Discovering My New Husband

Who would have thought back in 1951 when the little guy on the left was born that he's die such a painful death and would leave this planet just 56 years later?

During the time Vinnie and I were married, we had many dreams. We had plans, goals, and tasks we shared. He usually washed dishes for instance, and while he was a wonderful cook, and did cook once in awhile, especially when we had company, I did most of the cooking - he cleaned up. I cleaned the house and he took care of all home repairs and car maintenance. I did most of the grocery shopping although we loved to shop together. The only problem there is that we'd over spend when he did the shopping or when we went together. He did the bookkeeping and I took care of the kids needs (pack back packs, make lunches, that sort of thing) and I did the laundry.

I suppose you might be getting the idea - I've lost not only my friend, my buddy, but also the one who helped me get a lot of things done around the house and in our family. Until one is suddenly left alone, there's little thought to the fact that all the things done before still have to get done (take out the trash and take it to the dump once or twice a week, mow the lawn, cut the hedges - the list goes on!) but now it is done by just one person. It's difficult to figure out how to get it all done, especially when life goes on and on and before you know it, when you haven't figured out how to get it all done, it all piles up! That's kind of where I am now. I could use a week off to catch up!

So I am missing my husband for many reasons but I keep coming back to this one verse in Scripture. "For your Maker is your husband - the LORD Almighty is his name - the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;he is called the God of all the earth." I think God really wants me to chew on this because it keeps showing up. My girlfriend just sent this to me last night in the context of an email! I love that! God has ways of speaking to us and getting our attention! It's so cool! This verse is cool because it says God is a lot more than just a Husband. Can any of you say all these things about your earthly husband? No! Let's look at all God is to us.

Maker/Husband: God is our maker. He knows EVERYTHING about us - everything! And a husband sees his bride as beautiful, lovely, breathtaking. God sees me that way too! I am not beautiful in the earthly sense (although my sweet Vinnie thought I was beautiful!) but when looks at me covered in the blood of His son, Jesus, he sees me as one of the most pure and lovely women here! The Maker is my Husband. No husband on earth can know all there is to know about us, girls. I have told countless young wives to stop hoping their husband will figure out that they'd like to be surprised by roses on occasion. If you want flowers, don't hint and then wonder why he didn't get it! Just ask. Just tell him what you'd like. He will love that you didn't make him guess. But the Father in Heaven knows us through and through. He made us! He knows what we will absolutely love better than we know about ourselves! That's a wonderful husband!

the LORD Almighty is his name - Imagine being the wife of the president of the USA, one of the most powerful men on earth. Now imagine being the wife of someone even more powerful that! Imagine being the wife of THE most powerful, the one whose name is above all others, one so powerful, He oversees ALL things and all at the same time too! Now there's a powerful husband. Let me tell you - the wife of such a husband is pretty important! So am I. I play a role in the big scheme of things that is just as vital as any leader over this country. I am not important in and of myself, but my husband is LORD Almighty. I am honored to be his special beloved!

the Holy One of Israel - Because I really miss Vinnie and am magnifying the best things about him and our relationship as I write in this blog, you haven't heard much about the unholy Vinnie. He was hooked on old movies. He was sometimes short tempered. He was not always able to or patient enough to understand me or one of his kids. He had, like all humans in this earthly state, was imperfect. I excused his lack of perfections as he excused and had grace for me in mine. But I am wife of one who is never unholy! He is always pure, true, lovely, and perfect! Wow...even though I am not perfect, there's so much grace for me that He loves me anyway, and He remains pure.

your Redeemer - This is my favorite part! A redeemer back in Biblical days (and maybe it's still a practice somewhere in the world today) is one who buys a person out of slavery. They might do a number of things to achieve this but the end result is the same - someone is set free. I've given a lot of thought to this idea in times past. I've thought about if I was a slave to a master that I'd been a slave to my whole life and all of a sudden one day, someone tells me that I am no longer a slave! I think I would be lost. I would not know else to do except be a slave. In that moment I think I would probably want to find the person who set me free and be his slave. After all, if you only knew how to be a slave, wouldn't you want to be slave to one who wanted you to be free? I would! I can picture myself running after the redeemer and begging him to let me serve him all the rest of my days!

Well, truth is that I have been a slave. My master at one time was drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, immorality and all the things of the world. I was under it's command on my life and I was it's slave. Then Jesus revealed himself and told me what He'd done for me - that he had set me free, and I wanted nothing more than to be his servant. But this redeemer, with so much love for me that he gave up His life to set mine free, is my Husband!

The last concept of Husband that comes to mind is that of an intimate relationship. God wants an intimate relationship with me. In the Garden of Eden, God walked amongst Adam and Eve. Imagine seeing God with our own eyes walking right next to us? It's breathtaking! Because we live in a fallen world, He cannot walk with us like that (yet) but through the person of Jesus, we can experience God as our Husband. He desires us to know Him in the most intimate ways. We grow in this intimacy through a life of prayer and being attentive to the ways he speaks to us throughout the day and reading His word. I've called on God at times when I was so desperate for Him that I could literally feel arms around me!

God isn't going to come down and wash my dishes for me or check my car or take the trash to the dump! He's not going to climb into bed and rub his soft feet over mine, he's not going to have quiet conversations with me in a beach chair while waves wash over us. But God does 'talk' to us. I've heard him tell me to turn to certain passages in the Bible. I've heard Him tell me that Vinnie was going to die and He even told me 6 months ahead of time what month it was going to happen. I've had to develop 'ears' to hear him and recognize His voice. It's not audible with human ears but is the whisper of a Husband always audible? How many times did I know Vinnie was saying, "You are the love of my life" and words never spilled out of his mouth?!

I am not saying it's easy to adjust to having a Husband now with so many challenges in the way of experiencing Him. I wish I'd been more able to know the joy in knowing God as my Husband long before I lost my Vinnie. I might be more practiced at it now that I really need to know Him in this way now. But now is better than never! I have a Husband who's perfect, who knows me more than I know myself, who is never about His personal gain, who loves me beyond my wildest desires, and set me free from bondage to the things that would eternally destroy my chances of ever knowing Him. And because of that, I will one day be with my Vinnie again too. Now THAT is a package deal, isn't it?!

If you are wishing for a more perfect husband, ladies, know this - you will NEVER find him here! Some may come close but for all the little ways he doesn't make the mark, there is the Perfect One ready to fill your heart in the sweetest ways. Every missing aspect of your earthly one can be found in your Heavenly one! You may just need some help dusting off the antennas to know where He is and how He wants to satisfy you completely! Join me on the journey of discovering who our Husband is!

More verses on God as our Husband.

John 3:29
The bride belongs to the bridegroom.
Isaiah 61:10
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Revelation 19:7
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
Revelation 21:2
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
Revelation 21:9
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
Revelation 22:17
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.