Once Upon a Time

All the very best fairy tales start with 𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗨𝗽𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲, as soon as you read those first few words you know that this is going to be a book you won’t want to put down.  When I was a child I loved fairy tales, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and oh, Rapunzel – that was my absolute favorite with her long blond silken hair!  Even now there is nothing quite like curling up on a couch with a hot chocolate and a good book.    Of course, there is a familiar, comforting, theme that weaves in and out of each fairytale:  A kind, beautiful girl finds herself in an overwhelming situation, sometimes with an unkind stepmother, abusive stepsisters, perhaps kidnapped by an evil witch.  Take Beautiful Belle, taken captive in the castle of a hideous beast, or Snow White who ran from an evil queen determined to kill her, living with seven dwarfs – one called Grumpy!  But of course, there is always the prince.  The handsome prince who falls in love with our beautiful girl, saves her from unimaginable horrors and true love wins out – together they live 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿.

Of course, fairy tales are fairy tales, and we know that just isn’t real life – or is it?  One thing I do know is that with Jesus, the last sentence in each of our stories is the same one in that fairy tale – 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿!  Perhaps our lives are a little more like those fairy tales than we think.  I don’t know each of your stories, but I know this, that every one of you reading this book is beautiful, made in the image of your Creator, fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14) I know too that there have been many dark times in your life, times when you have been treated badly, when the words spoken against you have caused you pain.  Times of extreme hardship, anxiety, and brokenness.  The desire within you is to be saved by that handsome prince and to live a life of intimacy and happiness with the love of your life. 

The love of your life is Jesus, it is in Him that we can have that 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿, only with Him.  His Word promises us an eternity with our Savior, it tells us the story of how we are the bride and He, Jesus, is our bridegroom.  In fact, woven through every single book of the bible, like golden thread, is a love story.  The deep longing from the very heart of God cries out, “𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕.” (Matt 11:28) “𝑨𝒃𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” (John 15:4) “𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏.” (Ps 46:1-3)

For the next few days, we are going to take a look at the Shulamite woman in the Song of Solomon, how we can run into the secret place with the love of our lives and hear His heartbeat, His thoughts – take a journey with me!