Dear Friends,
This month I’m pondering the importance of relationships. I truly do believe that they are the real currency of life, more than money, power, fame or anything else.
The photo above is my and my husband Michael on our first trip to Seattle in front of the original Starbucks. I’m with my favorite man in front of one of my favorite coffee shops, it was a most happy day!
What you may not see in this picture though is the storm we had weathered together not that long before.
In 2004 I was stricken with a rare neurological disorder known as trigeminal neuralgia. Street name – the suicide disease. It’s the most painful neurological disorder there is and the pain is right in your face, literally. It’s a seizure disorder of the 5th cranial nerve and for most people it comes and goes. For me it came and stayed.
I had brain surgery in August of 2004. When I woke up from surgery I didn’t have the seizures any more but was still in excruciating pain due to the disintegrated nerve coating on the trigeminal nerve. And the left side of my face was partially paralyzed.
I was in terrible pain for close to 2 years. I had 2 high school boys at home during that time, and wasn’t able to do my normal Mom stuff at that time. Truly it was the hardest trial of my entire life.
My husband and friends did everything for me. Sometimes I was too weak or in too much pain to even walk from the couch to my bed.
During that same time our church went through a crisis. My husband is a pastor so that was my spiritual family. Sometimes I didn’t know what hurt worse, my body or my heart.
But NEVER have I appreciated my husband of 42 years more! He just rose to the occasion and literally carried me through it. He was there for me. He was there for my family. And he navigated the crisis in our church with courage and strength.
We had tons of equity in our relationship then, but I would say it grew even more in those years. The picture above was one of my first after I was able to get up and “do life” again.
Never have I been more thankful for his faithfulness and love. All the investments we had made in our relationship before the greatest test of our lives really paid off then.
Being there for each other in the worst of times is the acid test for all relationships. When you are there for your loved ones in those times, your relational equity accrues with compound interest!
I want to encourage you to be there when those you love need you the most. In so doing you will make a priceless investment in your relational bank account, for relationships are the real currency of life.
For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends. 1 John 15:13 TPT
Warmly,
Terri
