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Thank God I Got Her!

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Inspiration

By Mike Gilland

Cindy and I recently celebrated our 44th anniversary, and in keeping with my celebration of that special event, I would like to say a few words about my dear wife, and the blessing she is to me!

I met Cindy in 1975 – she was in a band from Henderson, KY, that opened for my band at a concert in Tell City, Indiana. After that concert was over, I managed to get her phone number, and though I didn’t call her for almost two months (she had given up on me), she agreed to grant me a date.

When Cindy answered my knock on the door, I was completely dumbstruck at the sight of her beautiful face. Truly, I was smitten. So much so that I couldn’t stop staring at her! She invited me in to meet her parents, and I stepped inside. Once in the front room of her home, I was STILL staring at her, even as she said, “This is my Dad and my Mom…” Suddenly, I snapped to at least some sense of realization that I hadn’t stop staring, and as Cindy’s Dad said “Hello,” I did the only thing that seemed to make sense at that moment – I addressed the framed picture of her parents that was hanging on the wall, just behind where Cindy was standing. Then, a BETTER realization came upon me, that I was a complete idiot, talking to a picture on the wall! Immediately, I turned to them and properly greeted them. Fortunately, I think they thought I was just a bit of a jokester, and they greeted me with much laughter and big smiles on their faces. I’ve thought back many times on that moment, and for me, it was a moment just like in Jim Carrey’s “Grinch” movie, when he said, “I almost lost my cool.”

After that night, it didn’t take long for Cindy to become my best friend. Whenever I would pick her up for a date, it was as if the world were in Technicolor, and all of the birds in the world were singing a joyous song. Fourteen months later, we were married, and like all couples experience, we’ve had our ups and downs. But life has been good. I think often of Psalm 16, where David declared that the boundary lines of his life had fallen “in pleasant places.”

A music artist named Jonny Diaz once dropped by a station that I worked for, and in the studio, he performed his big hit “More Beautiful You.” I loved that song, but he also had another song that was amazing, one he had written for his wife. It was called “Thank God I Got Her.” One of the catch lines in the song is “I don’t get her, but thank God I got her!” Just as Jonny’s song talks about some of the areas in which she differs from him, Cindy and I could completely relate. She too has a “bunch of pillows on the bed that no one can use, and towels in our bathroom that are not for the drying of my hands”, just as in Jonny’s song. Truthfully, we are different from each other in many ways. But those differences are just what I need in my life, and they are only a fraction of the many reasons why I love her so much.

Proverbs 18:22 says that “He who finds a wife finds a good thing.” That is exactly what I found in Cindy. I thank God for her… and I thank God I got her.


Mike Gilland is Operations Manager for The Shepherd Radio Network, a group of radio stations in Florida that features the “Christian Teach/Talk” format. Mike hosts a daily talk radio show in the 2 PM hour called “Afternoons with Mike”, talking to local pastors and newsmakers. In Orlando, The Shepherd is heard on WIWA, AM 1270. In addition to his broadcast experience, Mike spent 36 years in full-time ministry as a pastor and worship leader. As a guitarist, Mike performs at concerts, restaurants, private parties, etc. He is married to Cindy, the father of four grown children and grandfather to seven grandchildren.

Courtship, Gratitude, Inspiration, Marriage, Memories, Mike Gilland, The Shepherd Radio Network

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