Tag: true love

Marriage

29 Years

meghanewhite

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The mighty Mississippi River snakes through Vicksburg, Mississippi. Side note: close your eyes and spell Mississippi out loud. Try M-i-crooked letter-crooked letter-i-crooked letter-crooked letter-i-humpback-humpback-i. Does anyone else remember that from childhood?

Back to my story. In 2021, we went to Vicksburg, Mississippi to see the historic Civil War battle field. My husband is a huge Civil War buff so Vicksburg was on the bucket list. It’s an incredible place. I highly recommend it if you love history. I’m sharing this picture with the pretty view from Vicksburg National Military Park, as an ode to my husband, Tom.

September 30th, is our twenty-ninth wedding anniversary. We are one year away from three decades of marriage, which is incredible. As momentous as this milestone is, we won’t be celebrating with a fancy dinner out, or a trip to some fun destination. Tom has been in the hospital since Tuesday of last week. Kidney failure struck again, but this time the blow was the worst ever.

This is Tom’s third hospitalization in three and a half years. Dialysis started this week and it’s not something we ever wanted, who does. Tom is supposed to come home on our anniversary, which would be the best gift. No jewelry or expensive gifts for me, not that I am into any of that. Those are the stereotypical anniversary presents. All I want is my husband healthy, and I’m praying for it.

After decades of marriage, I can look back on the good and bad times, and always see God’s faithful hand in our lives. Right now is an extremely difficult time, and also an opportunity for us to once again see God’s hand healing, providing, and caring for us. I would never choose this for my husband but what my Heavenly Father is allowing is for our good and His glory. We trust Him.

Months ago I was in the kitchen slicing potatoes as I prepared dinner. I cut my finger and without hesitation Tom got up from the family room, grabbed the knife, and finished slicing the potatoes as I got a bandage. He was exhausted after working all night. But that’s what you do for the one you love. That’s what my husband does for me. That’s what we do for each other. We don’t have to discuss it, we just jump in and help each other in our time of need. That is real love.

I’m helping Tom right now with the strength that the Lord provides. We stick together, and stick up for one another. When the two became one, we feel each other’s pain, and help each other. Tom has helped me and lifted me up countless times. It’s my turn. Thank you God, for twenty-nine years of a wonderful marriage, not perfect, but blessed.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24, NKJV

Love you all,

Meghan

Photo credit: Meghan E. White

Just for fun and a few laughs, a quote from The Princess Bride, one of Tom’s favorite movies. If you’ve never seen it you won’t get it. The rest of us get it.

The Impressive Clergyman:

“Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us together today. Mawage, that blessed awangement, that dweam wifin a dweam. And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva. So tweasure your wuv.”

Love

Love Is

meghanewhite

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Love is patient.

Love is kind.

It does not envy.

It does not boast.

It is not proud.

It is not rude.

It is not self-seeking.

It is not easily angered.

It keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth.

It always protects.

Always trusts.

Always hopes.

Always perseveres,

Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, NIV 

This perfect love has no jealousy, or boasting, or pride, or unkindness, or rudeness, or selfishness. There is no place for impatience, short-temperedness, or keeping a list of wrongs. Love never delights in evil and always rejoices in truth. It protects and trusts, always hopes and perseveres. Godly love never fails.

Agape is the Greek word for love used in this infamous passage of scripture. This is God’s love. And this is how we are to love others. It’s impossible to show this kind of love without knowing Jesus. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit within every believer to share this agape love. We have to be filled before we can pour out God’s love on people.

Agape is self-sacrificing. It truly is death to ourselves. Jesus said in order to follow him we must deny ourselves and take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23). That is the only way this powerful love from God can flow from us. It’s not about us, It’s about Him.

How do we know what love is?

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16, NIV

Jesus laid down his life for us while we were still sinners. This is the highest form of love. We are to love our brothers and sisters with the same sacrificial love. Impossible in our strength. Only possible through Jesus.

Where does love come from?

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8, NIV

There is no real love apart from God. He himself is love and we cannot love without knowing Him through Jesus Christ.

As Christians we get to share this agape with those around us. This beautiful love that God gave us through Jesus can overflow from us to every single person we have in our lives and even those we cross paths with each day. This love is powerful and nothing like any kind of love in the world. We fall short at times, and don’t always love the way we should, but God’s love will never fail.

Help us Lord, to love like you do.

Love you all,

Meghan

If you need prayer please leave your request in the comments or drop me an email (go to my contact page).

Photo credit: Meghan E. White

Love

A Love Filled Prayer for You

meghanewhite

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Have you ever received a love letter? It’s the most amazing feeling, especially if the letter was written by someone you really cared for deeply. It brings all those happy, happy feelings. You sigh. Your heart goes pitter patter, and you can’t believe that another human loves you that much. Romantic love is a wonderful experience. But those feelings don’t last. Those type of feelings will come and go. It’s just our humanity. 

Human love has limits. God’s love has no limits.

There is no love like the love of Christ. It cannot be measured. The love of Christ goes beyond our human understanding. It is deeper, wider, and greater than any human love we will ever experience. 

My pastor would hold up the Bible and tell us, “This is God’s love letter to you”. When we read our Bibles God is speaking to us. The Bible is the greatest book ever written, telling the greatest love story in all of history, God’s love for us. 

This beautiful prayer from Paul is filled with love. I love it! He penned these words to mostly Gentile Christians. 

A Prayer for the Ephesians

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family  in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:14-21, NIV

This entire prayer is powerful. There are a few parts that really speak to me.

For this reason I kneel before the Father. Paul starts with kneeling before the Father. This shows humility and reverence.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. Jesus strengthens us with power through His Spirit. Wow! He equips us with supernatural power to accomplish good things.

So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Jesus wants to take up residence in our hearts but it takes faith. We have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to receive Him.

To grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. We cannot measure the love of Christ. It’s width, length, height, and depth has no bounds. That’s how much Jesus love us.

That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. We need to be filled up with God, not ourselves. We must make Jesus Lord in our lives. We receive God’s love to then show that love to others. 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. God’s abilities are unlimited. We are finite in our thinking, He is infinite. He is able to accomplish anything we ask of Him, and then some. And always according to His perfect will. 

Pray this awesome prayer for your loved ones. Pray this for yourself. Pray this for the body of Christ. May these powerful words go right to your heart.

Love you all,

Meghan 

 

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels 

Faith, God, Uncategorized

God Loves You

meghanewhite

frozen wave against sunlight

I will never forget the day I finally understood that God really loved me. I was 18, and always knew in my head that I was loved by God. Deep down though, I questioned that love. There was no way God loved me. It couldn’t be that simple. I was not worthy of such love. That perfect love was for the perfect people, the perfect Christians, not me.

The truth is, God’s perfect unconditional love is for all of us.

The moment I fully accepted the love my Heavenly Father had for me, I was changed. It’s a personal love, for He calls me by name. My name is written on the palms of His mighty hands.

“See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:16a, NLT)

God calls us sons and daughters. That means He is my Father.

“I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:18, NKJV)

God calls us His children.

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” (1 John 3:1, NKJV) 

God loves us with an everlasting love.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.” (Jeremiah 31:3b, HCSB)

God’s love is faithful and true.

“But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth.” (Psalm 86:15, HCSB)

God’s love will not end.

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.’ (Deuteronomy 7:9, NIV)

God loved us first.

“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19, ESV)

God loves us so much that He gave us Jesus.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, ESV)

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, NKJV)

God rejoices over you with singing.

The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17, NKJV)

Nothing can seperate us from God’s love

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39, ESV)

Do you know how much God loves you? Maybe you’re like I was. You think it in your head, but it’s not in your heart. I pray today that changes for you. May you experience the love of God like never before. Let Him fill up your heart with the knowledge of His amazing love.

It is mind boggling to think about, and accept the love of a perfect God. Bask in it. Recieve this beautiful love from God, and praise Him for it. God loves you!

Love you all,

Meghan

 

 

Photo by Hernan Pauccara on Pexels.com