She Hit a Homerun

We have returned from going to Brenda’s dad’s funeral. It was a difficult time for Brenda but also a time of healing for her. Most of you know I am married to an amazing woman. She continually blows me away. She did so again at the funeral.

When we arrived in Carson City, Nevada we went to visit Brenda’s stepmother. I had never met her and Brenda had only met her once. We also saw the house where the fire broke out and the smoke inhalation took the life of her dad. The smoke damage left the walls charred. I know walking through the smoke filled rooms and seeing his burned scooter pained her heart.

It was not until we got back to the hotel room and were settling in for the night that she began feeling God tugging at her heart to get up and speak at the funeral. The next morning I got up and went to breakfast leaving her some time to pray and jot down her thoughts.

If you know Brenda you will know she is shy and reserved. She prefers to work behind the scenes without drawing any attention to herself. She is perfectly content to live her life out of the limelight but not on this occasion. God prompted her to speak. Anytime she speaks publicly is only in obedience to the Lord. She gets very nervous speaking publicly but God uses her.

She got up at the funeral and spoke of memories of her dad serving Christ by making visits on Saturday recruiting children to ride a bus to church on Sunday. She remembered times when he would sing praise songs to the Lord and times of praying for their lost neighbors. She quoted scripture after scripture and spoke boldly of Jesus. I sat prayerfully on the front row doing what she has done for me each Sunday for the past two decades. Only this time I sat listening and praying and she did the speaking. I have never been prouder of her. She hit a homerun.

People laughed and cried. My heart hurt that nobody in that room knew the same man Brenda talked about. He battled alcohol for years. Many who spoke after Brenda made references to his drinking. Not one other person talked about his love for Jesus or his service to Jesus. Other than the pastor nobody even spoke the name of Jesus other than Brenda. Most of the people who gathered for that funeral could not relate to the Raul Ortiz who loved Christ, served Christ, and taught Christ to his children. They had never seen that side of him.

The preacher went through the motions of a sermon. His heart was not in it. So many talked before the message I thought he cut it short. Brenda exalted Christ and honored the Lord with her testimony. She spoke more truth that day than everyone else combined including the preacher. She is quite a woman and God chose me to be her husband. His anointing was definitely on her. I wish you could of have heard the message God put in her heart.

For the many women whom over the years have sat under Brenda as a teacher I know you are not surprised. She is a woman of great love for her Savior, great love for people, and incredible depth in her walk with the Lord. She is my best friend. I trust and make it a habit to seek her counsel above all others except the Lord’s.

We celebrate twenty years of marriage next week. I will be gone preaching a camp in Panama City, FL but will make it up to her when I get back. She is a great wife. She is a wonderful mother. She excels as a homemaker making my life and ministry more effective. She is my soul mate and just when I think she cannot out do herself God takes her to another level.

Brenda, I thank God for you and have never been more proud of you than when you stepped out of your comfort zone and exalted Jesus before strangers to point them to salvation and to the Savior at the funeral. I am proud to be your husband.