Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, dear VICKIE, Happy Birthday to you!!! Yes, today is my wife’s birthday. They say you should never reveal a woman’s age so I will NOT tell you how old she is today.
I’ll just tell you that she was born on this day in 1968.
This devotional is going to take a different turn from others. I want to tell you about my wife as I celebrate her today. Bear with me as I share some random thoughts and praises.
I sit back amazed and overwhelmed to think that God had a plan for her life that would take her to places I’m sure she never imagined going. Life experiences were poured into the first 18 years that would form and shape her, preparing her for the adult world.
Saved at an early age at home, she was brought up faithfully in church by her mom. Her dad walked out of the home when she was barely a teen. She learned early in life what it was like to have little. If you ask her, she can tell you the exact moment when she realized that the family was poor. Even though many advantages were inaccessible to her, she never complained.
She worked hard. Always has at anything she does. Working in a restaurant is in her blood since her early days at Druthers, a fast food place similar to Krystals in the south or the old Burger Chef chain we had in the north.
We met at college in the Highland Park Baptist Church. I was drawn immediately to this shy Kentuckian. Her first words to me were “Hey,” spoken with the most pronounced southern drawl you can imagine. That’s all it took and I was hooked. I must have been an acquired taste because it took her a few days to come around and see me as I saw her. Just for the record, though, SHE was the first one to say, “I love you,” blurted out just before she ran away!
She is a Christian first in all things. She is a prayer warrior with a connection to God like nothing I’ve ever seen. Every day, she is in her Bible, reading and studying. Her heart is for others and she will put them first all the time. Many of you know her as a shopper and the Deal Queen. That is true. But what you don’t know is that she buys very little for herself. She is always on the lookout for something mentioned by someone else. She fulfills Philippians 2:3 which says, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
Organization and leadership are two dominating qualities. Disorganization and/or the lack of direction drives her crazy! She must have her ducks in a row. She gets teased about this all the time but when organizational or leadership skills are needed, guess who people will call upon! However, she can be one of the most flexible people I’ve known – a whole lot more than me! When plans change or things don’t go as planned, she has the ability to roll with it and make the best of any situation.
Today, you’ll see her at Season’s Coffee and Bistro where she not only manages t
he shop but ministers to the other women. She has led a couple to the Lord through the years, discipled them, and held Bible studies after the day of work. It’s her desire to see those who don’t know the Lord to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. She has never been a pushy witness but she will tell you the truth in love. The others that work there know that she loves and cares for them very much.
Miss Vickie is also a teacher and able communicator. I know the ladies in her Sunday School class love her and have appreciated her teaching because they often tell me. But it’s also been a source of pride to see her substitute teaching in the area schools. She has taught kids that are on my bus and they love her. At Stryker, the kids hug “Mrs. M,” disappointed when she is teaching a grade other than theirs.
There are a lot of jokes told about husbands waiting on their wives. I cannot think of a single time in the nearly 38 years of marriage where I’ve had to wait for her. If I’m coming from Bryan to pick her up, she will be outside, ready to jump in the truck when I arrive. I don’t ask her to do that. She just does it.
In the last few years, I’ve had some surgeries and situations that were not good. One person stayed by my side, unmoving even when I was violently throwing up and my incision had ripped open, allowing intestine to come through the opening in my abdomen. The nurse rushed away but my wife stayed there the whole time. She was my nurse, caregiver, and therapist, patiently going through my pain and petulance when it got overwhelming.
She IS my favorite person in this world. I can never spend enough time with her. A lot of people struggled during the shelter-in-place orders during COVID. Not me. I had her and I was quite content. In fact, I was rather disappointed when things got back to “normal.” To be stranded on a deserted island with her sounds like paradise to me!
Today, she would be the first to tell you that she is not perfect. But she is perfect for me and we know that the Lord made us for each other. And I cannot praise her enough! In fact, I’m practicing “The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.” (Proverbs 31:1)
Proverbs 31:10-12, 25-26, 28-31 are just a small portion of the Proverbs 31 woman that I’m blessed to call my wife and the one to whom I wish the HAPPIEST of birthdays and many, many more. Thank you for reading, indulging my praise, and perhaps learning something about my wife you never knew.
“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. (11) The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. (12) She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life … Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. (26) She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness … Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. (29) Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. (30) Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. (31) Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.”
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