Tenacity

Introduction
Knowing Paula was a great gift, yet knowing her also led me into one of the hardest journeys of faith I have ever traveled. She was my wife. She was also the only woman that loved me, as a man wants to be loved. Marrying at a relatively late age for the first time, I was both cursed and blessed by not having had many ladies in my life. There were a few, but as usually happens they came and they went. Even those encounters were few and far in between.
But after 45 years of searching, waiting, and learning, the Lord put a wonderful woman into my life. It wasn’t until I went on a contra dance weekend without her that I knew I needed her. Contra dancing was my favorite pastime. It was fun because I was able to dance with as many women as I could stand, and they were all beautiful! I thrived on dancing. But on this weekend away from Paula, after a few years of being together, I felt virtually alone in the crowd. What was it about her that made me alive, which filled my days with completeness, and love? As a Christian man, I know love. The love of Jesus is not virtual. It is as real as the air I breathe. I know His touch, His words of sweet comfort. But there was something special about Paula.
Very soon after that weekend, I asked her to marry me.
She said yes.
Imagine, if you can, the mixture of great joy and enormous stress that came upon me all of a sudden. This was serious business. I was making a promise that was going to be forever as long we both lived. I was no longer alone, having only myself to worry about. Everything I would say, do, and act upon had an impact on her, and I loved her, maybe more than myself. I had no Idea what I was getting myself into. Yet on my short adventure with her on this earth, in-time, I grew and changed in ways that were inconceivable at the time I that I proposed and she accepted.
She is now out-of-time. I miss her very much. What I am about to describe will show you a woman of faith, a stubborn woman, a very self-reliant woman, and yet so profoundly fragile. Prone to pain, to discouragement, and even depression, she never gave up. She was tenacious. On February 23, 2013 the melanoma cancer took her body, but never, I say NEVER, took her spirit. It never took her will to help and be there for her family, for her friends, and . . . for me.
To her very last breath, she showed love and courage. I know. I was there. So were her beautiful daughters. For my part, I not only felt her love, but her joy in going to see Jesus. She only hung around as long as she did to help us, so we would not have to hurt. (Oh, the hurt....) She is still with those who know her. This book will help you understand that in a real world, full of life and also full of pain, we can be strong, we can have hope, and that we absolutely need faith in Jesus, our Savior.