One of my pursuits of late has been to get to know my heavenly Prince more closely, to fall more in love with Him, and to learn to be fully satisfied with His love. Since entering my early twenties it is not uncommon for me to receive the question about my “status”. “So,” people ask with great interest, “is there any special someone in your life?” I’m sure many of you, my friends, can identify. And you would also agree that the thought of your future does cross your mind at times. We are not void of feelings and dreams. And so there is the problem of what to do with these feelings (which I'm told are natural), and how to deal with the struggle of waiting patiently and faithfully for God’s best and His time.
With this in mind I wanted to take this gem letter and fill it with encouragement for those of you who are where I am in life. For the rest of you that cannot identify with this predicament (“wink”) you will have to endure and try to make the best of the content. Though I am sure you will still find encouragement as well.
So, to begin...
The acronym “gem” stands for God’s Encouragement to Me. I have also referred to the little gems I find as “love notes” from God. And so, on this extra special day (for with God every day is special), I have compiled some of my favorite “love notes” to share with you.
Over the past few years and especially recently God has become very real and very personal to me. I have so much growing to do, but I feel like I know Him more as a personal friend than simply as God. One of my favorite things to do at night is talk to Him as I look out my window at all the stars and the moon. I love the night sky. I just sit there and ponder how big, awesome, and powerful He is. He created all that I see! This makes His sacrifice and love even more unfathomable. I can almost feel His arms around me and hear Him whisper in my ear how much He loves me. Sometimes a funny feeling comes all over me and I can’t help but smile.
A special treat is when the moon is out. God knows how much I love to look at the beautiful moon and let its soft light spill across my face or sparkle like a billion diamonds on freshly fallen snow. The ultimate is a full moon on a clear night. So one special night He began setting up lights, colors and textures on a living canvass.
{Tuesday, October 14, 2008}
I am on my way back home after a youth weekend in Northport, WA. At 8pm, I board my flight at the Las Vegas airport. Though it is dark outside, I am drawn to an empty window seat. I have chosen aisle seats the rest of the trip, but somehow I just feel like a window seat tonight. The red desert sand stretches for miles beneath me...I notice the nearly full moon and admire it’s pure silvery light. All of a sudden I notice that the moon is lighting up the whole desert with a beauty I can’t describe! The beautiful red mountains are glowing with the soft light. (Coming from the mid-west prairie, the elevation definitely adds to the picture.) Again I can’t keep from smiling. How special He is! As the flight continues, puffy white clouds gather beneath me. The moon lights them up like a dream. It is so beautiful...like nothing I’ve ever seen, and I will never forget it!! That was a “love note”!
Now it’s true, the moon probably lights up the desert every time it is out on a clear night. So what makes this experience so special? Did God really do that on purpose for me? or was it just a coincidence? I believe He did it on purpose for me. Why? Because He loves me and wanted to tell me. I almost didn’t choose the window seat. My flight could have been during the day. And it didn’t have to be a clear night. In fact, when I arrived back home it was raining and I couldn’t see a thing as we flew into Omaha. But God knows how much I love the moon and so He orchestrated that special display for me...just to say “I love you!”
So why do I share this story? Because I am a girl and, as I said before, we are not void of feelings and dreams (and we do have eyes). I know you can identify with me because I have talked to many of you and you have expressed the same struggle. So I wanted to give an example of one of the biggest keys I have found in dealing with this time of life, these emotions, and these dreams...
Find your fulfillment in your heavenly Prince. Discover how much He loves you personally, and find the outlet for your feelings and emotions. Fall in love with Him!
Just start looking around and you will find that He has “love notes” hidden for you everywhere. And I mean everywhere!
Like the time we were unpacking at a Family Campmeeting in WA and I found a little card left on one of the bunk beds in our cabin. It said “The Lord Delights in You.” On the flip side was the verse from Isaiah 62:4, 5 "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." Not a coincidence. It helped me through a struggle I was having. I knew it was from Him. Is that too much to imagine? I now have it in my Bible and I have read it many times. It is getting worn out, but I will forever cherish it.
Sometimes it is a song that brings Him close. Sometimes it is a verse I read in the Bible or that I see or hear somewhere. It’s like I can feel Him tap me on the shoulder and say with a smile, “Hey, that was for you. I love you.” Sometimes I can just sense Him smiling over me and my heart does a summersault. Sometimes it is when I’m working on a project on the computer and it goes together perfectly. He’s just letting me know He’s there and He cares. I could tell story after story, but I will spare you. I don’t always feel Him close, but I always know He is there. I long for Him. I dream of the day when we will finally see each other...face to face. I long to become like Him. His love is changing me.
So I just want to encourage each of you to discover Him for yourself. Get to know Him. It only gets better with time. And I promise it is a great help in those situations where you find yourself dealing with emotions and wandering thoughts. The more you get to know Him, the more you are satisfied with His love, and content with His companionship. He is your Prince, your Knight in shining armor, He is everything you need. He is wonderful!
And just to clarify, it isn’t that I don’t dream of having a earthly love story. But I am content with my Heavenly Prince until God brings my earthly prince into my life. My heart belongs to God and it is His to give to whomever he is preparing for me. Most of us will probably get married at some point in our lives. And if that is the case for me or you then our future husband exists somewhere in the world. He is living, walking, breathing. He is also human like us. I know I have a lot of growing to do still in life, and I need prayers. So I think it would be safe to say that my future husband probably would appreciate prayers as well. So I am praying for him...that God will lead him and guide him, that he will be drawn closer to God day by day, that he will daily make a full surrender and allow God to work in his life, and that God will prepare him to be the man I need as God prepares me to be the wife he will need. You see, it is possible to love and be committed to your husband even before you know him. This, I have found, binds my heart to him and makes the struggle with my thoughts, feeling, and emotions much much easier.
Anyway, that is my simple experience and I just wanted to share it with you in hopes that somehow it will be a blessing and encouragement to you. Let us be faithful to the One who loves us more than His own life, and faithful to the one to whom we will someday give our greatest treasure...our heart.
With this in mind I wanted to take this gem letter and fill it with encouragement for those of you who are where I am in life. For the rest of you that cannot identify with this predicament (“wink”) you will have to endure and try to make the best of the content. Though I am sure you will still find encouragement as well.
So, to begin...
The acronym “gem” stands for God’s Encouragement to Me. I have also referred to the little gems I find as “love notes” from God. And so, on this extra special day (for with God every day is special), I have compiled some of my favorite “love notes” to share with you.
Over the past few years and especially recently God has become very real and very personal to me. I have so much growing to do, but I feel like I know Him more as a personal friend than simply as God. One of my favorite things to do at night is talk to Him as I look out my window at all the stars and the moon. I love the night sky. I just sit there and ponder how big, awesome, and powerful He is. He created all that I see! This makes His sacrifice and love even more unfathomable. I can almost feel His arms around me and hear Him whisper in my ear how much He loves me. Sometimes a funny feeling comes all over me and I can’t help but smile.
A special treat is when the moon is out. God knows how much I love to look at the beautiful moon and let its soft light spill across my face or sparkle like a billion diamonds on freshly fallen snow. The ultimate is a full moon on a clear night. So one special night He began setting up lights, colors and textures on a living canvass.
{Tuesday, October 14, 2008}
I am on my way back home after a youth weekend in Northport, WA. At 8pm, I board my flight at the Las Vegas airport. Though it is dark outside, I am drawn to an empty window seat. I have chosen aisle seats the rest of the trip, but somehow I just feel like a window seat tonight. The red desert sand stretches for miles beneath me...I notice the nearly full moon and admire it’s pure silvery light. All of a sudden I notice that the moon is lighting up the whole desert with a beauty I can’t describe! The beautiful red mountains are glowing with the soft light. (Coming from the mid-west prairie, the elevation definitely adds to the picture.) Again I can’t keep from smiling. How special He is! As the flight continues, puffy white clouds gather beneath me. The moon lights them up like a dream. It is so beautiful...like nothing I’ve ever seen, and I will never forget it!! That was a “love note”!
Now it’s true, the moon probably lights up the desert every time it is out on a clear night. So what makes this experience so special? Did God really do that on purpose for me? or was it just a coincidence? I believe He did it on purpose for me. Why? Because He loves me and wanted to tell me. I almost didn’t choose the window seat. My flight could have been during the day. And it didn’t have to be a clear night. In fact, when I arrived back home it was raining and I couldn’t see a thing as we flew into Omaha. But God knows how much I love the moon and so He orchestrated that special display for me...just to say “I love you!”
So why do I share this story? Because I am a girl and, as I said before, we are not void of feelings and dreams (and we do have eyes). I know you can identify with me because I have talked to many of you and you have expressed the same struggle. So I wanted to give an example of one of the biggest keys I have found in dealing with this time of life, these emotions, and these dreams...
Find your fulfillment in your heavenly Prince. Discover how much He loves you personally, and find the outlet for your feelings and emotions. Fall in love with Him!
Just start looking around and you will find that He has “love notes” hidden for you everywhere. And I mean everywhere!
Like the time we were unpacking at a Family Campmeeting in WA and I found a little card left on one of the bunk beds in our cabin. It said “The Lord Delights in You.” On the flip side was the verse from Isaiah 62:4, 5 "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." Not a coincidence. It helped me through a struggle I was having. I knew it was from Him. Is that too much to imagine? I now have it in my Bible and I have read it many times. It is getting worn out, but I will forever cherish it.
Sometimes it is a song that brings Him close. Sometimes it is a verse I read in the Bible or that I see or hear somewhere. It’s like I can feel Him tap me on the shoulder and say with a smile, “Hey, that was for you. I love you.” Sometimes I can just sense Him smiling over me and my heart does a summersault. Sometimes it is when I’m working on a project on the computer and it goes together perfectly. He’s just letting me know He’s there and He cares. I could tell story after story, but I will spare you. I don’t always feel Him close, but I always know He is there. I long for Him. I dream of the day when we will finally see each other...face to face. I long to become like Him. His love is changing me.
So I just want to encourage each of you to discover Him for yourself. Get to know Him. It only gets better with time. And I promise it is a great help in those situations where you find yourself dealing with emotions and wandering thoughts. The more you get to know Him, the more you are satisfied with His love, and content with His companionship. He is your Prince, your Knight in shining armor, He is everything you need. He is wonderful!
And just to clarify, it isn’t that I don’t dream of having a earthly love story. But I am content with my Heavenly Prince until God brings my earthly prince into my life. My heart belongs to God and it is His to give to whomever he is preparing for me. Most of us will probably get married at some point in our lives. And if that is the case for me or you then our future husband exists somewhere in the world. He is living, walking, breathing. He is also human like us. I know I have a lot of growing to do still in life, and I need prayers. So I think it would be safe to say that my future husband probably would appreciate prayers as well. So I am praying for him...that God will lead him and guide him, that he will be drawn closer to God day by day, that he will daily make a full surrender and allow God to work in his life, and that God will prepare him to be the man I need as God prepares me to be the wife he will need. You see, it is possible to love and be committed to your husband even before you know him. This, I have found, binds my heart to him and makes the struggle with my thoughts, feeling, and emotions much much easier.
Anyway, that is my simple experience and I just wanted to share it with you in hopes that somehow it will be a blessing and encouragement to you. Let us be faithful to the One who loves us more than His own life, and faithful to the one to whom we will someday give our greatest treasure...our heart.
