The Man I Married

Tomorrow, the twenty first of February, it will be five years since Steven went home. I created this blog a couple of years ago and found it very hard to post anything here. Sometimes grief is so deeply felt that there are no words. 

When I was eighteen I met the man I had prayed for. And for the almost thirty five years we were married we met each day as partners in life and in ministry. The mutual love we shared, I know now was God given and took us over uncharted waters. Life is full of storms, that is challenges and with God we weathered them together.

To myself and others, unbeknownst to him, Steve had the power to brighten the room by simply walking in. Let me tell you a little about him. His looks were striking and his olive skin, intense hazel eyes and dark brown hair came from his heritage of Irish/Portuguese descent. And, yes his engaging manner let others know that he was a people person. He was a tense man at times but never overtly cruel or mean. He had a deep affection for the Lord Jesus Christ and served Him in ministry since hearing the call of God in his late teens.

It seemed that we were together twenty four seven most of the time. Full of energy and he seemed to burn the candle at both ends. With a full schedule of programs and events at the churches we were privileged to pastor and the extra-curricular activities he was involved with; Christian Motorcycle Association, high school football coaching, hunting, fishing, camping and more ... well, he was busy.

We were opposites and opposites attract. When we were first married this was a big issue, and yes continued to be, but thankfully, much less the longer we were married. Within the first years, my mother, who had been praying for our marriage told me the Lord told her to tell me that one of us was fire and one was water, that is, our marriage was powerful in force and electrifying to us and others. I think looking back that it was all of that! (The nice thing about being married for more than a few years is that a couple learns to dance together without stepping on each other’s toes as much.) Deep in my heart there are many lovely moments we shared and they are mine to keep. Many of them were found as we served and ministered together in tandem with our Lord's leading. We walked in ministry together and many times the Lord would speak to both of us and then we shared notes about what he was saying. What a great amazing joy to love each other and serve Him together. We were both twenty when we were married, full of the call of God to ministry on our lives, full of vision and fully engaged in running the race God had called us to.

It was the 70's and there was a great revival going on in Southern California. The Viet Nam War was going on, the 60’s had been full of terrible events. Our generation was on a quest for answers. Before meeting, we both came to a point of decision separately to serve Christ with our lives, our resources and all that we were. We knew as Andrea Crouch sang in that time frame, “Jesus is the Answer” and I know this, Jesus Christ is still the answer for the world today.

Upon meeting when he preached on a Sunday night (his second sermon ever, his text was found in 1 Corinthians 2, the whole chapter.) at my home church.  That night I realized that this was a man God had called. And, to say the least I loved hearing the God given insight and sensed the anointing that came even then with every word.

 More coming soon...

In His love, Katie Sperry - John 3:16 and 17