Native Wood-Notes Wild

What is Love? What does it look like-- a love that never leaves, never forgets? As Valentine's Day draws nearer, and America is literally raining chocolates, roses, paper hearts, proposals, and sweet promises...I'm reminded of how many people are alone on this day, one of the most romantic days of the year. So many women feel forgotten. So many are left wondering:

I'm tired of waiting. 

"Will I ever be swept off my feet?"

I'm tired of searching. 

"Who will ride in and rescue me?"

I'm tired of flaunting. 

"Am I worthy of Love? 

Does anyone love me for who I am?"  

And really... 

"What does lasting Love even look like?" 

True Love...and Sacrifice

The ability to feel loved/to love others is a precious gift that God gives His children, to His sons and daughters. I have a very special person in my life, and I love and thank God for him! But I can't help but look outside my sphere of being loved....and see so many women who feel so unlovely, so very unloved. Do you feel unloved? Have you suffered great loneliness, neglect, abuse?
Have you given up on the wait for your handsome Prince?


Beautiful woman, you are LOVED. God adores you-- He poured out His own blood and was brutally, yet willingly sacrificed for you and me. He "rode in" as it were, to save us from the punishment for our sins: death. His Love swept me off my feet when I was 13; God has been sweeping me off my feet ever since then. Every time I feel lonely, neglected, or ashamed, I know He has rescued me!
The truth is...no, we are not worthy of His Love. But His love was (and is) too strong to leave us unloved, unlovable, unlovely... and so through His sacrifice, we ARE made worthy of Love.
He is the Prince our hearts are yearning for.

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." -- 1 John 4:9-10

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." -- 1 John 4:16

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." -- 1 John 4:12

 Romance
I'm sure as you're reading this, you may be wondering, "Soo..is God ever romantic? Is there romance in the Bible?" Ahhhhh... good question! ;) Well, if you read the Song of Solomon in particular, where King Solomon is declaring his love for his bride, and she her love for him in return, you will discover plenty of beautiful romance (and wise advice, inside of marriage/a biblical relationship).
My favorite is Song of Solomon 8:6-7:

"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away..." 

  This interests me too, so I will keep researching and post more verses soon. In the meantime, I definitely would encourage you to check out the entire Song of Solomon =) Well I need to head out, but before I do, let me leave you by quoting a bit of Shakespeare. Here is his Sonnet 116:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark 

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 

Within his bending sickle's compass come: 

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

 Yes-- I do love romance! ;)


Have a blessed week and upcoming Valentine's Day. If you know someone who could use some TLC,  why not send them a Valentine? This is a great chance to share the Gospel! Spread the love of Christ all around, and remember, you are greatly beloved. Hugs and cheers! 

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."