marriage is a gift, especially at 7:00 a.m.

I get really excited when my husband is scheduled to preach on a particular Sunday. At the risk of sounding cheesy, hearing Matt preach is a reminder of some 15 years ago when I realized I loved him and wanted to be married to him. By the grace of God, he is a very gifted communicator and when you combine that with his passion for the Lord and His Word...watch out!

He was scheduled to preach this past Sunday and I was especially excited because my 5 year old daughter asked if she could stay in the service to hear her daddy preach. How could I refuse?

He exposited an overview of 1 Corinthians 7 and from that text he made the following three points:

• singleness and marriage are both good gifts from God


• singleness has some unique advantages over the gift of marriage


• our marital status is not what defines us

This message was very stirring and provoking in a good way. I'll take the next few blog entries to express where I see God at work in our local church that reflects each of these points.

Singleness and marriage are both good gifts from God, point one.

Apparently I slept through the demonstration of this point this morning. My daughter Abigail woke up a little before 7:00 a.m. feeling sick in her stomach. She expressed it this way: "I might spit out" which translates, "I'm going to throw up!" Nice words to hear. Only I didn't hear them because I was fast asleep in my warm bed. My husband was up and getting ready to leave for work when he heard her little panicked voice. Instead of waking me, he set aside his own schedule and plans and chose to tenderly care for his daughter. In caring for Abbie he was also displaying and demonstrating his care for me in allowing me to sleep through the potential trauma of a S.O. (spit out).

When I finally woke up I was suprised to see Matt standing in our bedroom doorway. He explained what happened and immediately I was reminded of this gift called marriage. Matt was a gift to me this morning in how he cared for us. By the very nature of his sacrificial care he was a live demonstration of Christ's love for the church.

This may not seem like a very impressive demonstration of love but ask yourself this question if you are married: What would you have done in this situation?

Marriage is a gift. Although I believed that before Sunday's message, it was kind of God to give me a fresh reminder. And a fresh reminder at 7:00 a.m. was sweet!