Last week’s blog addressed the marvel of the faith of women. Women are generally exceptionally good at practicing faith in their everyday lives. I am an extremely blessed man, for one of these exceptional women chose to marry me for time and all eternity in the temple of God.
My wife has demonstrated exceptional faith many times in the short four and a half years I’ve known her. But before I tell you some of these remarkable stories, let me began by telling you about the difficulties she must overcome daily in order to exercise faith.
My dear wife struggles with two difficult disorders: general anxiety disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. These disorders bring several difficulties into her life. For example, when a thought enters her mind, it often dwells there. So when she has a fear pop into her mind, such as a fear she didn’t explain herself clearly, this fear will often stay there. She will need to address the fear multiple times in order to eliminate it. She also struggles with change at higher levels than most people. In addition, she is driven more than anybody else I know to be perfect in everything.
The faith my wife demonstrates is absolutely remarkable. Knowing the obstacles she must overcome to exercise this faith makes it even more remarkable. I want to share three different times I’ve seen tremendous faith from her: when we were married, when we decided to have our first child, and in our current financial position.
When my dearly beloved and I first met, we didn’t find each other ideal. I thought she was obnoxious and rude. She didn’t think much better of me. Yet over time I fell in love with her and started pursuing a relationship. I was much different than she anticipated. She wanted somebody funny and sarcastic, with a sense of humor similar to hers. I didn’t have these characteristics. She pictured somebody with different appearances than me. And she wanted somebody interested in ghosts, aliens, and scary stories. I again fell short.
Yet somehow the cards fell into place for me to spark her interest. As time passed she concluded we should get married. This took a great deal of faith on her part. She had to have faith in herself and the feelings she had, believing they were true and that we should get married. She had to have faith in me, believing I would be a good husband. And she had to have faith in Heavenly Father, trusting He would help our marriage be a success.
My wife had fears. She had doubts. She came close to calling our wedding off many times. But she chose to go forward in faith. We were married. Now she sometimes wonders if she and I did the right thing. But most of the time she finds she enjoys our union and cherishes our love. She and I love each other dearly and are glad we can spend so much time together.
Things didn’t get easier when we decided to have a baby. “A baby!?!” she thought. “How am I supposed to take care of a baby?” She didn’t even really like babies. They sometimes smelled like poop. They made messes. And they cried a lot. It didn’t help that she was convinced she couldn’t be a good mother.
But we as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognize that great happiness is promised to those who choose to be good parents that raise their children to know and respect God. My wife decided to have faith in the blessings promised to those who choose to have children. And she decided to have a baby.
Now we have a little girl. We both adore this little one. Sometimes my wife gets sick of her, especially when she has to spend all day with her while I am at work, and all night with her while I am at some class or meeting. But most of the time she finds this little bundle of joy delightfully cute. And she is glad to have the young dear in our lives.
Finally, my wife has demonstrated remarkable faith in our Heavenly Father in our current situation. I am graduating college with my Masters in Accountancy this December. As such I am currently searching for a career job. I’ve been looking for about three months, but I’ve still been unsuccessful in my search.
In addition, my current employment ends soon and will leave me jobless. We aren’t sure where we will end up or when I’ll have a job. Yet my wife trusts our Heavenly Father will take care of us. She continues to pray for a job for me every night, believing her prayers will be answered. And we both know the Lord will take care of us and help me get a job, though we don’t know when, where, or how.
I am impressed by the faith my wife demonstrates every day. She has difficult obstacles to overcome just to live with faith. But she continues to do so all the time. My wife is truly a remarkable woman. I am very lucky to have her at my side helping me through the difficulties of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment