“I cross my heart and promise to give all I’ve got to give to make all your dreams come true. In all the world, you’ll never find, a love as true as mine.” George Straight serenaded me as I stared at my husband in our pickup. This song flooded my heart with memories of our wedding where I sang this song to my husband. What a beautiful sentiment to want to make someone’s dreams come true.

This summer brought a lot of challenges health wise for my husband and as I held his hand with George Straight singing and looked into his sparkling blue eyes, my heart was overcome with emotion. God promises us in Psalms 37:4 that if we take delight in the Lord, he will give us the desires of our heart. This summer I learned what some of the true desires of my heart were and what my dreams really were. Have we given all we could to each other to make all our dreams come true?

Five years ago, if you asked me what my dreams were or what the desires of my heart were, I would have listed a few key “things.” Things like a new house, a new pickup, to be financially secure, you know things that could be seen and obtained. It’s funny how when mortality comes into question, some of those things change.

This summer we were going to go camping, take the daughter to compete in some rodeos out of state, and we were hoping we could attend a wedding in Hawaii in August. We had planned a lot of memorable family times together. Then, early this summer, I was on my way to teach one of my 4-H sewing girls and I received a call from my son. He was speaking quickly and loudly. He said “dad has had an accident. His leg may be broke and he’s bleeding really badly. I’m on my way with him to the hospital. Meet us there and bring some new clothes because his are blood soaked.” I didn’t even go get new clothes. My mother-in-law and I jumped in the car and headed to the Steamboat hospital.

My son had been welding on equipment at the ranch. My husband was watching him and the 600 pound welder fell and pinned my husband to the dozer my son was welding on. In doing so, it crushed his leg and cut his leg to the bone in the back right where your leg bends (a very nasty place for a wound like that to heal). Luckily, my son had enough strength to pull the welder off and went right into first aide mode.

Needless to say, the summer was spent recovering and he still has a ways to go. He had to endure a few more stays in the hospital after that night due to his injury He had to walk with a walker and use oxygen to help with the healing. We may not have gotten to go camping, to the rodeos, or to Hawaii, but we did spend an awful lot of time together, which is what we wanted to really accomplish anyway.

When your mortality comes into question, your desires change. Instead of wanting “things,” you want to feel things. You want to feel close, loved, and happy. When I look at my husband while this song plays I realize those desires of my heart, those dreams, they have all come true. Because of that, in all the world, he’ll never find a love as true as mine.