Be Mine

I'm always shocked around Valentine's Day. The bad attitudes abound - people spending so much energy hating this day that is dedicated to love. I do understand at least some of the reasons that people hate this day - loneliness, lost love, failed relationships, not loving the one you're with ... it can be a day full of emotional pain for many people. OR - can it be a day that God redeems just like He is able to redeem ANY kind of pain we lay at His feet?

I believe it can.

When I was about 19 -21 and many of my college friends were finding love and getting married, I felt very alone especially around Valentine's Day. But, I didn't want to waste the day feeling sorry for myself or moaping around because I didn't have a date. So, I started making Valentine's cards. I poured every but of love I had in my heart into those cards - writing love notes to ... to my Joshua. The funny thing is - at the time I had NO clue that He was the one I was writing to! I sealed and addressed the cards (and letters which I wrote for years whenever I was lonely or dreaming of being married someday) to "My Man". I put all of those Valentime's Day cards and letters into a chocolate box saying a prayer with each that someday God would bring "my Man" to me - in God's timing not mine.

I watched as 3 of my siblings got married, 2 of them younger than I. I watched as both of my best friends from college got married. One year I was in 5 weddings in one summer! I wondered if God had forgotten about "My Man". But all the while, He was preparing me for my Joshua and Joshua for me. We were neighbors and youth leaders, and co-workers at the farm, and God knew that we would be good together. God knew all along that Joshua was the one I was writing to - and in His perfect timing He gave us to each other as husband and wife.

I am so thankful, soo thankful that God used that time and that pain of being alone and that He redeemed every one of those days. He used those times to turn me to Himself (the truest and deepest love any of us can experiece) and to create a deep love for the man that I would marry someday.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you and may you be filled with the love of God and those around you today!