A Love Story

“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal over your arm.
For love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame
Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away.” - Song of Songs 8:6-7

Before coming to Africa, I was told on numerous occasions that I would find the love of my life. I guess deep down I knew that I would find that love… but I didn’t know just how fierce his passion would be for me. He has sought me out and found me beautiful just as I am. I don’t feel the need to put on make up and become somebody that I am not. I fear he knows me better then I know myself.
He usually finds me in the quiet of the night, when the day has or has not gone according to plan. His whispers reassure me as I am becoming more and more vulnerable with him. I have fallen so in love with him…I feel my heart will burst with how he loves on me. Lately, when I read the words he has written to me, it takes my breath away. It is like he has been singing a love song that has pierced through my heart and gone to the depths of my soul. I feel like I have just awoken. I have never felt a love that is so real.

“Test me O Lord and try me,
Examine my heart and my mind;
For your love is ever before me
And I walk continually in your truth”
- Psalm 26:2-3

He requires only one thing. He has asked of me to have my heart. But honestly, it is the one thing I have been holding on to...at least a part of it. But he wants all of it. I trust him with my life, with my plans and with my hopes and dreams…but for some reason…I battle with the knowledge that he wants all of my heart. That is the one thing I want to hold so close…and even hide, for fear of it getting broken. I am sharing this with you, because this love that has completely taken me over…is for you too. I am not talking about just any love…but the love of my first love. Even though I have had a relationship with him all my life…he has called me to a place where I find nothing else matters but him. His name is Jesus…and he is a jealous lover. He longs to be your first love too. I pray that this love captures you in a way that you have never felt before. I pray he steals your heart and (if he hasn’t yet) captivates your soul.

“Delight yourself in the Lord
And he will give you the desires of your heart”
- Psalm 37:4

I think many, or most, if not all women desire the same thing. We long to be loved and pursued. Many of us have struggled with the fairy tale dreams of meeting our prince charming and riding off into the sunset. I have been reading The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis & John Eldredge (I recommend it whether you are single, married or even a guy…it is written for everyone). It brings light to our deepest desires and longings. It shifts the direction from the idea of our silly notions about romance to the truth of the “sacred romance.” And this romance goes beyond what is shared between a man and women…to the Savior of the world and his creation. That would be…God and us.

I am not sure where you are at in your love story. But I can tell you one thing, God is chasing after you. No matter what you have done…or haven’t done…he is jealous for you and wants to be your first love. I have found we either throw our hearts out there to see who will catch it first or we hide it and keep it out of reach. Both are not the way God intended. He created us to be drawn in love to him. Not in power or control…but out of the longings of our heart.

“Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my hear may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever”
- Psalm73:25-26

However, there is an enemy in every fairy tale…and ours is out there to steal, kill and destroy our very lives (1 Peter 5:8). But our hero has already won the battle…unfortunately, in many of our lives he is still battling against the enemy for our hearts…a picture that comes to mind is of a princess being held captive in a tower, in which a fierce fire-breathing dragon is waiting at the bottom. We believe that we are trapped in the lies of the enemy, and those lies build a tower around us. We are made to believe that when we look down that there is no way out. We decide it is a hopeless situation and resort to sitting on our bed…praying for our Savior to come and rescue us from a certain death.

The truth is, if we were to look up and out we would see our hero in a distance. And to our amazement, we are actually holding the keys that unlock the tower door to our freedom. Even though we know without a doubt that our hero is waiting for us, we still feel we are walking down the steps alone and in the dark. Be even in the darkness and over the breath of the enemy, we hear the faint call of our true love…calling us to freedom. And upon reaching the bottom we discover the enemy has been already been defeated and death couldn’t hold us down…and that we have not been damsels in distress…but warrior princesses that just needed a little encouragement to look beyond the brokenness of our situations and into the beauty of the sunset waiting for us to ride into.

My lover spoke and said to me,
“Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me”
- Song of Songs 2:10

The revelation I received regarding the women living in the Uganda…in the Pearl of Africa, is the same for women everywhere. And this is the message I pray you receive…that Jesus loves you so very much and longs to call you his own. It is only out of pain that a pearl is created…just as it takes fire to purify metal and a potter to mould clay…so Jesus longs for your heart – no matter how broken or how whole to be his. He demonstrated the greatest act of love in the history of love stories…he died on a cross and took it upon himself to carry our shame and brokenness so we had a chance for freedom. It is our freedom to accept his love…or to turn it away. Even if you have fought his great romance, know that he is relentless for you…and he will not give up. Sometimes we are distracted by other lovers that try to steal our hearts…even though they are not our true love.

I pray the truth will set you free…whether it is to experience this love for the first time, or to return from our love affairs with things of the world…His arms are wide open…waiting for you to choose him. He chose you before you were born for a purpose and a plan. You have a vital role to play in your own love story…don’t waste it trapped in the lies of the enemy. Take a good look in the mirror and marvel at the knowledge that you were created in His image.

You are beautiful and you are loved…but not for your beauty…but for who you are. What makes an oyster so valuable is not how it looks on the outside, but the pearl that remains hidden within. And you will never be able to tell just how much beauty is on the inside, unless you are willing to look past the broken and into the possibility of what could be. Unless you are willing to see as God sees.

Blessings,
Janessa