Everlasting Love

         

With Valentine’s Day being just two days ago, I thought this would be an opportune time to write about love and about what God has shown me as a fifteen-year-old girl this Valentine’s season.

I don’t know about you, but there are still visions of pink and red hearts and boxes of chocolate and bouquets of flowers dancing around in my head!

Unfortunately, with it being two days after Valentine’s Day, those flowers don’t look as lively and beautiful as they did the moment someone handed them to you and all that’s left of the candy you were given is a bunch of wrappers.

Does this depress anyone besides me? Can love represent more than the wilting flowers on our desks and the fading feeling in our hearts?

As a fifteen-year-old girl who doesn’t have a boyfriend or have any plans to start seriously thinking about dating, Valentine’s Day can be one of those days when I shrug my shoulders, receive the gifts my friends give me, and move on. After all, what’s the point of celebrating when you haven’t found true love yet?

That’s when I have to catch myself. The truth is, I have found true love. It’s just not in the form of roses, or a sweet note, or a giant red heart. It’s in the form of a wooden cross, crudely fashioned, with blood staining its bark. It’s found in the knowledge that God the Father looked specifically at me and thought, I love her and I want to spend eternity with her.

So He sent His perfect Son, Jesus, to die a horrible death in my place as a punishment for my sin. When He died, He made a way for me to be cleansed of my sin and have a relationship with a holy God. When He rose from the dead, He proclaimed to the world that He was greater than death and that He won the ultimate battle against the devil.

God did all this…because He loved me. Just like He loves you.

But what if I’d rather have the gifts and the roses? What if I want to know I’m loved right in this moment and not just two thousand years ago when Jesus died for me?

The great news is, God’s love doesn’t stop with the cross. He loved you before you even breathed your first breath and He will not stop loving you for eternity. His love for you right in this moment is as strong as it was when He carried that cross up the hill of Calvary. He sees you in this moment, He knows you and all your desires and fears, and He cherishes you for who you are.

God’s love does not compare you to other people. It does not criticize or condemn. Rather, instead of comparing you, He specifically chooses you as His own. Instead of criticizing you, He thinks the best of you and calls you special. Instead of condemning you, He defeated sin so that He could welcome you with open arms despite your past mistakes.

God’s love remains forever. It lasts so much longer than the wilting flowers or the fading ink of a pen on a note or the slight warming of your heart. Although these earthly things we cherish aren’t bad, they can hurt you and disappoint you when you base your entire identity on them. God has an identity for you, one rooted in true love, one based on the fact that He has redeemed you and calls you His beloved child.

So maybe today, you’re starting to feel let down because the love you felt on Valentine’s Day is slowly fading away. Maybe you’re scrambling desperately around trying to feel loved again, trying so hard to get someone to tell you that they care about you.

I’m here to tell you that God cares. He has always loved you and will always love you. You can trust His love, cling to His love, and find your true identity in His everlasting love for it will NEVER leave you or disappoint you.  

Alone

    Recently, I've been watching this show called, "Alone". It's about ten men, dropped off in some of the most dangerous places on the Earth, all by themselves, no one around, and they have to see how long they can survive, just them, a few supplies, a camera, and nature. The man that lasts the longest wins a ton of money.

    Honestly, it's a pretty awesome show. I love seeing these guys build fires, shelters, catch food, and document their adventures with the camera they were given. It's interesting to see how humans react to being alone with no distractions like smartphones and other people. These ten guys started dropping out of the competition like flies after being by themselves for a while in the wilderness. They began to tell the camera how frightening it was to be alone with just you and your thoughts.

    One guy confessed that his past failures began to creep up on him the longer he stayed in the wilderness. He told the camera that it was so different to have no distractions around you, erasing your problems temporarily. He felt vulnerable and afraid and he didn't like just sitting there in the woods having to face his problems.

    My point is, you don't always have to be in the wilderness by yourself to suddenly recognize that creeping feeling inside your soul where all your problems, failures, and relationships come into your brain. It happens to humans on a daily basis. 

   The main reason why people have addictions is because they are trying to "not feel" or avoid problems in their life. When those distractions are taken away, there's silence. And people can't stand silence.

   When I was in middle school, I became addicted to hardcore rap music. The explicit, really gross kind. I was struggling in middle school to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be and the devil took that opportunity to fill that hurting gap in my soul with sin. Those were the worst few years of my life. I BECAME those rappers in a way. I was angry like they were, I was confused like they were, and I was filling my soul with sin instead of Jesus… just like they were. I thank God that he intervened and my parents took iTunes off my phone. 

  A person without Jesus in the same situation, listening to rap music and getting busted by their parents, would feel ashamed of their mistake. And I definitely was humiliated at the time. What I didn't realize was that God was going to use my story for good. Without that dumb music, my personality began to change. I was happier, my relationship with my parents and friends was better, and I filled that hole that had been filled with rap music, with Jesus instead.

  I understood that he FORGAVE me. God wasn't ashamed of me for listening to bad music. He wasn't angry with me. He knew I was better than that and THAT'S why he intervened in the situation. He loves me so much and wanted me to fill that gap with him instead. I wasn't fulfilling my purpose in life and God helped me do just that.

  Since then, I've shared my music testimony all over my city. I've shared it at schools, teen conferences, and summer intensives for spiritual growth for kids. I'm not ashamed of my story anymore. I actually am proud of sharing what God did in my life to change me and bring me where I am today.

   Therefore, I'm okay with silence. Because I know God is bigger than all my problems and I don't need to be ashamed of my failures. When I'm by myself, there is a peace in my soul because God lives inside of me and I know how much he loves me. 

  Your problems are temporary, but God is eternal.