Valentines Day

    There is one day out of the year that women either love or dread. Valentines day.  Now, I am going to be honest. Valentines Day is not a holiday that I really care about. Sure, I may give Colin something to express my love for him. But seriously? It's not a holiday that I love or dread. Sure you can get a box of chocolates and a sweet card. Watch romantic movies and listen to all the love songs you want. However, we need to be showing that kind of love on a daily basis. Why? Because Jesus didn't reserve just one day to show how you how much He loves us. If the Bible commands me to love my husband, respect my husband and submit to my husband, that wasn't a one day out of the year command. I want to reach out to singles in this post. In particular single ladies. I was once a single lady 7 months ago. I stopped caring about Valentines Day around 7th grade. I wasn't given any carnations at school like everybody else. It was humiliating to walk around the halls and having people ask me if I got any. I wasn't saved at the time, and this moment was one of the things that got me to search for Jesus on a different level. I didn't want to be alone. I HATED to be alone. I didn't understand why kids hated me, why I was left out. I went home and cried myself to sleep because I felt so unloved. When I got saved, and Valentines Day rolled around, I decided that the perfect Valentines Date, was me accepting that for a season, I was meant to be single. It wasn't easy because I desired to be married and have a family of my own. When I had my first real boyfriend, well he wasn't the one, and something happened in that relationship that left me hurt and realized the importance of not awakening love until it was right. Then I met Colin. Even though I am married, I still see this holiday as one that, as much as I love my husband, and he loves me, it is no where near how much Jesus loves us.

Dear Gorgeous,
          Do you know how gorgeous you are? How desirable you will be for the one who captures your heart? If your looking for the perfect man, the right one to make all your dreams come true, there is no such thing. The man you marry, will make mistakes, will make you mad, will annoy you when he plays that video game again right before dinner. There will be moments you wonder how you can love someone so much and want to slug him at the same time. However, if his heart is for Jesus, you will be blessed. He will love you the way Jesus loves His bride the Church. He will treat you like the gift from God you are. He will think your beautiful on the days you don't feel it, and love you when your unlovable. He will hold your hand in the car, allow you to turn your music up a little louder. He will dance with you even when he doesn't know how. Will buy you flowers just because. A love like that, they say is hard to find. But as believers this is suppose to be the norm. Don't treat your season as a curse, God has a plan for each of us. It is a gift to draw closer to the One who longs to be close to you. God is only going to allow the right gift into the garden of your heart. Cultivate your garden. each season comes with it's struggles and it's burdens. The next chapter always looks better then the one your in. You are one of a kind, there is no one else like you. You are unique. Don't allow anyone to tell you different. You are a beautiful work of art, a song with a melody, a book still being written, a rare treasure. In Christ, you are all this and so much more. Don't settle with anybody who doesn't see you for who you are in Christ. Beauty on the outside fades, but the beauty of a heart following Christ, is an eternal beauty that grows over time. You are loved, even when you don't feel it.

Love, Someone who has been there.


~ Brandy