God Rejoices Over You

Isaiah 62:5 "As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, God rejoices over you."

A post Easter greeting to everyone!

I was so very blessed this past weekend because the words of last Thursday's DEVOs came to life in a powerful way. 

A few weeks ago Hormone and his lovely wife planned a weekend trip to Tampa to help a friend, Mario, with his proposal to his girlfriend, Erica.   Their job was to capture the moment on camera.

However, on Wednesday of this past week, Mario started to feel queasy with an unsettling pain in his stomach.  And no, it was not pre-proposal jitters.  Turns out his appendix ruptured, and he had to have emergency surgery.   Jorgie and Lis made the trip anyway and helped out by taking care of their fabulous Husky, Ace, and by spending long hours in the hospital keeping this young couple company.  They are from New York and no family lives nearby etc...

Mario was in the hospital three days, and when he went home on Saturday no one would have blamed him if he would have postponed the proposal.

But no - heck no!  

Mario had already covered the bases.  He had the ring, Erica's father's blessing, and most importantly, the desire, which nothing, not even a ruptured appendix was going to squelch.

So on Sunday, when Erica least expected it, Mario, in a heroic post-op feat, got down on one knee on the Anna Maria Island Pier and popped the question.  Erica said yes, Lis captured it all on camera, and I am very happy for this lovely couple.

I am also reminded why the Bible describes God's love for us as a bridegroom rejoicing over his bride: It's the best way for us to try and wrap our mortal heads around the indescribable pure joy and commitment of everlasting love.

Take a look at the beautiful picture below. Thank God for young people who make a commitment, and then thank God for His eternal commitment to us.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Today we rejoice at how You love us.  It's powerful, and we need it.  You are committed to us,  and we are grateful. As You rejoice over us today, fill our hearts with peace and joy. In Jesus' name, AMEN.   

Infinity and Beyond...

Good afternoon, all you beautiful, magnificent, and highly-blessed children of God!

A while back I took Jorge to see Les Miérables. He enjoyed a nice two-hour nap while I sat enthralled by the story. There's a powerful scene where Cosette and Marius see each other for the first time, and it's love at first sight. Immediately they know they want to be together forever, and I, well, I just sighed....

Do you remember what it was like at the beginning of your relationship? Jorge and I would talk on the phone - the one connected to the wall - starting at midnight, and we would fall asleep talking nonsense and the phone would be off the hook all night. And then we would wake up and say, "Good morning. I missed you..." It was so dramatically silly, but it was love. More than once I recall my mom getting upset because there was drool on the phone.

Fast forward 30 years, and I am still madly in love with my man. But let's be honest; our relationship motto nowadays is, "There's no one else I'd rather lay in bed and look at my smartphone next to." 

(There's a sign in my bedroom that actually says that!)

God, however, has always been crazy about us, and He is as passionate now as He ever was. Look at how the Bible describes His love for us.

Isaiah 62:5 As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, God rejoices over you.

Jeremiah 31:3 I have loved you with an everlasting love.

The verb "rejoices" as used in this scripture is a present tense.  For those of us who have been out of high school for more than 30 years, wordcentral.com defines present tense as, "a tense that expresses action in the present time and is used of what is true at the time of speaking or is always true."

God rejoices over us right now and with the same zeal as a bridegroom does over his bride on their wedding day. It never wears off, and it has always been that way.  IT'S EVERLASTING.

Are you having a rough day? A rough patch? A rough spell? The Maker of your soul loves you to infinity and beyond. He will take care of you. Never doubt it. 

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, Thank You that right now You rejoice over us. No one else has that kind of passion for us! It comforts us to know that no matter what is going on we are loved by You forever. Heal our hearts and heal our hurts. Comfort us with Your goodness. In Jesus' name, AMEN~

God Rejoices Over Us~

Good afternoon, all you mightily-blessed and loved children of God!

"Love," has been on my mind a lot lately because everyday I get to see Rayray and her fiance all googly-eyed and sappy.  And a couple of days ago she suddenly jumped up and ran out the front door, scaring me half to death.  I followed her to see what was wrong and got there just in time to see her lean in and kiss Emilio, who did a quick drive-by on his way to the gym.

The first thing I thought of was that it's been a long long time since I got that excited to see Jorge.  And while we are being honest, it's been a while since he went out of his way to drive by the house so I could smooch with him on the way to wherever he was headed.  (Maybe he thinks I wouldn't come out?)

Nevertheless, look at what Isaiah says 62:5 "God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride."

This means He takes pure delight in us.  He loves spending time with us.  He never grows tired of us. We are perfectly beautiful in His eyes.  He just can't get enough of us.  It's one long perpetual honeymoon...

The very next time you become afraid of something, the next time you encounter a difficulty, before you do anything else, remind yourself that God rejoices over you.  That He loves You with an even better fierceness and passion than the love between young couples, and even better, His love never wanes. Never ever!

He will always always always go out of His way to show us His love--even to the point of doing something so amazingly radical as sending His son to die for us.  I have said it right here before that I love you guys.  I pray for each of you.  I would do almost anything to help you.  But give up Hormone?  NOPE!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for Your mighty love for us.  We cling to that truth today, and we ask that You remind us of it whenever we are about to forget it.  In Jesus' name, AMEN~