grace: gift from God

That's Aileen and I in one of our first Great Adventure (now called GA) roles together. I was Archie the cartoon character and Aileen was Veronica. This was a supehero themed Summer Camp - so Abner and JP tried to add my namesake's character to this role playing game. Anyways, today is Aileen's birthday. And I just wanted to note what a wonderful woman and wife she is to me. Proverbs 18:22 says: He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. Finding her was definitely all the Lord - it was really as if God brought her to me (like Adam I was totally sleeping and clueless of my need of her). And "a good thing" rightly describes her (not so much she is a thing)- that she is good: she's a perfect helper for my imperfections, a faithful friend who knows me insides out and she is that comforting companion who knows what I need to hear when I need it, and she is that sweet smile in the morning that I need when the sun don't shine and she is that salt on the counter (yes we watched Fireproof!). I truly do not deserve her. And that again is God's grace! When I think about the last part of that verse "obtaining favor from the Lord" - I think about ice cream next to the cake at a birthday party. Cake is already good. But ice cream is just unbelievably an added blessing. So not only is she a wonderfully good wife - on top of that this verse says God looks down to me and has favor on me. That is double blessing! God gives me a good wife and He says because what I gave you is good - I favor you.
Now that does not make sense to my small mind at all. But I tell you, that simply is grace!