30 Days of Hope: Day 9 - No Ordinary Love Story

I am a sucker for love stories.

I know. I know. So are almost ALL of the XX chromosome beings walking around on this planet as well a few of the XY ones... :) :) :) And I fall right in with the status quo.

And, I will admit that my favorites are the romantic tragedies. Two people find each other and fall in love and some great tragedy or unstoppable force or manipulative person separates them for what seems like forever. Then days, months, or even years later, something that some people like to called fate, chance, or even divine intervention bring them colliding into each others' worlds again. And then comes one of my favorite lines in a romance (or at least a version of it...)

"There has never been anyone else for me; it was always you...."

There is something so powerful in knowing that the person you love most has moved on with their lives, roamed the earth, met hundreds of other people since then, and on the outside has had a successful life, but without YOU something is missing.

Today I realized that as beautiful as these love stories are, the love story of my Savior and His bride is infinitely more romantic.

During praise and worship in our pastors' meeting this morning, I realized that though I get distracted by the world, discouraged by life, disillusioned by my own thoughts & emotions.....it has always been Him.....

"It has always been You, Lord."

And then the most beautiful thing....I realized that to Him, it has always been me.....

I heard Pastor Bill Wilson share a sermon when I was 14 about Peter. After Jesus had been crucified and rose again, He said, "Go tell my disciples and Peter...."

Why did he tag Peter on at the end ? Was it because Peter had denied him? Did that remove Peter from the Twelve? Why did Jesus say Peter's name separately? There HAS to be a reason.....

Bill Wilson said a powerful thing, "God loves you the most when you need it the most."

Jesus knew that Peter had denied him 3 times and Peter must have felt so overwhelmed with his denial....so ashamed....so very sorry. Jesus wanted Peter to know that His love hadn't changed.

To Peter:

"For Me, it's always been you."

To me:

"For Me, it's always been you."

To all of you reading.....

"My children, It's always been you."