Confessions of a Hopeless Romantic (Part 3)...

Well, for those of you who know me it should be no surprise that once again I am admitting to being a hopeless, hopeless romantic. I mean seriously, love is always on my mind. And I realized it's been a little too much. I've been so worried about finding it. One of my biggest fears has always been to end up alone- to not have anyone to share your life with. I mean yeah, there's friends, but it gets hard when your friends have their own spouses/ boyfriends too.

But then I came across this verse today. 1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." And let me just say, I LOVE THIS! "Perfect love drives out fear." God is love. God is that perfect, unconditional, unwavering love. I fear. I doubt. I have not been made perfect in love. I have not 100% completely trusted. I waver, God does not. And that love empowers us to love others. (vs 19)

With love in this world there seems to be a lot of ups and downs. Ever heard the expression that "love is a roller coaster"? And sometimes the ones we rely on let us down. And this creates fear. We fear they are going to do it again. We fear something will go wrong. I mean think about it, nobody goes into relationships wanting them to end. But they fear they might.

With perfect Love there is no fear. God is love. With God there is no fear. He will never love you more than He does right now. And the amazingness of His grace is that He will never love you less. So trust Him, I mean, after all, He's got a pretty good track record. I cannot think of even one incident where He hasn't brought something good out of it, even the heartbreaking ones. His love does not go up and down. God is constant.

1 John 4:16 "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."

It's okay to be a hopeless romantic. It's okay to have love always on the brain; as long as it is the One who IS love. Replace those desires with something holy.

Lord, forgive me. I have forsaken my first Love.

"I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by GLORY...And I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves. Oh, how He loves us, Oh, Oh, how He loves us. How He loves us so."