Our Little Family
At this time last year my wife was pregnant with our little girl. How thankful am I that the weather wasn’t like it is this year. It rained almost non-stop it seemed like, and we dealt with the heat very little. We praised God for that. But it wasn’t all easy and smooth. There were some rough patches in those 10 months, (I know they say 9, but it’s closer to 10.) Those rough patches were ordained by God, they gave this prideful, hard-hearted man an opportunity to serve his bride. There were two instances that stand out the most and I will share them with you, though they are very similar to each other.
In the first instance Shanna was still working and was on her way to work, when out of the blue she just vomited all over the car and herself. She called me, told me what happened, and I told her to go home and I would take care of the car when I got home. So I did. There was vomit everywhere. Steering wheel, seat belt, seat, console, dash, everywhere. But with joy I cleaned it as best I could, it was only the smell that remained, and that was pretty gross. But it was God ordained, and I served as best I knew how.
The second instance also involved vomit, this time though, it was in the bathroom sink. It filled almost the whole sink. You can’t just turn on the water and have it go down the drain, so I had to scoop it out of the sink into the toilet. This one was worse than the first, but once again, I served and laughed about it the whole time. I had joy in those times of serving my wife in even the most gross situation.
What’s the point of telling you these stories? Well, as I was thinking back, our daughter turns 1 next month, I was thinking about how awesome it was to be able to serve my wife like that. I’m thankful for it and humbled that I could do it. You see, I was in the same situation before. Where do you think God found me? What kind of filth did I have coming out of me that God just scooped up, disposed of, and did it with joy, for His own glory? Listen to how the Bible describes us in our unregenerate state:
Ezekiel 36:16-17 (ESV)
“16 The word of the LORD came to me: 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity.”
Is that not just horrible. To think, God found me in that place, called me, justified me, and is now in the process of glorifying me. He has removed from me my sins, as far as the east is from the west, dropped them into the sea of forgetfulness. Just like the vomit I flushed down the toilet. Jesus came down, emptied Himself of all His rights, and served us. For those of us who have repented and cast ourselves on Christ for salvation, God has done this mighty work in us all. He cleaned us up, made us new, and made us love Him for Him. Thank God for the opportunity to serve my wife!
- R. Garcia
