Matt and I celebrate our three-year wedding anniversary today. Three years doesn’t sound like much, but the years really have gone by fast.

Today I was talking to a co-worker whose husband has ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and is expected to die within a couple of weeks. He has lost all use of his body except above his neck, so he can still talk and eat. But he’s confined to a wheelchair and basically needs around-the-clock care. My co-worker told me today that her husband told her, “I’m ready to stop fighting. I’m ready to go.” And my co-worker said that she is ready to let him go. “I never thought I’d be giving up,” she said.

But it helps that he’s ready. And what has pulled them through this all is their faith and their unwavering trust that God continues to bless them in the midst of this incredibly difficult trial. My co-worker talks about how they were able to get the wheelchair-accessible van that they wanted–at a lower price than expected–or how a neighbor came to visit JUST when my co-worker needed to go somewhere, but still needed someone to watch her husband. She cited several occasions where she felt God provided for them at just the right time–and it is those times that pull them through all this.

It’s simply incredible to see her positive attitude, yet you know she is hurting but ready to accept what is to come. She doesn’t know how she really will react when it happens, but she is ready for it. I keep thinking how difficult it must be, to be married to someone for 27 years and to watch them deteriorate before your eyes over the last two years, and to know that they will die much sooner than you expected. What happened to growing old together?

And then I think that even with only three years with Matt, I would be devastated if something like this happened to him–and how much harder it would be if we were together for 27 years? I don’t know how she does it, but it really makes me thankful for each day that I have with Matt. Despite my outbursts and complaints at times about how mauh-faun marriage (and Matt) can be at times, I am truly thankful for him and love him so much.

(BTW, tomorrow is my two-year anniversary at World Vision and this week marks our two-year anniversary here in the Emerald City! Whoo-hoo!)