My wife is my hero. She isn't perfect. She isn't above reproach. She doesn't have all the answers, anticipate all my needs, or always say the right thing in the right way. Once in a while, we don't even like each other very much. Yet, Olivia is my hero just the same. Olivia is a never-give-up follower of Jesus Christ. No matter what happens, she always ends up is a place of faith.


Honestly, if it wasn't for her faith, I doubt she'd still be alive today. The suffering and pain that marks her journey are frankly unbelievable. Those who read her blog have glimpsed the pain she has seen, but believe me when I tell you that even you don't know the half of it! Olivia has suffered as few people ever have (but I'll let her decide which stories to tell). What I want to point out is her survival, and the survival of her faith in Jesus. She lives Peter's confession, "Where else would we go. You have the words of life." No matter what has come her way, her answer to God always comes back to "Yes."


So, she isn't my hero like some of our 'heros' out there in the world. She doesn't have super powers: she can bend steel bars, fly, or turn invisible. She isn't a super-jock: I've never seen her slam dunk a basketball, hit a home run, or win the Tour de France. She isn't a Hollywood starlet or a politician. These people aren't really heros anyway, and I think treating them as such is ridiculous. Real heros are people who in the course of their normal lives look death, hardship, illness, and pain straight in the face, turn toward God, and survive.


Olivia's survival is an offense to Satan, not because she's still alive, but because she is still living a life of persistent, unquenchable faith in Jesus Christ (who allows all these things to happen!). So, while I pray daily for God to give her a break and bring the fullness of his restorative promises to Olivia's life, I also know that I am a man blessed by God to have her example in my life. She is a real hero.

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