That being said, I’ve finally realized that my husband is not Superman. He has his own quirks, foibles, and oddities, just like me. He does things differently from me—he perfectly aligns his money in his billfold; I just stuff mine in my purse. His interests are not the same as mine—he likes sports; I like books.

My expectations for him were high in the beginning. I just knew he was the answer to my every dream: a big house, fancy cars, great vacations. I expected a handyman who would leap at the chance to fix a faucet, change a lightbulb, and maintain my car. I expected a romancer who wanted to talk to me for hours, who brought me flowers just because, who delighted in going to the mall with me.

But guess what? He’s not meant to fulfill all my needs. In fact, he can’t; that’s God’s job. Instead, my husband is my helper, my complement, my best friend. So I can let him just be my husband, the love of my life, the guy I get to do life with.

Sometimes it’s hard to see past our spouse’s annoying habits and imperfections. When life gets hard, it’s easy to think that our expectations are not being met, that he’s not doing all he can to make life better for us. But our God-shaped vacuum cannot be filled by anyone else; it can only be filled by God. Give your husband the freedom to love you, to be himself, and to be only who God intended him to be.