A Living Sign

“My water broke,” Kelley whispered in my ear, “the baby is coming.” Ordinarily happy news, it was anything but, three months from her due date and at a formal wedding reception. Off to the hospital we went, where beyond the initial curious stares at our attire, doctors grimly listed litanies of potential suffering  awaiting the little one. We filled the room with prayer. 

Much later, with baby Victoria and her courageous family home after a three+ month in the NICU, Kelley shared that something shifted that night when we began to pray. She said, “When you called on the name of Jesus, I knew He walked in the room. I understood your vocation better. It was like when I call Matt [her husband], and he comes.”  

I haven’t always felt the Lord walking in the room when I call His name, and I’ve had seasons of not hearing him call mine. I am, though, always and in every season, His bride, a living sign of His love for the one Bride, the Church. Ours is a deeply personal relationship of mutual vulnerability and trust. 

Kelley was right, and she reminded me of how seriously Jesus takes my love, my total gift of self to Him. Jesus listens for my voice, He responds when I call to Him. And He - God!- trusts me to take His total gift of self to me seriously. He trusts that I am listening for His voice calling to me in the needs of those around me. As I trust He will walk in the room when I call him, so He trusts that I’ll walk in the room when He calls me. This is the gift of spousal love, and the Lord surprises and delights me through it every day.