In chapter five of His Revolutionary Love, I encourage your girl to go after God hard. I encourage her to develop a history with God which creates a strength that can only come through experience in trusting Him.
One of the most powerful stories that created history with God in my life came when I was 18.
My first “love” was a boy from my church, and I was only in 6th grade…yeah, 6th grade! Our moms were best friends and it just seemed like the perfect fit from the time I met him. The crush that started young lasted for seven years, but he never reciprocated. Somehow, I knew, though, that he was the one for me.
After high school, I went on to a Bible training school. At this school, I discovered that the love of a lifetime, the soul mate that I was looking for was Jesus.
I had grown up hearing that Jesus was my shepherd, savior, best friend, but no one ever told me that He wanted to be the love of my life.
As I began to study His word, specifically looking for the way He loved me, my heart began to fill up. The loneliness and fear that I would never find the “right” one began to go away as I grasped hold of the truth that Jesus was the Right One. During this time, I committed to not date so that I could focus on the true love of my life.
But guess who called me during that time?
Yep, Greg…my seven year crush! He was coming a 1,000 miles from our home and wanted to come and see me. I was so elated! Finally, the desires of my heart were going to come true. That is until my counselor pointed out to me that I had committed myself to not dating. I was so torn! I knew if I passed this opportunity up I would never find someone so perfect for me like Greg (let alone Greg himself!).
I decided to trust God. I decided that I would go after God as He was coming after me. <–click to tweet
I called Greg and told him he couldn’t come and visit because I was committing this time in my life to focusing on Jesus. He said he understood. Then he began writing me notes that were filled with scripture…words for me from the Lord. I loved it! But once again, I knew my heart was becoming attached where it shouldn’t, so I told him to stop writing me as well. I can’t tell how much it pained me and how scared I was that I was giving up the best thing.
I honored God during that season. After school was over, I went home to visit my parents. Greg was in church that night. He saw me and asked me out. I knew it was okay to say yes. We were married a year later and celebrated our 25th anniversary last summer!
I know that Jesus had me “lay Greg down” so that I could find Jesus to be my one true love. You see, now I don’t look to Greg to fill my heart or to make me happy. Jesus is still, and always will be, my first love and Greg is an amazing, God-honoring second.
Ladies, we want to model for our girls this type of heart — a heart that wants Jesus more than we want anything else. More than a career or the love of our kids. More than the attention of our husband or a house or boat or vacation home.
Nothing comes before Him and we want nothing more than Him.
As you go after Jesus, your girl will see what it really means to live a life devoted to Him.
Our prayer is that she, too, will go after Him.
Today’s Video
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Lynn Cowell is an author and speaker with Proverbs 31 Ministries. She has been married for over 25 years and has a grown son and two daughters in high school. She has written two books His Revolutionary Love and Devotions for a Revolutionary Year. Her favorite things include the mountains, well-worn sweatshirts and anything that combines chocolate and peanut butter. To connect with Lynn, you can find her at LynnCowell.com, Facebook, and Twitter.
