My Real-Life Fairy Tale Ending

1 Peter 3:1-4, 7"Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
I grew up hearing the fairy tales, dreaming of my Prince Charming, and writing out my list of "Characteristics My Future Husband Must Have" which always seemed to bear a resemblance to whichever guy I had a crush on at the time. One thing I never really believed was that God would bring me "The One". I brought onto myself a marriage with someone I was not equally yoked to. I entered into a marriage with a man I loved, but wasn't aware until after we were married the difficulty that would come with a marriage between two people in two totally different points of faith. The first year was hard, harder than I could have ever imagined, but we were IN it. Divorce was not and will never be an option for us. When we made our vows it really was forever for everything. During year 3 (which was already 2 babies later) I made a decision that I was going to turn every aspect of our relationship over to God, including my husband's faith.

My husband is my everything to me and I never would have imagined there would be someone who could complete me in every single way. I'm an English brain, he's a math brain. I'm very outgoing, loud, and spunky while he is the very definition of laid back. I'm the designer and he's the executor. In every single way we are total opposites, but in a way that makes the other whole. When we're watching competitive shows on TV we always say to eachother, "We can totally do that." But we both know that the only way we could do it is together. There is such freedom in a relationship with a person who doesn't require me to be everything, but to only be what I am. He brings everything else to the relationship, but it wasn't until I put "me" aside and gave everything up to God that it all started to become clear. It wasn't until I put "me" aside that God could shine through. And God loves when we give it up to Him to He can show His power. God loves to turn the ugly and dirty to the beautiful and priceless. God took a marriage of hurt, jealousy, pain, and expectations, and turned it into a marriage full of joy, freedom, love, and partnership.

This past Valentine's Day I received a handmade card from my Beloved. A card was all I have asked for every year since we were married. Most wives want jewelry or chocolate, but all I wanted was to know my husband's feelings for me in his own words. Inside this card was the words that changed my view on my marriage forever. Inside was the proof that God has done a miraculous work in my life. Inside the card my husband (who is a man of so few words) wrote:

"Let me start by saying the very reason for everything I do is you! There was no real drive in life before I met you. There was no real God, there was no True love. There was no light when the sun rose and no comfort when the sun went down. How lucky was I to get all those things in one package of You? Only I will know! And everyday I think about you and your gifts of Love to me, I thank God for being who he is and for letting you be who you are! I look forward to our kids everyday. I know you prepare them for me while I am away. And of course I look forward to all our projects you plan. I Love You."

I will cling to the promise I found in these words for the rest of my life. I will cling to the promise that if I turn my marriage over to the Lord, and follow God's commands to me regarding my role as wife, God will do His work...and do His work He certainly does! God has brought to me my real-life Prince Charming, but it took me getting out of the way for the fairy-tale ending to come true! Wives submit to the role God has for you as a wife, follow His commands, and turn it all over to Him. Then sit back and watch what God has in store for your life.

Ephesians 5:21-28 "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself."