My Reflection In The Mirror

My husband asked me out to lunch today. We wanted some Mahi Mahi.

While dressing, I quickly looked in the mirror and had a fleeting thought: I’m not the same woman I was last year! Without another thought, I headed out the door. I was hungry and my stomach wanted the fish it craved.

During our meal, there came a lull in the conversation. It was then Danny told me that I was pretty.

Now, the fish was good and satisfied my immediate hunger, but my husband’s words were the highlight of our date. His words deeply satisfied me and they will stay with me for weeks to come. Sigh. I love him!

Back at home, I found myself in front of the mirror again while washing my hands. James’s words in chapter 1, verses 22-24 came to mind.

“But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in the mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.”

Ouch! That last part!

I thought back to my quick glance in the mirror before heading out to lunch. I realized I had given little thought to what God tried to tell me earlier. My focus had been on satisfying my stomach.

This time as I lingered before the mirror studying my reflection, my mind went to the previous 12 months. The days brought to my life things not on my calendar, and they certainly weren’t on Danny’s busy work schedule. Hard things.

For years I have believed in God and been a “doer” of His Word. But last year, my husband saw me at my physical worst and spiritual weakest. He held me and wiped away my tears during some awful, ugly cries. He prayed with and for me - especially when I had no words.

He forgave me when I didn’t deserve it. He loved me, protected me, sat quietly with me, spoke God’s promises to me, encouraged me, and showed me grace. He was adamant that I get out of my own head, (one of the devil’s workplaces) and he pointed me to Jesus, His truths, love and joy.

While God was working on me, Danny was mirroring God’s love for me. My precious husband gave me time to allow God to deepen my faith, my relationship with my holy Father. Danny gave me space so I could walk the path that God would lovingly walk with me.

The ebb and flow of the process was difficult for both of us, but like God, Danny was always near, encouraging me in the strength of his own faith and God’s Word.

John 15:1-2 tells me that God, the Father, (the Vinedresser), prunes fruitful branches (you and me) to make us more fruitful, He removes the fruitless ones.

God used 2025 to do some pruning in my life. He removed some things so that he could add new things. It was a painful but necessary process for my spiritual growth. And while I haven’t mastered surrendering, the application of the word ‘SURRENDER’ is back on the front burner of my life where it should have been all along. We should always surrender everything to God, especially the unknowns in our lives and in seasons of pruning.

My attention went back to my reflection in the mirror. I saw a woman full of inner peace and contentment and smiled. Then I saw the grain of black pepper in my teeth! My goodness! I AM A LIFE THAT HAS CHANGED. Lord, I don’t ever want to forget the person I was - a sinner, with a heart as black as a grain of pepper - saved only by your marvelous grace.

Truly, it’s my desire to EMBRACE the NEW THINGS God is doing in me, to PERSEVERE in His Word and DO HIS WORD in my life through His strength.

I Praise you, God, for my husband who loves you, for 2026, for all of the fruit that is to come and for the pruning that is sure to follow!