MAKING YOUR WIFE

This message can keep you from experiencing a break up of your marriage and a transfer of a lot of your assets to her and her attorney. Joan and I will reach our 52nd wedding anniversary in June if Jesus doesn’t come first. I live in that expectancy for He has promised to come for us and lift us to meet Him in the sky. Please read this for yourself in 1st Thessalonians 4: 13-18. Don’t put this off for it will help you in making your wife. Living daily for and in expectancy for Jesus is absolutely necessary. There are no short cuts for anyone. Please trust me in this!

Unless you were born stupid [no hope for you] this can be the beginning of an exciting relationship which many have never enjoyed with their spouse. I’m not saying you aren’t living in a “satisfactory” relationship but trust me again there is far more to be enjoyed. I will share a little of my life with you here so you can see what I’m speaking about.

Joan and I married as sophomores at FSU in 1958. When I first saw her I was blown away with her beauty and grace. Not only that but she had a perfect figure too. To be honest I was enraptured by her and much of my thoughts were of when I might see her again. When I was able to take her to Destin my family was also so impressed with her. Joan was everything a mother wants for her son to marry.

My main problem was religion believe it or not. I loved God but didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. This didn’t happen until 1971 even though I was perhaps the most active male in my church. What ever was allowed I would do it. I taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, held an office in the church, and best of all served at the altar as an altar boy and later as a lay reader. I was one busy guy on Sundays. My mom and dad raised me to serve God. How I wish I had known Him during these years.

On May 23rd in 1971 I surrendered my life to Jesus, lock, stock and barrel. At last I wasn’t my own, I belonged to Jesus. Many wonderful things begin to happen including a series of dreams that assured me of my life in the Lord. One placed me in a jail ministry where God performed real miracles. The greatest miracle as far as my marriage was concerned was the opening of my eyes to see Joan as the Lord saw her. I had married the finest woman on earth and I was far from being the finest man. It seemed that I wasn’t appreciating how much work she did at home before. We both worked 14-15 hour days in the Deep Sea Fishing business. During the night folks would call us from all over the southern US asking if we were going fishing tomorrow. Can you believe they did this even when they didn’t have time to get to Destin? Our business began in 1934 after the first Destin Bridge was built. My dad was so blessed as Mrs. Bacon the owner of the Bacon’s by the sea hotel sent him all of her customers. This was a huge advantage for him for few folks came to Destin back then.

You can imagine how many customers we developed over the decades and their kids and grandkids too. I’m not complaining except they woke my dear wife a lot. When we returned home in the evening we were exhausted but her more so. Since she detested doing the laundry I decided to do it for her. She allowed me for a while but one day she asked if I would only do mine. When I asked why, she said, “Ben, you are washing them all together.” I thought everybody did it that way. The main result was Joan seeing me as someone wanting to take some of the load off of her. Before long I was doing the dishes too and found it to be a true joy for my love for Joan was in a new dimension. I wanted to please her as much as I could while still working my tail off.

Captaining a deep sea fishing vessel with up to a hundred or more aboard was as stressful as it sounds. There is a huge amount of responsibility every time I backed away from the pier. Before me was a ten hour voyage which included a trip to and from the fishing grounds which were from 20-30 miles away and then the navigation to one fishing spot after another in the least amount of time. Each minute was important to me for my customers came to catch fish not just go fishing.

I began my day in the Bible where the Lord fed me making my faith or trust in Him to grow daily. Then I would stop off at our church where my singing of How Great Thou Art ran all the hitch hikers out the front door. There I would ask for God’s help not only for me but for all the Captains, crew members and their families. Arriving at the pier I was now “pumped up”. I loved my customers and they knew it. I taught them how to catch fish using the scriptures and during it God allowed me to share His Son Jesus with them. My wife was my number one cheer leader for she knew my heart and it was for her and Jesus. When your wife comes to where she is your number one cheer leader you have “Made your wife”.

In His Service, Capt. Ben Marler captben61@gmail.com