A Special Valentine's Love Story

[Guest guest]

A Special Valentine's Love Story

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, chaparone 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 20 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.

~ " We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a

little of each other everywhere. " ~

~ " If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you've made me smile, the

entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand. "