As the "Week of Love" comes to an end... I thought it fitting to write about Valentines day and my true love.
I was always the single girl that dreaded Valentines day. Always bitter at the fact that I didn't have someone to share my love with. This year was different. I realized that I have been sharing my love with someone for the last 26 Valentines day's. I realized that my true love has been by my side every single day of my life. No, I have not realized my undying love for an old friend. I am still single. However, my perspective has completely changed.
I felt more love this Valentines day then ever before. Not just because my uncle got me flowers, or because my mom sent me a very sweet package. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the gifts and was very grateful for them. I just realized that I have the most unconditional love I could ever imagine. The love of God. My creator. I know to some, this love does not seem tangible. God is not waiting at your door step with a bouquet of roses. Instead, he offers us a love that we cannot even comprehend. It is real. It is full. It is more than we are capable of.
It has taken a long time to realize this, but I am not single because God wants to hurt me. I am not single because God has abandon me. I am single because God is protecting me. I am single because God loves me. I am single because God does not want me to settle for less than the who he has created for me. God wants me to understand that HE is my true love. God wants me to rely on Him to provide the intimate love I need to feel. He knows my hearts desire. He knows that I want to be married. But for now, I truly believe that he wants me to trust in him so that when the right guy comes along, I will be able to love him without straying from God.
Last year I wrote a letter to my future husband. I prayed and made a promise to God and to myself that if I was dating someone and I could not hand them that letter on our wedding day with full confidence that they were everything the letter described, I would not continue dating them. I have waited 26 years for the right guy. Why settle now? God does not want us to settle. And that is not just for single people. God does not want you to settle in your married relationship. Every relationship goes through tough times. But if you make God the center, spend time in prayer together and separately and trust in him to make the relationship stronger, He will.
I want nothing more than to find a man who loves the Lord and will be the spiritual leader of our home. Someone I can serve God along side of. I know being single will not always be easy. I know I will struggle. But I know who I can always come back to and share my heart with and I am thankful that God loves me so much and wants me to constantly pour my heart out to him.
I hope that those of you who are reading this will realize how much God loves you and how He wants to be your true love. And when you love Him and put your trust in Him, your life will totally change.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Praying in the Moment
I once heard a sermon by Mark Driscoll (one of my favorite pastors to listen to) that talked about prayer. He said when you tell someone "I'll pray for you", you are not only making a promise to them, you are making a promise to God. Why had I never looked at it like that? How many times have I told someone I would pray for them and just as quickly as I said it, I forgot to say a prayer. Time goes by and you remind yourself "Oh yeah, pray for this person for this struggle" and you still don't pray.
In the last year, prayer has come up so much in my daily life. I remember a little over a year ago, if someone asked me to pray in front of people, I would freeze. My palms would start to sweat, I would get that big lump in my throat, I would stutter and get nervous that I would say something wrong. Then after a sermon at church, I realized what prayer really was. It is a conversation between God and I. It does not matter if I "pray well" in other people's opinion. It does not matter if I stutter or stumble over words. It does not matter if I forget to say something and add it in at the end. God knows what is on my heart and the moment I realized God does not judge my prayers, I didn't care what other people thought of them either.
After hearing what Mark Driscoll said about making a promise to God, I took it as a challenge. I am challenging myself to pray in the moment. If I am talking to someone who is going through something, instead of saying "I'll pray for you", I will challenge myself to say "can I pray with you now?" If that person is texting me, I will challenge myself to put down the phone and pray in that moment. I also keep a pad of paper at my desk and when I hear someone is having a hard day, I write their name down and bring that paper home and pray for those people.
I was talking to someone today who said that she uses her Facebook news feed as a tool. When someone's name comes up, she prays for them. She said "I don't always know what their struggle is, but God does". She is right. God knows what the people we pray for are going through. Psalm 145: 18 says "The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth." God wants us to call on him. Not just in the bad times, but to praise him in the good. When we call on him, he is near. What a comfort.
So my goal for myself is to pray in the moment. Keep track of those in my life who need prayer. No more empty promises to God. What tools will you use to better your prayer life?
In the last year, prayer has come up so much in my daily life. I remember a little over a year ago, if someone asked me to pray in front of people, I would freeze. My palms would start to sweat, I would get that big lump in my throat, I would stutter and get nervous that I would say something wrong. Then after a sermon at church, I realized what prayer really was. It is a conversation between God and I. It does not matter if I "pray well" in other people's opinion. It does not matter if I stutter or stumble over words. It does not matter if I forget to say something and add it in at the end. God knows what is on my heart and the moment I realized God does not judge my prayers, I didn't care what other people thought of them either.
After hearing what Mark Driscoll said about making a promise to God, I took it as a challenge. I am challenging myself to pray in the moment. If I am talking to someone who is going through something, instead of saying "I'll pray for you", I will challenge myself to say "can I pray with you now?" If that person is texting me, I will challenge myself to put down the phone and pray in that moment. I also keep a pad of paper at my desk and when I hear someone is having a hard day, I write their name down and bring that paper home and pray for those people.
I was talking to someone today who said that she uses her Facebook news feed as a tool. When someone's name comes up, she prays for them. She said "I don't always know what their struggle is, but God does". She is right. God knows what the people we pray for are going through. Psalm 145: 18 says "The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth." God wants us to call on him. Not just in the bad times, but to praise him in the good. When we call on him, he is near. What a comfort.
So my goal for myself is to pray in the moment. Keep track of those in my life who need prayer. No more empty promises to God. What tools will you use to better your prayer life?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)