The text read: “I think I need to go the emergency room.” It was a Saturday morning. I just finished speaking at a men’s meeting, when my wife texted me. 

I rushed home and got her to the ER. After some tests and a scan doctors discovered that she had a thirteen-pound ovarian cyst measuring a foot long. She was admitted to the hospital, and by Monday midday she was in surgery to have it removed. Now, everything worked out. The surgery was a success. The surgeon informed us the cyst was benign. I praise God for modern medicine and that we caught it before there was any type of rupture. 

In the ensuing hospital stay I began to pray that God would use the circumstance for good, and God was faithful to answer that prayer in a few ways. 

First, in a busy world I was able to spend seven days in a 20×20 foot room with my wife. As anyone who has ever been in a hospital knows a stay can be monotonous. Most of the time our only conversation partner was each other. We were able to express appreciation for one another without a lot of distraction. It was a unique opportunity.

Second, God allowed me to serve my wife in ways I would never have if it were not for this hospital stay. Major post-surgery needs are significant, and I got to be there for my wife, twenty-four hours a day for almost a week. Looking back, I am thankful for these moments of serving my wife. Serving her only increased my affections for her. I literally felt my love toward her rise as I helped meet her needs. Then, that spurred on my desire to serve her with increased fervor. 

Third, I became a much more focused praying husband. When you are watching your wife battle pre and then post-surgery pain, face her needle phobia, need a blood transfusion, and more, you realize how little control you have. Yet, you are quickly reminded who is in control. So, my prayers to the sovereign of the universe, became more intense. Rather than the general prayers I often pray for my wife that sometimes feel routine, my prayers carried a sense of desperation. A reminder of how I should be regularly praying for her good. Which again increased my affection towards her in those moments. 

Finally, the week was littered with opportunities to die to self. Sleeping (or not sleeping) on a hospital couch, missing meals, putting socks on her feet because she could not bend over, brushing her hair, working hard to show empathy (which I am terrible at), being a voice of calm when her emotions are up and down, just to name a few. Each moment was a reminder of just how much this life is not about me. This life is given to me that I would serve. My wife was given to me that I would serve her. I am to continually lay down my life for the sake of others. 

I am not the first husband to find himself in the hospital with his wife, but for me, God used it to encourage and mature me. It was a moment in which He reminded me of his goodness and my many blessings. He used it hopefully to make me a better husband, and a more holy follower of Christ. 

God used my wife’s hospital stay for my good (that is a sentence I never thought I would write). He kept his promise; He always does (Romans 8:28).