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| A photo I took while I was in the Central Asia outside a chocolate shop. |
I hope this all makes sense. Love is something I think about a lot and wanted to share with all of you. I love love. I enjoy hearing the stories of how husbands and wives come to know one another. Romantic comedies? Yes, I like them too. Being single I sense my desire to meet that person who will become my life partner growing. Simultaneously and surprisingly to me is the contentment I stumble upon in my singleness.
Someone of you have heard me say, “ohhh… I want to meet Mr. special-to-me-man…” And you patiently listen. Then you listen some more and remind me of God’s PERFECT timing. Now, this is true and God’s timing IS perfect. Yet, somehow that is not what I want to be hearing in those moments. I can be impatient for sure.
Recently? I paused and took notice of all the amazing freedoms, liberties and opportunities I am able to enjoy being a single woman right now.
Is the longing still there for family? Uh, yeah. But I’m focusing on my relationship with God, my family, my church family, friends, getting ready to return to Thailand—and the creative work I get to do WITH God to change the world through making God known! And I am stunned. I am stunned at the amazing abundance, goodness, and the worthiness of GOD. I’m stunned at God’s gentleness with us, and His tenderness towards us.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Whoa!
I ask myself: Is that how you are loving those who are in your life? No. I fall short. But I want to learn how to love better!
Do you want to experience that kind of love?
Guess what? God loves us like that. Don’t roll your eyes! This is REAL.
I’m going to be a little more vulnerable here with you. Ready? When I think about my future husband? I catch myself dreaming about how he will be, what our life look like together, the ministry work we’ll do together, children, ect.
There isn’t anything wrong here—but I sense a challenge rising inside myself to take this idea and move to a place of application. The challenge is in BECOMING the woman (wife, mother, friend, sister, daughter, aunt…) God is calling me to be.
For me the difficult part doesn’t come out of STRIVING but out of SURRENDER. Sounds counter intuitive, doesn’t it? Well, from my own experience, and believe me I have TRIED, I’m quite certain we can’t change ourselves.
We can modify habits and behaviors but TRUE TRANSFORMATION comes from God and the Holy Spirit working in us. When I say surrender I’m not saying giving up, what I mean is partnering with God and allowing Him to be the leader. Not me. Not you.
You are the beloved of God (If you don’t know this, send me an email—we’ll talk because I’m figuring this out too!) So, what happens when you live and make decisions out of the place of being dearly, radically and WHOLLY loved by God?
I dare say wonderful, exciting, joyful things begin happening as you discover your true identity as the beloved of God.
This entry is just a glimpse into some of the conversations God and I are having lately. I’m praying for you and me that through the power of the Holy Spirit we will grow in our identity as the beloved of God and begin receiving MORE of the love God has for us. Thanking God for showing us how to love one another better. Find rest, beloved, in knowing that God KNOWS the plans He has for you and these are plans of hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).