What is love? What do we really understand about love? If you read my previous post you probably know where this is all coming from. Did you take the time to read 1 John 4? Stop what you are doing and read it. Yes, now. Take the time soak it into your brain.

     Does that not just rock your world?? Just the smallest glimmer of what love is.  Our culture has allowed us to romanticize love, to overuse love and to forget about what it really means, or just maybe we never actually thought about what love is.

     Did you ever realize we use the same word to express our feelings about ice cream to express our love for God, the Most Holy God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and we use the same word when talking about ice cream!? Is it just me or is that completely insane!? Are you seeing the problem here?

    Some of us even throw around this word love and let it mean more when talking about ice cream or a puppy than our Creator! Are we so crazy to believe that one little word can consume the whole entire definition of what love is!? A word that we cannot even fully understand what it means.

God is love.

     Can we understand this? Can we understand that love is not just a feeling; it’s not an emotion it is part of WHO God is?

     There is a chapter in the book ‘Praying for your Future Husband’ that really just stuck out to me while thinking about love. The Hawaiian language has over 70 words for wind! Wind! And we have only 1 for love!  One of these 70 words is used to describe a wind that is a ‘canoe-eating’ wind. Now can you imagine if we had 70 different words to describe love, and each of them still described part of who God is!

     Our view of love has become so narrow. So scewed by the media and influences around us, we throw around the word love like it is nothing. We talk about some day ‘falling in love.’  The problem with falling is that falling is something I do on accident (a lot) I never mean to fall, and if you can fall into love doesn’t that mean you can also fall out of love?

     I don’t want my love for my Savior, my love for the God of the Universe, for my Creator to be an accident. I want to have an intentional love.  A love that crys out to God every second, that yearns for His presence! I want to love God with a ‘passionate canoe-eating’ kind of love! I want to chase after God with all that I am, with every fiber of my being!

     I want to understand what it means to love the way Jesus loves.

-Elle

     We are in the midst of that time of year. Some dread it, some love it, some celebrate it, and some do all three. Don’t know what time of year I am referring too? If you are a girl you do. It is wedding season, and whether you are in the wedding, going to the wedding or just creeping on facebook looking at the daily postings of wedding photos you feel it too, and you are asking the same question. When will it be my turn?

     Now a word of advice to the boys, if you ever hear a girl or think a girl is not interested in getting married, you are wrong.  Every girl secretly has their wedding planned, we dream of the day we can make the phone call telling our closest friends that we are engaged and to start the planning process somewhere other than in our head. Within the last few weeks I have been talking to a lot of my single Christian friends and we have all come to the same conclusion. As a 20-something, we have no clue how to date anymore. Even though some of us dated a little in high school or possibly college things are different now.  Most of us don’t want to date just to date or to claim bragging rights that we are no longer in the singles club (Don’t laugh I know a few of  you that rush to your facebook the moment you can change your relationship status.)

     The truth is we all want the husband, we want the marriage, we want to dream about having children.  We all have that moment that we dream about sharing. There are certain things I cannot wait to say to my future husband. Making you wish for that special someone? Well I have a few words of advice, advice that I remind myself everyday. Get ready, you are going to want to remember this.

It is ok to be single!
…crickets….

     No, I’m serious, there is nothing wrong with being single, because when God puts that person infront of you, you will know.

So what do we do while were waiting?

     We pray. Yes, pray for your future husband (and boys pray for your future wife!) Sounds crazy?  Not at all. How do we pray for our future spouse?  We pray that they are surrounded by Christian friends and family that will support and encourage them.  We pray for them to be caught in their sin in order to be help accountable, we pray that God is preparing both of us for the day we meet (or the day we realize they have been with us all along)

     So for now. I am ok with being single, and instead of chasing after a guy in hopes he is the right one, I am going to run full speed after Christ and keep Him as my focus.

     I am going to clothe myself in strength and dignity and smile at my future (Proverbs 31:25) Just like the wife of noble character.

   Maya Angelou put it best when she said “A woman’s heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.”

      And at somepoint, when I least expect it, God is going to answer my prayers and show me to the man of God that I will one day marry, and when that happens, I will still run full speed after God, only then I will have someone running right beside me.

-Elle

Interested in help for praying for your future husband? Check out this book: Praying for Your Future Husband: Preparing Your Heart for His By: Robin Jones Gunn and Tricia Goyer

What are your views on dating? How about dating as a Christian? This month I’m going to really focus on being a strong, single woman of God, and I invite you to come on this journey with me and to also write on the subject and let me know your ideas and thoughts.

Praying for Your Future Husband by Robin Jones Gunn and Tricia Goyer

Every girl needs to read this book! Robin Jones Gunn and Tricia Goyer have crafted an instructional guide on how to pray for your future husband! This book is not about finding your husband but preparing your heart, and praying for his.

Praying for Your Future Husband is filled with insights from the authors and stories of women who prayed for their future husband.  The chapters are broken down into topics ranging from protection, strength, understanding, to loyalty and faithfulness. Each chapter shows examples of these and breaks down ways to pray about that topic concerning your future husband as well as concerning yourself.

The authors have put together a narrative of their very different lives of seeking and praying for where God is leading them to. This book is an insightful journey on how to pray for your future husband and yourself!

I received this book complimentary from WaterBrook Multnomah through there Blogging for Books program in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are all my own.