After years of heartbreak and buckets of tears, she finally surrendered her love life to God. She realized that nothing she did was working and in her brokenness responded to God’s gentle call, allowing Him to write her love story.
And something amazing happened. She found peace, joy, and fulfillment. Not in a new relationship, but in her Lord.
When God eventually did bring along a godly young man, they each pursued purity, holiness, honour, and love, allowing God to lead each step of the relationship.
We know about their story because we read her book. We listened to her speak at a conference. We sat in a coffee shop as she told us that a God-written marriage is the most amazing thing ever.
And her story awakened in us a deep desire for our own God-scripted love story.
But often, what starts out as a genuine desire for God and surrender to God’s ways, turns into prideful selfishness. In our eager hoping and hungering after love, we start to long for a God-written love story because of how it will benefit us.
We want a story to tell
We live in a generation that pursues experiences. We want a relationship we can talk about for years. One we can share on social media. One we can relate to a younger girl over a cup of coffee. A relationship we can write a book about.
It’s easy to want an amazing love story simply so we can share it with the world.
But God doesn’t always want us to talk publicly about the miracles He does in our lives. Often after healing someone, Jesus told them not to tell anyone what happened.
It’s easy to find ourselves wishing for an amazing love story so that we too can have something to write about or so our story can become famous.
But God isn’t in the business of creating love stories simply to build our social following.
God is in the business of creating love stories that magnify His gospel.
We want to live happily ever after
Often, we surrender our romantic pursuits out of brokenness. We’ve experienced the pain of trying things our own way and come to God asking Him to bring beauty out of our ashes.
Love written by God is beautiful because God is an author of perfect, beautiful things. As God is the only one who can make beautiful and perfect things, a successful, happy marriage can only be written by God.
So we surrender our own broken love lives to the Author of Romance and eagerly hope that He will write such a beautiful story for us.
But beautiful, God-written loves stories are not happily-ever-after love stories. Many marriages established by God are cut short by death, invaded by sickness, tried by poverty and innumerable other hardships.
When God holds the pen to our love life He doesn’t promise a quaint house, two cute babies, a perfect job, and beach vacations.
He promises to write a story that is beautiful because it reflects the glory of God and the joy of the gospel. And this kind of beauty is often seen most clearly through imperfect circumstances.
We want to be a perfect Christian girl
It’s tempting to hear another girl’s story and try to replicate it in our own lives. We want to check off all the boxes necessary to be a good Christian girl. And having a God-written love story seems like a pretty big box.
But God writes each story individually. The way our love story plays out doesn’t determine our standing before God. In fact, we don’t even need a love story in order to glorify God with our lives.
A God-written love story is about what God does for us and His own glory. Not about what we do for God or His reputation.
Why should we want God to write our love story then?
God created marriage and love to be a picture of the gospel.
Paul wrote regarding marriage “this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:32)
In a world where love, sex, romance, and the roles of men and women are under attack, we have the opportunity to declare the gospel through our romantic relationships.
God wants to write our love story so that He might show us, the church, and the watching world how much He loves His people and how good the gospel truly is.
He might do that by asking us to speak and write about the relationship He gives us.
He might graciously give us seasons of beautiful perfection within marriage.
But it will all be within the context of declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So seek a God-written love story with increased passion. Deeply desire for God – the creator of romance – to take the pen and write romance into your life.
Ask that He will use your life to be a testimony of how good the gospel is. And that through your relationship with a guy, others might come to declare that God is good and real and true.
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- Why do you want God to write your love story?
- Have you ever noticed these prideful desires creeping into your heart?
Such a great post! I think a lot of Christian girls end up idolizing purity and a God-written love story rather than seeking God Himself.
Thanks Sara! And yes, it’s so easy to start seeking God’s gifts, like purity and a God-writen love story, rather than the giver Himself. But even without His gifts He is so good and worth seeking and knowing.