I have always known my hubby and me were meant to be.  During our untraditional courtship, God showed up in many ways; orchestrating divinely inspired reunions that kept us in each other’s lives.

The result? There was not a more confident bride in the whole world that knew she was marrying the man God had created for her. More than two decades later, this assurance continues to be one of the greatest gifts God has ever given me. I have had over twenty years of living life next to a man full of wisdom, humor, restraint, calm and stubbornness. Thank goodness for that stubbornness or I would not be his ‘Mrs’.

My hubby is a wonderful helpmate in part because he is uniquely strong where I am weak, and vice versa. We genuinely compliment to each other. This is where the word ‘helpmate’ comes in- just like Legos- we fit together.

This Legos fitting bond was especially obvious during our last vacation. In a simple mundane vacation task, I saw my Mr. Wonderful in action.  I had a mysterious 48-hour stomach bug that took me out for a full two days. Luckily one was a travel day, but the pressure to feel better was really on that second day!

We had just arrived in Budapest, the city we were most excited about for our entire trip. Time was ticking and our list of must do’s was shrinking by the hour!   At hour 49, I returned to the land of the living, the land of eating, the land of energy.

We decided that we would get a one-day transit pass to cut out extra walking.  We walk a lot on vacation, like over 100 miles!  Today’s trek was hilly – so we decided the flat parts we would take the tram so I did not overdue it with extra walking. 

Hubby had to first get the transit app. Easy enough, for him.  The trouble came when I had to add the app to my phone. Normally he just does everything on his phone. But this pass required we both have the app on our own phone; rules are fun.

Oddly enough my email had started acting up earlier on vacation. I just ignored it, as I do most tech problems. Who needs email, I am on vacation?  So when trying to add the app, I need my Apple ID password. Of course I had forgotten my password, and of course I don’t save my passwords. I had to set up a new password; luckily that easy with a hubby assist.

Next, came my email problem. Remember, it had stopped working earlier, and I was ignoring that?  I was now forced to sign into my email. Luckily this password I remembered! But then needed to verify my account, so I had to sign into an even older email account for verification. Miraculously, I remembered that password too!  I could hear the time ticking away.

Unfortunately, after all that fuss, my email was still not cooperating. It was slower than molasses. The transit email never came.

All I remember from this whole fiasco was watching hubby sitting on the edge of the bed; wise, calm and stubbornly dealing with each roadblock my ‘specialness’ created. He just kept in problem solving mode and did the next thing.  It took him 60 seconds to set up the app on his phone, but mine took over 20 minutes!

His perseverance ultimately paid off and we both had functioning transit apps. We were now off like a heard of turtles.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials,

for we know that they help us develop endurance.

And endurance develops strength of character,

and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

And this hope will not lead to disappointment.

For we know how dearly God loves us

Romans 5:3-5  NLT

I know most of life’s problems don’t resolve in 20 minutes, or even 48 hours; especially for those of us mamas and our baby loss journey. When you feel stuck, lean on your helpmate and commit to doing the next thing.

Mamas, what is God developing in you? Endurance? Character? Confidence? Hope?