8. Comfort

My 31 Free Writes for October play out like a serial love story in an old time magazine. It’s the saga of a young woman and how God leads her to the love of her life. Each day offers new developments in a romance only the Lord could write.
 
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Never let a statistic rule your life. I read in an American Girl magazine that @ 75 percent of girls will marry men like their dads. Whoa! Hold on there. I refuse to become a statistic. My dad was what I would call a rageaholic. He was an angry man. At that point in my life I had no understanding of why he was like this, but I hated it, and to be honest, I hated him.

He was a great pretender. Mr. Congeniality at church and other venues, but a volatile, swearing-up-a-blue-streak, mean son of a gun at home. Don’t EVER get daddy mad. I’m thankful that he had never physically hurt me, but I witnessed his brutality on my oldest brother. From a very young age I held a deep hatred for what my father brought into our family. I most definitely would NOT marry anyone close to resembling the image of my father.

And God saw to it that I could catch glimpses of what a godly dad should look like all throughout my childhood. Kids think that what happens at home is normal. But they know that bad things are wrong. So when you get to go to a friend’s house for a sleep over and see your friend’s dad laughing and conversing with the family, you lean in. Is this real? What happens if somebody makes a mess? Will he explode? I found that there really are men who can handle messes and noise and family craziness with a poise and peace that only comes from the Holy Spirit.

This gave me hope.

I observed David to verify if what I heard in his talk matched his walk. It did. This was a very important box to check on my list of Future Husband Qualities. If I can trust my man to be the same person at home as he is in public, my heart can be at rest with him.
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What a comfort to live without pretense - not perfectly, but openly honest regarding each other. This gives room for God’s Grace so that both sinners can grow in their relationship with each other and Christ.
 
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17  Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, 17 comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

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