Oh, my Father, today is such a grand day of celebration for me. On this date back yonder, You brought a beautiful baby girl into the world.
Nobody knew the wandering paths her life would take before she showed up in my Sunday School class in the mid-1980s.
I confess to You a real shortcoming in my life. You have blessed me with a good intellect on lots of things, but none of them included how to be married well. Little did I know then how Your hand of grace was bringing us together for almost half our lives now, in tandem harness, serving You.
I pray You will bless my bride with a long and full life and keep us centered on doing what You have taught us and lead us to do in helping couples understand Your plans for being married well.
Bless my bride on this, her special day, because she is the greatest gift—short of Your salvation—I have ever received.
Thank You! Thank You!!
In Jesus' name, Amen and hallelujah.
Verses for Today:
"The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord." (Proverbs 18:22 NLT)
"Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 NLT)
Ecclesiastes 4 is the one I think best fits this prayer. That triple-braided cord — two people plus God — is exactly what I described when I prayed "in tandem harness serving You." I didn't just marry a Gorgeous Redhead, we entered a three-way partnership from here to eternity.
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it." (Psalm 139:13–14 NLT)
"May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace." (Numbers 6:24–26 NLT)
"Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life." (Proverbs 31:10–12 NLT)
"For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her...In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself." (Ephesians 5:25, 28 NLT)
