Marvelous Grace

By: American Decency Staff

By Bill Johnson

Today is Jan and my 43^rd wedding anniversary.  Some of you have been married a lot longer than that perhaps but many of you have been married a lot shorter.

Any way you look at it, being married 43 years is a fairly lengthy period of time.  I have said recently to close ones:  “I hope to make it to 67 years of marriage.” (That is if we remain healthy)  That would put us at 90 years old. I know that that sounds ridiculous to ask for such a thing as one never knows what one will be facing as the years go by. 

Over these years in this ministry we have had a number of people serving as volunteers at 88 through 93 still active and serving with us and elsewhere.   What a blessing and an encouragement to see such lives for Christ! 

I want for Jan and I to be an encouragement to others as these dear ones have done for us:  Ann,  Carol, Ret,  Faith,  Frank, Tom,  …. The list goes on.

On this my 43^rd anniversary I just want to sing praises to God for what He has done in my life.  I didn’t know much what it meant to be a Christian husband in those early years.  I didn’t know how to be a Biblical man.  Yet, both Jan and I truly believed that God was real and that He had a blueprint for how “two became one.” 

Ephesians 5 offers one such account.  Much could be said here.  That is not the purpose of this short email alert.  Just to say that as Jan and I put our trust in God and by God’s grace, despite the difficulties that lie ahead, may God be glorified.

And lastly, a special Happy Anniversary to one of the most solid, faithful, godly persons I have ever had the privilege of meeting and knowing.   I have learned a lot from Jan's  day in and day out solid testimony of desiring to be a true Christian through loss, closed doors, sickness, heartache, unemployment,  insecure times, etc., etc.  

Praising God for 43 years ago when we got married in Jan’s parents’ old farm house right where they did so many years before. Their dear pastor, who initially shared the gospel with me, married us in the living room of Jan’s family home – a house that is now our home.

We “honeymooned” in the old barn on the back 40.  Humble beginnings.   Grace sufficient!

Father God:  Turn our hearts to thee.

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