lovers.

Oh my freckles, I'm not crazy!
I'm just in love! ...I knew it.
I found this while researching what the phrase "until is so desires" means in Song of Solomon and I found this article.

Here's an excerpt.

2:16-17 Now the Shulammite [Solomon's lover] speaks again: “My lover is mine and I am his”. Do you see the total acceptance? They’re still courting, they’re not married, but they belong to one another. Is that how you view your boyfriend or girlfriend – that you belong to him or her? “He browses among the lilies”, but look at the next verse, “Until the day breaks and the shadows flee. Turn, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills.” Do you see what she’s saying? Turn! Go back! He cannot be with her at the moment – he must be away, on the rugged hills until the day breaks. It’s got late. She’d long to be with him, but she can’t. Until the morning comes, he must be absent, back where he came from (2:8).

3:1-5: So, Solomon has gone away because it’s night, and they shouldn’t be together then. The woman is therefore left “All night long on my bed”, and on her bed “I looked for him but did not find him”. She’s longing for her man. He’s not in her bed, and she’s really missing him. All lovers who wait will find this. So what does this desire drive her to do? It doesn’t drive her to go and grab him and put him in her bed, does it? It doesn’t encourage her to go and get into his bed. It does encourage her to go and find him: “I will search for the one my heart loves”. Eventually, “I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go.” What does she do with him? She doesn’t take him to her bed, she doesn’t go to his bed, but she takes him to her mother. Why would you take your girl home to see her parents? Well, the very next verse is their wedding day – that’s why he’s taken her home, to ask for her hand in marriage! That’s what she wants! And why does she know she wants it? Because she’s been without him, because she’s missed him, because she’s waited and as she’s lying alone on her bed her heart cries out ‘I must have him’, but in doing so she reminds herself again, “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” Wait for the wedding day!

Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will, then you will receive all that He has promised.
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
 He is good, all the time.


 That's all I have to say. (:

faith.

" . . .being sure of what [I] hope for and certain of what [I] do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) What ever happened to faith that was complete?  Hope that meant something? A while ago, Pastor Tom was talking about how the phrase "Not my will, but Yours be done" is used as a crutch nowadays.  I can't count how many times I've said it just because I wanted to 'let God know' that it was okay if I didn't get what I wanted.  

What I was really telling God was that I was scared and selfish about the outcome of my circumstances.  

I tried to shove my lack of faith out of His sight.

But God is all-knowing.

He's gentle about it; like a mother is with her newborn.

He treats me like porcelain in His fingertips.

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. . . Therefore . . . let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God." Hebrews 11:6, 12:1,2

It amazes me how simple God's plan is, yet how many facets and perspectives are revealed through His word.

Whenever God gives me new insight into something I get excited, but all He's really ever doing is simply showing me

another way that He loves.

For the joy, He suffered.

     For me, He endured a cross.

He is the One who began this work in me and I have complete faith that He will finish it.  

I hope in seeing Him, because I know with all my heart that I will one day.

All I have to do is keep running.

good romance.

 

Look at every single story in the bible.  From Creation to Revelation, God's love and commitment to His people is woven through like thread in patchwork.

     He promised Abraham and his descendants a Savior and caused elderly Sarah to conceive an heir.
     He appointed David and Solomon, who were mighty warriors and beautiful lovers, kings over Israel, simply to honor His children's request for earthly authority.  And He spoke through these men to portray what a holy and hot romance looks like.
     He gave Ester the strength to stand up for His people all while she remained beautifully dignified.
     He prophesied through devote men the fate that would await them if they chose to fall out of relationship with Him.
     He was a hurt lover and remained silent for 400 years.
     He sent a part of Himself to an ugly and self-centered place simply to fill the gap that separated.

Do you know what it meant when Jesus came to earth and died?

Yes, He came to heal, He came to give sight to the blind, and He came to fed the hungry.  But if He healed our sickness, opened our eyes, and fed our stomachs, we would still have to spend eternity separated from Him.  I've heard people ask, "How could a loving God let all this bad stuff happen?"  Let me answer that question.  He didn't.  We made it happen when we let sin in our lives.  If he fed the hungry, they would still die.  If He healed the sick, they would still go to Hell.  If He gave us world peace, we'd still live eternity in complete chaos. He saw the entire puzzle and refused to see His people suffer eternally.  That's why the bible says that our eternal glory far outweighs our momentary troubles.  And to go even farther than giving us salvation forever, He sent His son to experience everything that we go through so that He could sympathized with our struggles right now.

"In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom through everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.  Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.  So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. . . Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.  For this reason, He had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for [or that He might turn aside God's wrath, taking away] the sins of the people.  Because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted." Hebrews 2:10,11,14-18

I love the fiery devotion in this passage!  He became like me, so that He could understand me.  He sacrificed everything that made Him God to become something that I could understand, love, and even hurt with.  Jesus disintegrated my worst fear.  Jesus came to scare the monsters away.  He took away everything that could possibly hold me back so I could focus on everything that moves me towards Him.  Jesus did that for me.


Now all He wants is to be in a loving and passionate relationship because of what He's sacrificed.  All He wants is all that I want.  The desires inside of me were put there for a reason. I live and long and breath in everything that Jesus puts inside of me.  I yearn for Him like a lover and He carries me like His beloved.  It's so beautiful in every way.  Like my Nana before me, I will live a life of beauty and romance with the lover of my soul and the love of my life. <3

I pray the same for all God's darlings.  All He wants is to romance you.  Isn't that what we've all been looking for?

remembered.

As I sit here in my pj's and striped knee socks, my mind wanders to the events of the day. . .
A lazy morning, running errands around town, hitting the gym only to be gawked at . . .again, a monstrous pile of junk mail, good music in the car on the way to school, Ms. Runee's life lessons from Lion King, waxing pits and brows, shocking an awesome friend by telling her I was only 17, hearing an hour long lecture about how scary State Board is, all the way down to a midnight casserole party for one and a warm mocha by the fire.  I wonder . . .

How many people did I effect today?

How many effected me?    

When I'm gone, will any of those passersby remember me?

What I did?    

Who I was?

Will the old man I said good morning to at the grocery tell anyone about me?

Will the lady I see every time I go to the gym acknowledge my presence next time?    

Better yet, will I remember any of them?  

I missed a chance today to be Jesus to someone today and I doubt I'll ever get the chance with that person again.
How will I be remembered when I'm off and on to my eternal life?
Will I have changed anyone for Jesus?

I watched a little boy ponder the decision to accept Christ this weekend.  He's going to influence his whole family.  Just a boy. 

Suddenly, 

                                                        he's so much more than just a boy.

There are three things I've discovered that I want to be remembered for:
My work, produced by faith.
     My labor, prompted by love.
           And my endurance, inspired by hope. 

I want to work, labor, and endure just so that someone might see that Jesus' faith, hope, and love lives inside of me.  Those all pair up so nicely and they all result in something holy.  Good old hard work.  It's great when Jesus' got your back and your burdens.  It enables me to live a fearless life of passionate love for the things and people that God's put in my life.

It enables me to worship in work,
                                   and thrive in trouble,
                                              and be free in the truth that is engraved on my heart.

It's            amazing.            And              it's             more              real              than             ever.

Remember THAT.