings. Jesus does that. In experiencing the joy of uncontrollable laughter at Chris' goofiness, I began to see God's delightful sense of humor not just in creating this hysterically funny man, but in all of His creation.  I discovered a safe place to share my burdens and someone who was happy to share the weight of them with me. Jesus does that too. And when Chris proposed, I received a ring so beautiful and beyond any of my wildest desires that I still love to stare at it, glittering and shining in the sunlight. It reminds me of all the unexpected blessings that come from knowing and loving the matchless Son of God. Because Chris loves me, I love Jesus more.

So yesterday, I was overflowing with gladness and overwhelmed with a glimpse of God's awesome design for marriage when this wonderful  truth was  revealed to me. When you read the story of creation in Genesis 1, you will see that God made everything out of nothing. There was only darkness until He spoke light. There was nothingness until He spoke everything into being. He gathered dust from the earth and breathed life into it to create Adam. But when Adam found that, unlike all the animals God appointed him to name, there was no suitable partner for him, " the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, 'for she was taken out of man." (Genesis 2:21-23)

Here is the great revelation - woman was the only living being God created from something already full of life. Adam came from dust. Everything else came out of nothing. But Eve came from Adam, and she came from his rib, a part of him that was designed to protect his heart. Oh, Lord, let me be the protector of his precious heart! Let me be his hiding place....Let me treasure him as You treasure him! Let him always know that, no matter what else the world thinks, no matter how unworthy he may feel, no matter what he has or hasn't done, he can always find rest with me! Lord, let it be always be true that because I love him, He will love You more! Thank You for Your perfect plan for our marriage.

In Jesus' wonderful name,

Amen!

copyright 2010, Amy Wallace