A Godly Woman

My wife loves me more than I love her. I can no longer deny it. Her capacity for loving is so much greater than mine. If there is one selfish bone in her body our 30 years together have not revealed it-and the capacity to love is directly related to the ability to live above self.

Vivian's love will not be denied. It is not smothering-possessing-but its genuine warmth lays hold on me. She is aware of her power to bind me, but not once-not once has she so much as threatened me with this scepter. Her love is there, just there; and it has been there almost from the day we met; and I can no more deny its presence or influence than I can deny the sun, and my need for it.

She is the most beautiful woman in the world. Others have the form; are chic, witty, striking, sexy-and my wife easily complements my earthly tabernacle-but her adornment is that of a meek and quiet spirit. It is "godliness"-and no other word so honestly describes it. I recognized these characteristics in her when we were first married, but the impression has strengthened as we have grown older together. Now, I cannot read 1 Tim. 2:9-f. and 1 Pet. 3:3-f. without thinking of Vivian.

She is not a jealous woman; and my faith in her borders on complacency. Ours is a mutual trust that lives above suspicion; and Vivian inspired that confidence. If my eye strays, my heart reproves. It is a guard that God gave me. Vivian tempered and gave it edge-without the sound of rasp or stone-and I am eternally grateful for its protection.

King Lemuel wrote of a "worthy" or "virtuous" woman (Prov. 31) as being industrious: buying fields, planting vineyards, and weaving cloth for sale. My wife worked hard to help finance some of my schooling, but as soon as my income could sustain us she gave full time to the children, and to a woman's work for the Lord. The sick know her touch, the homeless her hospitality. For years she taught "Stories About Jesus" to a class of children, and I still ask her to jog my memory on details.

But her greatest work has always been her quiet influence for good on all who knew her. She is not a "talker" (I never give her a chance) but she is a "doer." She doesn't write articles, organize the "benefits"; she is not the "life of the party." But folk who open their door to her are just a little bit better when she leaves. I baptize the neighbors-that Vivian taught. God knows, and even I suspect, that many homes have accepted Robert F. because Vivian was by his side.

Vivian is modest in every sense of the word-but she is not prudish. In good taste, and with utmost respect for the offender, she pleads by word and example for clean habits, appropriate dress, Christ-like living.

This is not an obituary. My wife is not even sick. This is a sermon on "A Godly Woman." It will embarrass Vivian (and that will hurt me); but she lives a better sermon than the great R.F.T. will ever write.

The article above has long been a favorite of mine, because I believe it is, in addition to being the great sermon on "A Godly Woman" which brother Turner desired, a great example of the kind of humility it takes to truly lead a home as God intended. It should also be pointed out that the article is now 33 years old, and as we continue to read of the "graying" of America, it sends home yet another point. The Turners have now been together for 63 years, and as their health fails, they have continued to lean on each other. In a letter to me from a few years ago, brother Turner explained the curtailing of some of his writing and preaching efforts so that he could care for his dear wife. He closed that letter with, "We have had 59 wonderful years together, and she has stuck with me through many a hard time. I am not about to leave her now."

It is our hope that students of the Bible and godly living will continue to profit from this article and from the example of brother and sister Turner. Their lives teach us about love between a husband and wife as God would have them, and about what it truly means to vow "in sickness and in health."