What's love got to do with it?
Love is an intense feeling of deep affection.
It's only right that this week's word is LOVE. Right?
Happy Belated Valentine's Day to you!
I know Valentine's Day can be a day where comparison and regret come in like never before. Everywhere you look and go all you see is advertised love. So much so that the true definition of love especially God's love has gotten lost. I remember growing up a little girl without her daddy around, waiting in anticipation for Valentine's Day. This was the day that my little puppy love admirers would pull out all the stops. Showering me with all types of treats, stuffed animals and love notes. It was for that one day I knew I was loved by a guy. Or was I?
Like an awful roller coaster ride I would go from one relationship to another, trying to fill a void, that could only be filled by the one that is perfect. I felt I still had everything under control because I wasn't given up the cookie but little did I know at the time I was giving up something of so much more value. My time and my identity. Time is something you can never get back and the titles and labels that people put on you in a relationship is something that takes years to remove. Even though I had a deep relationship with God from a very young age it took years for me to truly understand his love for me.
I know. I know. We hear from toddler age John 3:16 " For God so love the world, that he gave his only begotten son..." But let's be honest you don't understand the love of a parent for their child being that young, or at least I didn't. Here I am again reciting empty words without truly understanding what they meant for me in order to receive the manifestation from them in my life.
It was during my relationship right before meeting my husband that I got serious about really understanding God's love for me. Finding myself in a relationship with someone 7 years my senior. Seeking validation from him in anyway I could get it. It didn't dawn on me that every opportunity he got he would tell me of how intimidated he was by me. Or by my overzealous and refusal to settle demeanor. The only thing that rang in my head, was the constant sly remarks and comments from those we worked with of how I wasn't good enough for him and never would be.
I got tired of this on again off again, cat and mouse chase. This as long as we know what it is we don't need a title talk and knew that I was settling because of my own insecurities and deep rooted demons. So I turned to God and asked him to show me my worth and value in his eyes. I cried out, to be reminded of how much he loved me. He did that and so much more. He showed me that I didn't need to jump through hoops to receive his love. That his love was unending and unconditional.
After God started to change me from the inside out. I started moving differently and caring less. That's when the you're acting funny and why you changing comments started. But I was okay with that because I prayed and asked God to remove any and everybody that wasn't meant to be there even if that included the one I thought I loved at the time.
So I encourage you all to seek diligently the love that God has for you before you settle down. This will avoid settling and not living up to your maximum potential. Singleness is something that is undervalued but pertinent to you being the best partner to the one you are waiting for.
As it says in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable and it keeps no record of being wronged. If you can't exchange the word Love with your partners name or your name for that matter, have you really experienced love here on earth or given it? So what's love got to do with it? When you are talking about God's love EVERYTHING!
Comment below and tell me what is one of the craziest things you were willing to do for love? I can't wait to share mine. Just know this is a judgement free zone because Lord knows I don't know what I was thinking.
Shop my new Word of the Week line below to have a daily reminder that we are on a daily journey of coming to the realization of how Love should be.
