Being in Love

I think most every young woman, while still single, wonders at one point or another what it would be like to be married.  Thoughts like those have never really consumed my mind, but I'll admit that I've thought about it more recently- especially because I have been blessed with several friends lately that are already happily married, though not much older than me.    I've found myself wondering what it could be like to have a man love me so much that he wants to be with me forever.  I've wondered what it would feel like to have that same kind of love for him.  As someone who has never been in love or even in a committed relationship with a guy, the idea of that kind of love truly seems like a fairy-tale.

I was doing some mindless homework for one of my summer classes the other day, and my mind wandered again to that fairy-tale land, thinking about what love would feel like.  After a few moments, God threw a thought into my head- something He has been doing a lot more often now that I have begun to pray more consistently and spend time in His word.

The thought was this:  I'm already in love.

I've spent the majority of my teen years saying I'm in love with Christ.  Growing up around the people that I have, that was just the thing to say.  I'd always feel a twinge of guilt when I said it, because I knew that I wasn't always faithful to Him.  But in that moment, only about a week ago, I felt like it hit me what it is to actually be in love.

I have dedicated my life to the Lord.  He has completely changed me.  My relationship with God defines who I am.  I have walked away from Him because I thought I knew how to be happy by myself, but have run back into His open arms because I love Him too much to be apart from Him.


I can't know joy, love, peace, or comfort without the Lord.  
I'm already in Love.


So does that mean I'm "cheating" on him when I love a man on this earth? No.  If I get married, will I be "breaking up" with God for my husband? Absolutely not!  And that's the thing that I think I'm finally beginning to grasp.  God loves me with a perfect, constant Love that nothing can separate me from (Romans 8:38-39).  He blesses me with a Love that I could never come up with on my own, so that I can give it back to Him.  There is no sin in marrying a man if I know that my relationship with Him will bring glory to God.  Isn't that what we're made for- to glorify God?

It all goes back to letting my thoughts and words and actions be pleasing to God.  If I do come to know a man that can be my husband and partner in worshiping and glorifying God, that is not leaving God.  Instead, it's using everything that He has blessed me with- every joy, every love, everything- to please Him more.

Now, as a single young woman, I want to do everything I can to bring glory to my God, who I am absolutely in love with.  And if God blesses with a man to stand beside so that we can worship God with even more love, I'll still be in Love with Him.  I'm already in Love.  And let me tell you this: there is nothing more beautiful than knowing that God loves me, too...forever.

Deciding to Please

I've been struggling lately with a lot of decisions.  Not only am I being presented with a lot of new situations that require important decisions, but I have also been finding myself looking back a lot and wondering if I've made the right decisions in the past.  Honestly, it's exhausting.  Constantly wondering if I'm doing the right thing may not be the most popular form of worry, but it is worrying nonetheless.

I've been praying about it a lot, and recently God revealed something to me through my mom's wise words that helped a lot.  A lot of times, we wonder if doing a certain thing would be wrong.  Is it wrong to say certain things?  Is it wrong to date this guy?  Is it wrong to watch this show?  Is it wrong to go to this place?

I think Satan probably gets a little giddy when we ask these questions.  Don't forget- Satan is the father of all lies (John 8:44), the tempter (Matthew 4:3), and the evil one (Matthew 13:19).  He loves to twist the truth and use that to convince us that it isn't wrong to do a lot of things.  He is happy to to deceive us and make us think that it isn't so bad to do things that aren't in God's will.

Maybe what we should be asking ourselves, instead, is if what we're doing is right.  The other night, I was seriously doubting my judgment one of the big decisions that I made recently- unfortunately, I was disregarding the guidance that God had given me towards making that decision and the peace that He gave when I finally made it.  I desperately wanted to go back and change my mind.  Satan had firmly convinced me that it wouldn't be wrong.  But then, I turned the questions that I was asking around and asked myself this:  Would it please God if I changed my mind about this?  Would He sit back and smile and say, "Well done, my daughter, you have done my will"?

I knew that the answer was no.  Even though God wouldn't stop loving me, I knew that I would not be pleasing my Heavenly Father if I changed my mind.

I'm not saying that this is the magic solution to making the right decisions.  What I am saying, though, is that we shouldn't strive to make ourselves happy and just avoid doing the wrong things.  Satan can convince us all day long that what we're doing is "not so bad."  He can use God' promises of salvation and unconditional love to make us think that it's okay to seek pleasure for the desires of our flesh instead of for the glory of God (Romans 8:8 says differently).  But the truth is that we are to strive- with our entire hearts, minds, and souls- to please the Lord our God.  There is no greater goal, and there is no greater joy than that which comes when we are living to please God.

For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord.  So live as people of light!  For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

-Ephesians 5:8-10 (NLT)