Today is the 40th anniversary of Kathy and my marriage. As I began to journal this morning I was overcome with gratitude for the tremendous gift God bestowed on me when Kathy came into my life. She is just as stubborn as me and is sometimes even more persistent than I am. These characteristics are often initial stumbling blocks for us as we live life daily, but in the long term, these characteristics have been one of the best gifts God has given the two of us. Kathy has never given up on “my recovery” and in believing who I am in Christ Jesus. It has taken me almost all of the 40 years we have been married for me to come to this reality. I’ve written many times about the 3-R’s: Recognize, Reject and Replace when it comes to the torments of life and beliefs I’ve had of God and me. These torments are being replaced with the 3-S’s: Self-Love, Self-Appreciation and Self-Confidence. Kathy has never doubted these for me, but I’ve doubted them all of my life until this past year or so.

Kathy is the completion for me God has always wanted. Her beauty is just as real inside of her as it is on the outside. Yes, we are both human and our flesh continues to get in the way at times, but the depth of love for one another is so much richer and greater than the flesh that shows up. God is the great Giver and this has been shown to me with His Gift of Kathy.