Getting to Know You...

This week, I read a new book called Mrs. Oswald Chambers. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow on the Saturday Six, but I have to say, I did not anticipate learning as much about love as I did from this book! You probably know Oswald Chambers' name from My Utmost for His Highest, just like I did. But you might also have thought of him as just an incredibly wise and profound preacher, just like I did.

He was both those things, but he was also an incredibly wise and profound husband, and I never knew that. To be honest, I never thought about him being married at all. Someone as devoted to teaching and preaching as he was certainly didn't have time for family life, right? But he was married, and as I read about his wife and the relationship they shared, I was incredibly convicted.

Listen to this sentence: "she got to know her new husband through their prayers together..." (p. 43)

Wow.

When Ryan and I were dating, we started studying the Bible and praying together. Sometimes it was in person and sometimes it was over the phone, but either way, I remember learning so much about the person he was from the way he prayed. And he said the same was true of me.

But I hadn't stopped to consider (until I started reading the book) how much we learn about each other through our prayers compared to any other way we learn about each other. I hadn't considered that prayer should be a huge way we learn about each others' hearts - still! - even today.

Oswald and his wife had a sweet relationship that was focused entirely on the Lord. They put His work first and relished the opportunity to serve together. They weren't worried about making memories or seeing the world, though they did both. They were simply focused on loving the Lord with all their beings, serving Him well, and being faithful to each other. The reward of that focus was a sweet love that continued long after Oswald died and she carried on their work alone.

As Ryan and I approach five years of marriage, I am grateful to the point of tears for the life we've shared thus far. I am grateful for all the memories, all the fun, and all the intention we have poured into those years. I regret none of it. But I am also reminded of the importance of striving to get to know each other more and more through the words of our prayers and our dedication to God.

Prayer exposes the raw, beautiful places of the soul, and I want Ryan to know that part of me the best. I want to know him that way, too.

Oswald Chambers may be well known for his spiritual wisdom, but my goodness, how thankful I am for the relationship wisdom I learned from him (and his wife!) through this book!