What about LOVE?
When I first learned I was going to marry Earl, there was a key ingredient missing...LOVE. I remember telling GOD, "How am I supposed to marry him, when I don't even love him?" It was a valid question too, I thought.
In today's society, we don't arrange marriages, we choose our mates. However, all to often we choose them because they give us "butterflies" and those are really nothing more than lust. Why do you think so many marriages fail? When the "butterflies" are gone we move on. We say, "I'm not in love with you anymore." But that's just it, they were never really in love to start with.
Love isn't a giddy school girl crush. It takes time and commitment. Both, of which, I promised to give GOD when He showed me my life's mate. I was committed to waiting as long as it took for GOD to show Earl. It wasn't easy. There were days I wanted to give up, but I in that time I learned what LOVE really was. It had nothing to do with what I felt, but everything to do with what I would give.
I still remember the day I realized I loved Earl. It was September 2000. At that point, I'd known for nine months that I was supposed to marry him. As I sat pondering everything I believed GOD had shown me, it just clicked in me that I loved Earl and I'd do anything for him because of that love.
It's funny because, even though I knew I loved Earl, it still took three more years for me to understand how to explain what LOVE really was. I was sitting at a red light in front of the Wachovia Bank on State Street in Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia and for the first time in my life I got it.
LOVE died on cross. LOVE said, "Father, I'll go down." LOVE took the beating that I deserved. LOVE forgives me when I'm the most unforgivable. LOVE makes me a joint heir to a Kingdom I most certainly DO NOT deserve. LOVE acts and does whatever it takes to protect.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 (KJV)
Why am I telling you this? Because LOVE isn't a feeling...LOVE acted, and still does so on my behalf. LOVE thought past the pain, past the humiliation, past the failures. LOVE doesn't hurt or harm or go away. LOVE protects and shelters and stays no matter the cost. It's that LOVE that paid the ultimate price so that I might learn to love the man that was to become my husband.
If you missed the beginning of the story you can find out how it all started by going here.
In today's society, we don't arrange marriages, we choose our mates. However, all to often we choose them because they give us "butterflies" and those are really nothing more than lust. Why do you think so many marriages fail? When the "butterflies" are gone we move on. We say, "I'm not in love with you anymore." But that's just it, they were never really in love to start with.
Love isn't a giddy school girl crush. It takes time and commitment. Both, of which, I promised to give GOD when He showed me my life's mate. I was committed to waiting as long as it took for GOD to show Earl. It wasn't easy. There were days I wanted to give up, but I in that time I learned what LOVE really was. It had nothing to do with what I felt, but everything to do with what I would give.
I still remember the day I realized I loved Earl. It was September 2000. At that point, I'd known for nine months that I was supposed to marry him. As I sat pondering everything I believed GOD had shown me, it just clicked in me that I loved Earl and I'd do anything for him because of that love.
It's funny because, even though I knew I loved Earl, it still took three more years for me to understand how to explain what LOVE really was. I was sitting at a red light in front of the Wachovia Bank on State Street in Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia and for the first time in my life I got it.
LOVE died on cross. LOVE said, "Father, I'll go down." LOVE took the beating that I deserved. LOVE forgives me when I'm the most unforgivable. LOVE makes me a joint heir to a Kingdom I most certainly DO NOT deserve. LOVE acts and does whatever it takes to protect.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 (KJV)
Why am I telling you this? Because LOVE isn't a feeling...LOVE acted, and still does so on my behalf. LOVE thought past the pain, past the humiliation, past the failures. LOVE doesn't hurt or harm or go away. LOVE protects and shelters and stays no matter the cost. It's that LOVE that paid the ultimate price so that I might learn to love the man that was to become my husband.
If you missed the beginning of the story you can find out how it all started by going here.
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