Celebrating the Love God gives us - In His Word 11-1-2021
You are my strength; I wait for you to rescue me, for you, O
God, are my fortress. In his unfailing love, my God will stand with me. He will
let me look down in triumph on all my enemies. Psalm 59:9-10
More than 30 years ago my heart cried out to God. It was
almost Christmas, and I was resolved to spending the actual days alone during
the break between Christmas and New Year’s Day. It wasn’t the first year I had
been alone for Christmas, but it was the first year I was not making it up to
my mom’s in Canada. I felt alone, and yet as the week progressed, I found
myself on my way to church with a song in my heart and a spring in my step. It was a couple days befor Christmas and we
were celebrating Jesus’ birth this Sunday. I was excited to see what friends
had come home for Christmas and whose family members were in town. I had a brief
thought of what if there was cute guy? I
quickly tucked it away as chances were pretty slim that I would find the man I
wanted in church today so why bother looking.
To my surprise I did meet the man for me that day! Long
story short he came to celebrate with his family and was singing along with two
of them as the special guest singers for this service. I was immediately drawn
to the man. He had a gorgeous voice and deep blue-green eyes that seemed to
shine as they sang a song by one of my favorite artists at the time.
“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15:9-11
I had resolved to being alone all my life as I had decided
that God probably did not have someone for me. I had been on single dates but
never any further than a pen-pal relationship would blossom. I ruled the friend
zone! Still I had prayed at one point for God to bring me a husband and figured
if He brought me one great, if not I could at least spend all my spare time
doing church stuff for Him!
All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living
in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have
put our trust in his love.1 John 4:15
As we walk in the obedience of trusting God and His love for
us we often find Him bringing us new people into our lives. That’s how it was
with Michael. We hit it off right away, but he had to return to another state
on the opposite end of the country. I began by giving him a tin of goodies that
branched out into us writing through faith. Literally, I prayed about him sending
me a letter in response to the goodies I had handed him on his way out of town.
He did so in a timely manor in fact the
very night I was praying he was writing.
When we give God controls in our life, He will run with it!
My story is written in a book that has yet to be published
due to circumstances beyond my control but let me tell you it was not because
it is not a good read! The title of the book is the way that I began somewhere
along the way signing my letters. In His Love. God loves us and we hve put our
trust in His love, in 1 John 4, the 15th verse tells us that because
He loves us we can put our trust in Him and His love. I wanted my sweetheart to
know that I loved Him without saying so and this is what I found. I would sign
the many, many, letters with this salutation: In His love, Teresa. It was my
way of accepting that God had brought me a man to love forever.
God saved me from the storms of a life of loneliness and
feeling as if I never would belong to someone, and gave me a God-loving, Bible
thumping, good as good can be man as my husband to spend my life with. Today as
we celebrate, I am remembering how grateful to God I was in the beginning and
how nearly every day in between then and now I can say I have been grateful for
Him bringing my Michael into my life.
He too my feelings of what felt like eternal loneliness and
brought me the feelings of His love, and the love of my spouse.
I chose each of these scriptures today because they spoke to
me of God’s love, that was to me an example of how I wanted my husband to be,
Godly, obedient, and trusting God with all that He does.
Maybe you are not trusting God for a husband, but maybe its
for financial gain, or healing, or maybe you are weathering a horrible storm
and you want to know that He will bring you through it and out the other side.
Sometimes we need to remember to share the scripture, in His
Love. Trust him today, our God shall
supply all our needs according to His riches in Glory. When we remind ourselves
of the Lord and what a wonderful gift, He has given us this, Love Everlasting!
He gave us Jesus, who gave us the Holy Spirit to keep us safe! Just as I found
out that I was not to be alone, you are not alone either. I pray that you will reach out to Him to meet
your need whatever it is.
He is my strength and He pulled me out of the pit of ‘alone’
and placed me on the pedestal of love and joy everlasting! Then He gave me a family to share it with!
Today as you start a new month, think of the good things God
has brought you through and thank Him for His love, in Jesus’s name, amen.
Happy Anniversary Michael!