"Remembering Beth"

40 years ago today, I married my first wife, Beth, who passed away to Heaven almost 2 years ago.

The fact that I'm happily REmarried now (see my December 28th blog) does not cause me to forget or fail to be THANKFUL for her.

About 5 years before I met Beth, as an 18 year old young man, I began to ponder seriously about who I would marry one day (this was two years before I became a Christian.) The song "Hard-Headed Woman," by Cat Stevens, influenced my immature thinking very much.



"I'm looking for a Hard-Headed Woman / One who will make me do my best / And if I find my Hard-Headed Woman / I know / The rest of my life will be blest, yes, yes, yes."



I didn't know much in those days (though I thought I did), but I knew I needed a "Hard-Headed Woman" simply to find someone who'd PUT UP WITH ME.

You see I was, and in many ways, I still am, a very stubborn guy.


When I got saved two years later, and began reading God's Word every day, I realized I needed a GODLY "Hard-Headed Woman."  And after dating several young ladies from my church and other churches, and of course PRAYING a lot, I met Beth out in Michigan, in 1978.

Beth was the Godliest Hard-Headed Woman there could be...she was a woman of faith to MARRY me in the first place and a woman of strength and grace to STAY with me AFTER we were married. She WAS stubborn, but kind, gentle, patient and LOVING. She DID, with God's blessing, "make me do my best" because she was so advanced in grace that I had to GROW in God's grace to retain any possibility of having the appropriate spiritual leadership in our home.

And, as it turns out, it wasn't "the rest of my life" that was blest, but the next 38 years sure were!!

Thankfully, with God's Help AND Beth's, I grew by leaps and bounds over the years.  When she died, Beth left me "in better shape than she FOUND me" and with three wonderful kids who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, to boot.  When I contemplated REmarriage, I thought more about what I might GIVE to a marriage, rather than how it would benefit ME, you see.

Marriage to Beth is over now, but on this 40th anniversary of its inception, I thank God for her and for all that she meant to me, and to so many OTHERS.