Saturday was a day sharply outlining the realities of marriage.
Very early in the day email started arriving that Mary Pearson had died on Friday night after a 15 month battle with cancer. Mitch and Mary are well known and well loved at Bethlehem. I have personally experienced Mitch’s depth of care and compassion in our situation.
Mitch wrote a powerful testimony to God and to his wife, a portion of which was excerpted on the Desiring God blog on Saturday.
Mitch and Mary walked through deep, long seasons of extraordinary testing. Mary is now free. It is a hard story of what love looks like.
And God has proven most satisfying.
Later in the day Dianne and I attended a reception for our nephew and his future bride. It was for all the family and friends who cannot travel to Alabama for their wedding in June.
This young man comes from a very special family. His older sister lives with significant disabilities. He loves her dearly, as she loves him. He knows what it means to persevere for the sake of a family member.
I’ve watched him grow up. And now here he is, handsome, athletic, college-educated, member of the National Guard, preparing to be a police officer and soon to be married. His bride is beautiful, continuing with college, and clearly excited to join this man in marriage.
Their optimism is wonderful and beautiful. It was a great few hours.
And, someday, God may call my nephew to walk with his wife through cancer. Or he may call this young bride to parent a child with disabilities, like her future mother-in-law has now done for more than two decades.
I am NOT trying to suggest that their optimism is fantasy and soon reality will catch up with them.
In fact, I hope for exactly the opposite for them. I want them to live with a future hope. I want them to live expecting God to be active in their lives. When hard things come, as they always do, I want them both to have a sweet, deep confidence that God will help them, that he will supply every need, and that all things work together for good for those who trust Jesus.
The tenderness that Mitch wrote about Mary and Mary’s savior, on the same day that she died, can be part of their story and our story.
I want that for myself and for this young couple, to be able to say no matter the circumstance:
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 1:21
The Works of God 
Too often life circumstances seem to bring mixed emotions at important stages of our lives. I am filled with joy and excitement for my son and his bride-to-be, knowing they both love the Lord and are open to His leading in their marriage. But my heart also aches as my parents are no longer with us here on earth and never got to meet my daughter-in-law. My Mother would have loved to listen to them excitedly talk about their hopes and dreams for their future. My Dad, who died from cancer, would have relished hearing them laugh and joke with one another. Then as always, when my daughter recognizes that I am feeling some sadness, even with her disabilities, she gives me a big hug and says “You needed that!” I am blessed!
My hope is that my son and his bride will respond to God’s leading in their lives. My hope for them is found in Psalm 16: 8 and 11: “I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”