Made For Each Other!

Made for Each Other!

(A tribute to my beloved)

by Tom Woodard

All my life I've heard people talk about a boy and a girl, a man and a woman, who "were made for each other". Now if you're gonna find that girl who was just made for you, in one of those "God just meant for it to be" situations, you would expect it to happen early on, when you're young, don't you think? Then you could live long, happy lives together, raising children together, dealing with good times and bad, and so on, like it's supposed to be. But I am here to tell you that sometimes God intends for two to become one, having that special person out there who He made just for you, but He doesn't bring you together when you think He would. That's what happened to me.

After three years of dating, twenty-three years of marriage, and raising two children, my first wife and I parted ways (a nice way of saying we got divorced). After a couple of years of "getting over", I started dating, in my 50's, and in the course of all that mess I met the girl God made for me. We got a hint of His purpose early on, when we started "comparing notes" on our backgrounds, families, likes and dislikes, etc.

Now I'm not making any of this up, folks; it's the God's honest truth, but just let me share some "signs" with you. I had two girls, she had two boys. My younger daughter and her younger son (mind you, we never knew or met each other until just a few years ago) were born on the same morning of the same day of the same year, just a few minutes apart! Our mothers had the same name, and we have sisters with the same name. My Dad and her Mom passed away in the same month of the same year, a cold and wet December. Our younger children, those two born on the same day, both have a scar on their foreheads, in the same place, from childhood accidents. She and I both, at some point in our childhoods, broke our left collar bones, in the same spot, and they both healed a little crooked, in the exact same way. These are just a few of the many "signs" we became aware of early on.

On top of that, we soon found that we both love antiques, ante-bellum homes, history, and in particular, the history of the War Between the States (as we Southerners call it), Southern Gospel, Bluegrass Gospel, and other forms of music, and many other common interests. We even have the same tastes in antiques, and just about anything one of us likes the other will like as well. And Lord knows how many times one of us will be about to say something and the other will say it first!

But on top of all that, we have become soul mates, best friends, confidants, and lovers. We comfort and sustain one another, and pick one another up when we're down. We know for a certainty that God meant for us to be together. I say she is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and she says the same thing about me. One day, a couple of years ago, she asked me if I regreted all the years we didn't know one another, and I said "No, I'm just thankful for whatever time we have left to be together." And this is true! It's not the length of time, but the wonderfullness of the time we have that is important. I was 54 years old when I met Angie, and I am now 59. This Fall, we will celebrate four years of marriage.

I have no regrets that it took me 54 years to find her. Perhaps the Lord knew not only that we were made for each other, but that we had to reach a certain point in life where we were ready for each other, so that all that has been brought about would succeed. After all, He knows everything, and I think He knew we had to reach a certain point in our lives, after many decades of trials and experiences along the road of life, before we would be ready, and able, to give to one another our all. Having reached that point, we have for one another a deep and abiding love, and an unshakable desire to live out our lives together.

I thank God, every day, for giving me Angie, and for giving me to her. Although we both have been Christians for most of our lives, after turmoils and divorces, we had become inactive in Church and sporadic in our talks with God and in our study of His Word, but God used each of us to begin a process of bringing the other back into right relationship with Him. "To God be the glory, great things He has done" goes the old hymn, but I know that he used Angie to help bring me to where I am today. I have, now, the closest, most powerful relationship with Him I have ever had - deeper, more meaningful, more constant and assured. This is just one more way that I know that He created Angie for me, and me for Angie. He has thereby blessed us both, in great abundance. And, in turn, as we grow closer to God, we also grow closer to one another! It is a wonderous formula for success in a relationship!

Now, I want to share something with our younger readers: It's not being "in love" that matters, but love itself. "In love" is an emotion, and when it wears off, people who married because of being "in love" but not having that abiding love which endures hardships and disappointments, and just the reality of everyday life, think it's all over and too often seek a divorce. I want to share this with you: What makes a relationship is Love, not "in love". Love is understanding, patient, kind, and forebearing. Love is there on your worst, most out of sorts day, and it is there, in you, on her worst, most out of sorts day. Love loves even when your spouse is having the worst day possible, or has done or said something hurtful to you. It is a constant.

Love is not an emotion; it is a state of being. It is not feeling; it is knowing. Forget being "in love" and look for love itself. "In love" will falter at the first sign of trouble. Love will endure hardships, trials, disappointments, sickness, and all else the Devil may throw at us. Find love and you will find a partner for life - "'til death do us part". True love endures! True love is the formula for a lifetime relationship. And don't leave God and His Son out of the equation, because they will build strength into your relationship that could otherwise never be.

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