In 1991, Elizabeth was diagnosed with breast cancer and required a modified radical mastectomy.  It was the most searching, excruciating experience of our lives.  All of a sudden, I was faced with the thought that I might lose her.  I had always loved her body and found her physically alluring, and I wondered how I’d respond if a part of her that excited me was removed.  Frankly, in the event, it was irrelevant.  I needed and loved her, not her body parts, and it became a powerful time of deepening love.  But as she recovered from surgery, it became evident she didn’t want me to see her.  She felt mutilated, disfigured, and scarred.  She knew I loved her, but would I really love her if I saw her as she really was?  Of course I wished that her cancer was an illusion and surgery had been unnecessary, but I love her for all that she is.  What cancer has taken from her is trivial compared to what Christ has given to her for me.  (Gary Inrig, “Dare To Share,” Whole Marriages In A Broken World, 79-80).

Eph 5:25 – Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it