Okay, so y'all know I love me some Cinderella. It's like my most favorite movie of all time, ever. But what I want to tell you is that fairy godmothers don't create the happily ever after. There is no magic wand to wave that turns the bad stuff into good stuff. God writes the script. He is the only one who can give you "happily ever after". He is the only one who can save you, and change your life. Outside of God there is no true happiness, and nothing truly good will ever come.
So on the day of our 15th wedding anniversary, I wrote y'all a little story about this very subject. I hope you enjoy it and learn from it.
Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl. They fell in
love at a young age. Everyone told them that this would never last. They were
almost right.
The boy and girl had so much in common. They enjoyed each
other’s company. They spent every moment they could, together. They laughed and lived and loved each other
crazy. However they never could seem to get past the dark things that lived so
deep inside them. The boy was filled with anger and the girl was filled with fear
and insecurity. They fought a lot. And fighting grows tiresome after a while.
One day, they found out they were going to be parents. But
that baby was never to be. They made a decision that left the girl feeling empty
and sad. And now she could add anger and emptiness to her fear and insecurity.
The darkness and despair in her heart was growing.
Some time later they found out once again they would be parents. The girl was scared, but elated to have a second chance to do the right
thing. She was determined to fight through her fear and love this baby with all
of her heart. She had hoped that maybe
this child that they would share, would cause them to grow closer. She was wrong.
That precious baby became a ray of sunshine in the girl’s
dreary and sad days. For the boy had gotten a good career. One that more than payed
the bills and it gave him pride to add to his anger. He was somebody smart, and
talented, and unstoppable. His love for the girl dwindled and dwindled until he
no longer saw anything good in her, and she knew it. His words became cold and
hurtful. His time was no longer spent with the girl and their son. He was on
top of the world and but it seemed that the girl, no matter how hard she tried,
only made him more angry. The darkness
had grown bigger in his heart. Even though the girl was sad, and knew she was
not loved, she found joy in her son. For a little while at least.
The funny thing about pain, and sadness, and grief is that
even the strongest person alive cannot truly comfort themselves. They cannot cure their own grief, or ease their own pain. They
cannot save themselves from it. If the strongest person cannot, what does that mean for someone who is already weak, and broken? You can only hang on for so long. The
girl's arms were growing weak, she was losing her grip. Soon,
very soon, she would let go…and fall hard.
She began running. Running from all the darkness that lived
inside her. She fell hard into a pit of alcohol, and self loathing. But that didn't stop her. She kept running
from the pain. She ran faster and farther away until one day she woke up and
realized that she no longer had sad feelings about her life and marriage and
family. That she had finally become numb, and didn’t care for the boy or their
family anymore. The darkness in her heart was so big and deep that there was no
more room for light. She decided it was
time to move on. The boy was all too happy to let her go.
But God had something different in mind. His plans were
bigger than just a sad ending to this love story. His plans were miraculous. God
took the boy’s anger and pride. He took it from him and showed him what true love
and mercy were. He gave the boy a tender heart that was full of love for Him,
the girl, and the precious baby. The boy no longer wanted the girl to leave. He
wanted her to stay,and he wanted her to know about God. He loved his family.
The deep darkness in his heart was gone.
On the day when the girl was supposed to sign a lease on her
new home and life, the boy told her they needed to talk. He told her all about
God, and what He’d done on the cross, and in the boy’s heart. He asked her to stay. He told her how much he
loved her. But he sounded crazy, and this was not good news to her. It was too
little too late and she had nothing left to give. So she thought.
What the girl didn’t know is that God was already working in
her. She thought she wanted to leave, but just couldn’t do it. "Why" she thought? Even though
she didn’t know it, God would not let her. And He was going to save and change
her too!
As time went by, the girl saw the drastic changes in the
boy, and how much the boy loved her. No
matter how much she would try to hurt the boy, he continued to humbly and
mercifully love her. This became a living testimony to the mercy of God and His
power to save and change lives. She could no longer deny Him.The darkness began
to leave her. The anger, emptiness, fear, and insecurity was being replaced
with love, and joy, and peace. She began to love the boy and their family once
again. Only this time, it was with a love founded in Christ. A love that would
last.
For good measure, God removed everything that the boy and
girl had. He took the boy’s good job. He took their nice home. He took their
sense of security in themselves. He took all notions that they would provide for their family. He left them with only the
ability to trust in Him for all things. And now with a blank slate,
God would
rebuild what had been broken down and taken away.
This is the beauty of the gospel. Jesus Christ came to live
as a man, on this earth. He gave up his life as a perfect sacrifice for the
sins of His people. He defeated death. Because He chose us, while we were
sinners, not looking for Him or His perfect pardon, we are transformed and
saved. We will not taste death in hell. We will live on! And while we walk this
earth, we have a comforter, the Holy Spirit. We no longer have to suffer in the
despair of darkness. We have the light! He will show us joy in our sorrows, He
will give us peace in place of our fear, He will teach us compassion in the
heat of our anger, He will cause us to love in spite of our pain, and He will
give us strength in our weakness.
The boy and girl spent years growing in love for God and one
another. There were lots of bumps along the road. There were times of
frustration, and fear. But the girl and boy continued to hold on to God’s
promises and one another. The hard times gave them chances to grow closer, and
the good times gave them reasons to remember where they started and why they
are so thankful to God for saving their souls and their lives! Even through
times of being stretched to the limit, joblessness, moving, financial strains,
health issues, sleepless nights, and puppies eating expensive things, they
remained ever strong and ever in love. They learned to lean on each other and to
hold each other up. They live, and laugh, and love each other crazy!
Once again, for good measure, God blessed them with a ginormous family - 7 more
children! There is chaos, and noise, and messes, and dirt, and crying, and lots
and LOTS of laughter…and food. And they all live happily ever after in a tiny
house, way out in the woods.
Okay, so this is not really a “fairy tale” love story. And
the first part is kinda sad really. But I would not trade one single day in
darkness. Those days give me such an appreciation for what God has done, and
for the beauty that is before me now.
God took everything away, good and bad. Everything that we
had built, every feeling and emotion we harbored deep in our souls. He
destroyed it all, and rebuilt it. He made something so beautiful out of something
so dark and ugly. From pain and hurt, He built joy and love. He wrote this love story for us. No fairy godmother or magic wand. We're not "lucky", and there is no "secret" to our great marriage. It's what God built for us. To Him be all the glory!
The End
