This is a special day for me.
On this day, God brought into existence a woman to be my wife. I knew it the first time I met her. She completed me – like we had been together before time. I knew that, whatever it would take, I would have to be near her. The night we met I went home and wrote about a star falling from the sky and landing next to me. That’s because she sparkles and shines.
He had this planned. I was holding out for this and wondering if I was asking too much – to be overwhelmed with certainty. To know beyond the shadow of a doubt – to know so as to obliterate my fear of not knowing.
It made me smile to think that God knew me this well.
He knew her before she was born and planned that she would go on to be:
The mother of three incredible children who are
each one, in their own way,
a gift to the world;
The real dynamic in our family;
The one who gets up with a plan and stays up late to take it apart
and redo it for another day;
The reason I smile;
The one who believes in me when I don’t;
The one who jumps up and down with frustration when I don’t realize the potential
she sees in me;
The charge in my battery;
The vision to move on;
The one who will not let go of a dream;
The one who will always do what God says
even if it means a fight.
The one who looks up when I’m looking down;
The one whose smile can suddenly make everything right;
The one who believes…
who hopes,
endures,
and loves to crawl up into the lap of God
to lose herself in the folds of His robe
and see things from there;
The one who keeps on loving,
and the one who has put up with me
through more than I would ever want you to know.
All of this wrapped up in the most beautiful creature in the world
that God made.
Bless you, Lord.
Happy Birthday, Marti.
John Fischer The Catch 
That is such a perfect photo!! Happy birthday to Marti!! And my you have many many many more outstanding days ahead!!
Thank you so much!
We are blessed when we catch the star God gives us and more blessed when we recognize and keep and cherish that One always!
Thank you so much!
Marti
very nice post John. i had to comment because of this line from you….
To know beyond the shadow of a doubt – to know so as to obliterate my fear of not knowing.
amazing, because that was my prayer when i was asking for a wife. i didn’t know how God would do it, i just wanted to KNOW for sure that whoever He brought to me was who He had for me. Mellissa and i were married on July 6, 2002!! i didn’t deserve her then, i don’t deserve her now, and i will never deserve her.
He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:22
but all because of His Grace, she is the one i refer to as My Girl. : ) isn’t that just like God, not giving us what we really deserve ( quite literally, Thank God ) and giving us what we do not deserve?? nice. and yet, we still can’t even imagine the eternity He has in store.
….no mere man has ever seen, heard, or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9
thanks for all you do John. Happy Birthday Marti !!
Thank you so very much! Your wishes mean everything!
Hey John, I got home yesterday evening, from a trip down the Four By-Pass Lane I took this last monday morning on the surgery table. What a trip. So I am very emotion on many levels to say the least. I read the “Catch” this morning and the tears flow. I struggle to be able to be articulate when I really want what I have to say is lost in my puting it out there. But I can say this “Catch” today, I’m taking it and running with it. My Loving wife’s Birthday is coming up soon. That old “Blessed” peddistal has pushed me above the clouds!! Thanks
Thank you so very much! Your wishes mean everything!
Marti
I’ve always known ever since I started reading the Catch a few years ago, that when you write, I can sense Marti’s spirit there in between each word……that’s kinda’ how it works when “two become one flesh”…. Love you both!!! .Happiest of Birthdays to Marti!!!!
P.S-The moment I saw the picture of you two in today’s Catch, it instantly reminded me of a Billy Crystal skit on Saturday Night Live, where Billy says over & over, “You look marvelous”
I love it!
Thank you so very much! Your wishes mean everything!
Marti
PTL for Marty & for John’s love for her. I might as well just take these words and insert my wife’s name for Marty’s as I too am blessed with having such a “help/soul mate” as my partner.
Praise be to God for makiing us so fortunate. Thanks, once sgain, for your words so well put together.
Today is my husband’s 83rd birthday. He, too, was born just for me. It took us a while to fine each other, but it was worth it. I know EXACTLY what you mean, John. Happy birthday Marti Fischer and Jack Taylor. Two children of God.
Happy Birthday Jack. You must be a great man born on such a perfect day. I hope you enjoy your day!
Marti
This was just absolutely beautiful~~~~how lucky she is to have a man that can write these words about her. How lucky you are to have a woman like her that makes you want to write them. My husband could write such sweet poems to me, sweet letters, sweet one liners…..I was lucky to have him for 27 years, not long enough compared to others who get 50+ years with a spouse, but much better than those who never find the kind of love we did 🙂
Sandy
It is you who touch my heart today. Thank you!
Marit
Happy Birthday Marti! ❤
i’ll add Happy birthday Marti Fischer & Jack Taylor! 🙂
Mark
I miss your voice!
Thank you so very much! Your wishes mean everything!
Marti
Thanks, Mark. We are all family.
Happy Birthday, Marti! Thanks for keeping John going!
Looks like John got the best present ever on YOUR b-day, Miss Marti! A very happy birthday to you-and a very happy UNbirthday to John!
Happy birthday, Marti.
…her children rise up and call her blessed: Her husband also, and he praises her. “Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all.” Prov 31:28-29
Thank you so very much! Your wishes mean everything!
Marti
Marti, Big Happy Birthday Wishes!
Happy Birthday, Marti! John, it is wonderful to hear a man express his appreciation for his wife in such a beautiful way.
Many happy returns Marti and may you both share those special joys for many more
years.
As always you tug our heart strings,John.
Bill R
John and Marti,
An employee of mine says her Mom practices a month every year to celebrate her birthday. Each day is a different celebration. What a novel idea. I am trying to give you longer than one day celebration of your birthday, Marti.
Marti, as a man, I can only imagine how John’s post to all of us made mush out of your heart that you probably haven’t yet recovered from. Lack of recovery from that much overwhelming love confessed is probably a good thing. I felt John’s love for you in every word he put down. It is one of the most endearing confessions of a man in love.I have ever read. It is wonderful to see how his love for you has grown over the years because some of the things he says are due to the experiences you have shared as a married couple, otherwise one might say these are the words of a newly wedded man.. The difficult and gut wrenching circumstances you two have gone through has made your love grow rather than douse the flame of passion. What a testament to all couples out there. What a testament to what every man should do to confess his love to his wife.
Marti I can only guess but I bet you have a place in your heart as well as in a drawer somewhere all the wonderful words this man has used to describe the love of his life. You are one blessed woman. Wow!
Just for your information I am going to use this post as an inspiration to do a similar thing for my wife. She too was a gift from God and WOW what a gift.
John and Marti your marriage is truly one made in heaven that has been pulled down to earth. Thank you for sharing your innermost feelings John. I feel incredibly blessed to have discovered the CATCH, as my daughter in law says I don’t believe in coincidences.
Love to you both,
Peter