We may sometimes wonder if representatives of the male species really appreciate the privilege of having a female of the species to love and by whom to be loved. A true marriage partner is really a gift from God. So we should see our marriage as being a wonderful privilege that God has bestowed on us. To realise that another person deliberately chooses to make you the centre of their universe [after God of course] is nothing less than the grace of God touching your life. 

The writer of Proverbs wrote these words, “An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. 11  The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. 12  She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.” Proverbs 31:10-12.  What a privilege it is to have found an excellent wife. When one looks around at the number of marriages that end up in separation or divorce, one realises the extent of the privilege we have been given in life to have found an excellent wife. She is indeed worth far more than all the jewels one could amass in a lifetime. The jewels might be precious and beautiful but they offer no warmth or love.  The excellent wife does her husband good and not harm, all the days of her life.

Well, praise God I did find an excellent wife, named Carole. One whom God chose for me especially. She may have been born in Kharagpur in India, thousands of kilometres from I was born in Gympie in Queensland but the Lord overruled so that both our families moved to the same area in Ipswich. The Lord brought us to Himself about the same time and led us to the same church. I knew about her before I met her for she was an outstanding athlete, swimmer, basketballer and hockey player, as well as winning prizes in art of speech competitions at Eisteddfods. I heard her speak on the local radio station on Saturday mornings when they featured junior singing and speaking talent.  Then I met her as she finished Grammar School when she became a member of the youth group I was leading. Just 4 years later I proposed and 18 months after that we were married. 

God was so good to us. We both secured jobs that were satisfying and later came the gift of three great children. We lived together for 3 years in Melbourne, 10 years in Brisbane, 10 years in Armidale NSW, 18 years in Sydney, and retired to Port Macquarie in 2006 when we both retired. The Lord took her home in October 2019 after a long bout with cancer but not before we had enjoyed a wonderful retirement for over 13 years. When the nursing staff rang me to tell me that Carole had just passed away, the words that immediately popped into my mind were these, “Absent from the body. Present with the Lord.” So I know she is at bliss in the presence of the Lord.  

Tomorrow 7^th February would have been Carole’s 81st birthday so I felt like writing something about her as I have on many other occasions on this blog site. One of the last memories of our time together was of an incident just a couple of days before I drove her to the hospital for the last time. I was helping her move from one place in our home to her favourite chair. As we passed through the dining room she suddenly stopped and with her lovely brown eyes looked up into my face and said, “Darling, thank you for loving me. Thank you for caring for me.” She obviously knew that her life was coming to an end and so she summed up our almost 54 years together with those simple words. I’m not sure how I replied but I could have said, “I did it because I love you. It was my privilege to love you and to care for you. Thank you for loving me!” 

The privilege of marriage to “an excellent wife!”  A privilege coming from the grace and love of our Heavenly Father who “works all things together for good for those who love Him.” Romans 8:28.

Blog No.524 posted on Tuesday 06 February 2024