Her family had come to America from Sweden. She had a typical Scandinavian
look... Long blond hair; blue eyes; long slender legs; soft, blemish-free skin;
high cheek bones.
She was gorgeous - she was beautiful. In fact, a professional international
photographer in her hometown thought she was so pretty that he used a photograph
of her to advertise his business.
But that was not her real beauty.
She was raised by some wonderful Christian parents and had become a Christian at
an early age. Integrity, honesty and sweetness were just a few of her
characteristics. In fact, at her engagement party, her sister, who knew her
better than anyone, said that she had never heard her tell a lie. All of her
friends said the same thing about her: She was the sweetest girl they knew. She
would never speak a harsh word about anyone. Everyone loved to be around her.
A young man she met in her freshman year started dating her and fell in love
with her - both her exterior photographic beauty and the wonderful godly
character of her inward beauty. She fell in love with him and they spent every
free moment they could with each other over the next four years. They were
committed to each other and they believed in waiting long before the "True Love
Waits" Campaign ever existed.
One week after they graduated from college, they were married. They loved each
other's company. They would walk together, exercise together, go on bike rides
together, chaperone youth trips together -go to movies, watch TV, eat pizza,
travel - all the things any normal couple would love to do together. They were
so much in love.
She taught school for a year and then became a bookkeeper for a surgical supply
company. One day while she was working, for no apparent reason she lost her
balance and fell on the floor. She was later able to get up and went to see a
doctor that night. He set her up to see a Neurologist. The following day, it
happened again. For no apparent reason, she lost her balance and fell. This
time, though, she couldn't get up. She had lost all feeling in her legs. They
wouldn't move.
Her husband had to come to the office and pick her up in his arms and carry her
to the hospital. After six days in the hospital, the doctor gave this beautiful,
active young lady the dreadful news. She had Multiple Sclerosis and she would
continue to deteriorate.
This young couple, who had now been married only 18 months - who loved to go
everywhere together and do everything together - would now face some new
challenges. All their future plans would change, everyday life would change.
They would change.
For the next 30 years, this young lady did deteriorate. She had to take steroids
(not the kind athletes use, but anti-inflammatory steroids). Her bones became
brittle, breaking easily. Her face became puffy and bloated and she could not
even put on make-up. Her body was a mess. She went from a walker, to an electric
scooter, to a wheelchair. She could no longer feed herself, write her name, or
control her own bodily functions. She now had to have someone stay with her 24
hours a day.
If that couple had not had the kind of committed love that's based first on a
personal relationship and a commitment to Jesus Christ and second, on a love
that's based on a commitment to each other, the marriage never would have
lasted. In fact, a large percentage of the marriages where a spouse has MS, the
other spouse leaves them. The other spouse won't stay committed to the constant
care and the continual physical, psychological and mental changes that continue
to occur.
Please hear me carefully - those two people are not heroes. They are not
super-saints or super-Christians. They will be the first to tell you that they
are not super Christians. Those two people are normal, ordinary people,
empowered by the Love of God and a love for each other, to do what the world
considers beyond normal and extraordinary.
I know this for a fact - because that woman, that beautiful young lady who will
never walk again, who can't even feed herself, is Lynda Langerfeld - my wife.
She's not a hero. I'm not a hero. We're children of God, doing what the children
of God are supposed to do. Doing what His children are called to do. Doing what
God expects of every man and every woman who make a vow before God on their
wedding day.
Often, Hollywood will portray a "hero" sacrificing his life for his "heroine" in
a film. In the world's eyes, he's a hero. In God's eyes, he's an ordinary man
making an extraordinary sacrifice that every Christian who's committed to his
spouse ought to make. Sacrificial, Committed Love is the rule, not the
exception. We're not super-saints, we're not heroes when we're being faithful
and committed to our mates. We're doing what God has called every husband and
wife to do since the beginning of time.
(c) 2002 by David Langerfeld
dlangerfeld@HarrisburgBaptist.org
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