1:31 p.m. Today's project was to attend the Calvary Chapel Moreno Valley Married Couples' dinner at the Conference Center in Murrieta. We'll be riding with our good friends Ron and Gretchen, who've never been there before.
If it weren't for them, I might have let my worries about Steve's dining difficulties get the better of me and would not have registered for the event. I'm glad Gretchen called! Tonight's dinner will be extra nice, because the entree is steak. It sounds delicious, but cutting up steak in public will be a challenge for Steve, whose Alzheimer's is now causing some loss in small motor control. So, in the last two weeks we have been reviewing knife-and-fork eating, a few times on chicken, and then last night, we practiced on pork chops. I'm standing on God's word in Psalm 138:8, "He will perfect all that concerns me."
My friend Paige Philpott wrote this a few months ago:
God is so faithful to take care of you!
I love that our uncharted territory is known thoroughly by Him,
inch by inch.
8:30 p.m. As promised, Gretchen drove up at 3:30, since with Ron's heart condition, it's no longer safe for him to drive, as he could faint at any moment. He now has a monitoring and alert system. I matched her face to a shade of Mary Kay mineral powder, set the house alarm, and off we went. We would have arrived early but for a slowdown around Menifee, which outraged Gretchen, but I said, "We drive to San Diego pretty often, and I'm surprised it didn't jam up in Perris already." The highways must be pretty wide open in Texas where they came from, I guess!
Arriving about half an hour early, we had time to relax for a while, visit with friends, and select a nice table up front. The worship, the prayers, the food and the fellowship were excellent. Pastor Lance Cook of Calvary Chapel La Habra gave a thoughtful, challenging message with self-revelatory comments about changes he's had to make over 24 years of marriage, and took us through relevant passages in Genesis.
That "the two shall become one" (Genesis 2:24) is God's plan for marriage is evident in both the Old and New Testaments, no matter the culture, no matter the time in history--God created humans and He knows the best way for a man and a woman to find true, lasting joy. It's marriage.
Steve and I nodded and smiled at each other at a particular juncture in the message, where Pastor Lance spoke about how God knows what each one needs from a spouse in each season of the marriage: when they are first married, a few years later, further along the road, and at the several-decades mark of a marriage. God already had planned, from before the creation of the world, what I would need from Steve during particular stages, and what he would need from me. And because He selected us for each other, no one else would be able to fulfill those needs but--Steve and me!
What an omniscient, mighty God we serve! I feel like getting up, marching and singing the song, "What a Mighty God We Serve!" I'm singing the chorus, at least!
Praise Him for the most important relationship He created for people, second only to our relationship with Him: marriage!
No comments:
Post a Comment