Day 13 – Thankful for My Wife Sara
This is part of a series called 24 Days of Thankfulness. These posts are in RANDOM order, NOT priority order. Each is something I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving.
DAY #13: Sara
Well, after being Thankful for My Son Luke yesterday, I’d be in the doghouse if I didn’t immediately post how thankful I am for my beautiful wife, Sara.
Sara and Karl - 1993, Galena, Illinois
He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.
- Proverbs 18:22
My mom had me start praying for my future wife when I was just a little boy. Perhaps she knew that the woman who had to live with me would have a tough assignment! Hyper-creativity, late hours, boundless energy and a dizzying number of hobbies and interests! A man who will starve to death if someone doesn’t remind him to eat or work all night if no one tells him to STOP and go to bed. A man who comes up with Big Ideas eight times a day – and needs someone to say, “that’s a good one…. no.” And who understands that the confidence he protects is much more fragile than it appears.
Karl, Sara and Luke's hand!
Life with Sara (and Luke) is a constant adventure. We live a rather simple and quiet life now, since we aren’t in weekly church ministry, we live to serve churches all over the country via Kidology.org from our home in Colorado. Sara enjoys ministering to moms via her MOPS table (she is a table leader) and through keeping this man going. “Did you take your heart meds?” (Ah!) “Have you eaten?”(Doh!) “When is your conference call?” (Yikes!) “When is your next column due?” (huh? Oh, no!)
Me and My Woman
Like every married couple (I hope!) we’ve struggled to learn how to do this “married life” thing – how to love selflessly and unconditionally. Marriage is a journey filled with ups and downs and when you see many marriages fail and many spouses give up on each other when they hit difficult times, I am so thankful to have a wife who has stuck with me even when I’ve been unlovable. Her grace in the difficult times has been a model of Christlikeness. Her willingness to trust me when I believed God was telling me to lead – like to sell our home in a bad economy and take our family across the country, and she said, “Where you go, I’ll go!” She has forgiven me when I’ve needed it, trusted me when I’ve said I think this is best for our family, and supported me when I’ve asked to put our family finances at risk for the sake of Kidology or a church ministry – her grace and trust and loyalty have meant the world to me.
And I’m thankful.
I recently did my first wedding, and preparing the message was insightful because I don’t feel like the “perfect husband” but here I was helping prepare a young couple, and a cousin of mine (Lindsay Blackwell) for her wedding, and preparing a message on marriage for those who would be gathered. They asked me to present a message that would not only be beneficial to them, but to those who would be gathered there. It was a good exercise for me – to be reminded of what makes a good marriage – and it was encouraging, because I felt like what I was saying to the audience was a good description of how our marriage operated. I’d have hated to stand up there and feel like a hypocrit! But in the end, I was saying what I lived, and how my own marriage operates, and I have Sara to thank for that, for a husband can not lead a home, unless he has a wife who will follow.
Here is a PDF of my message in case it might encourage or help you.
L.O.V.E. That Will Succeed by Pastor Karl Bastian (PDF 131 KB)
