Giving Thanks: My Best Friend

I will never be able to choose words and make sentences that communicate how much I love this man. It's impossible now and it will be impossible in the future. He is my safe place: I can be honest with him like no one else. He is my strong place: I can find safety and security in him like no one else. He is the man I love with all of my heart, and then some. He is my most valued treasure and he is all that I dreamed of and all that God knew I would need. He is an answer to my prayers, a delight to my heart, and a thrill to my soul.

He is my man. He is my best friend. And I am thankful for him.

He leads me, cares for me, provides for me. He trusts me, empowers me, values me. He respects me, encourages me, compliments me. 

It's a complicated thing: being a man who honors his wife, but who first honors God. Being a man who leads with authority, but does so like a servant. Being a man who values my opinions and insights, but who knows his final decision is accountable to God. Being a man who sacrifices to provide and strives to succeed, but who knows it's worth nothing if he loses his family in the process. 

It's complicated being a man who finds security in his identity in Christ, recognizes his position before God, and who accepts the significant calling of leading his wife closer to God. Complicated, but not impossible because my man does it. Perfectly, no. With honesty and integrity, yes.

And I'm thankful for that.

Grady, I love you with all my heart. I need you. I desire you. I appreciate you. I respect you. And I want to honor you.

Thank you for being gracious to me when I least deserve it. For loving me when I'm unlovable. For believing in me when I doubt myself. For supporting me when my discouragement is overwhelming. For upholding me in prayer when I am too tired to know what to ask.

Thank you for helping me make our house a home, our kids a priority, our ministry a joy, and our commitment to Jesus stronger.

 Philippians 1:9-11 "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God."