Love is weightless — it feels like I can do anything. Like I've gone deep, all the way down, and don't want to be rescued.
It's the freedom.
Perfect Love requires no performance. The costume falls away, my skin becomes transparent, I don't have to pretend any more.
It's the craving.
Never getting tired of it, wanting more and more and more until I wonder if my thirst for this Love will ever be quenched. If I'll always be this ravenous.
It's the intimacy.
The kind of Love that touches deep within my eternal heart, where the Spirit mingles and I long to reside there forever.
Like any relationship, this affair with Jesus takes work. It must be intentional. I know I must take trials and tragedy and not squander their potential for greatness in my life. Because in doing so, I'll discover the most ravishing love I've ever known.
He is my Lover, He has my whole, I am a part of His body. He waits for me outside His bedchamber, but there are nights I do not come. He does not hear my footsteps approaching. He waits still.
I am distracted. Idols of the flesh grab at me, tempt me away from my Love. They trick me into thinking my home, my work, my friends, my family are all-encompassing and that I have no time left for our affair.
Tomorrow, Lover.
On Sunday, Lover.
Later, Lover.
I stop visiting His bedchamber altogether. He waits still.
Soon I realize I've wasted them. The trials. They are but a vapor anyway, and I've blown them into oblivion with one quick gust of air out of my forgetful heart.
The lessons learned must be re-learned, because I forgot what mingling with my Lord felt like. I forgot it made me tipsy. I forgot it swept me up and took me in over my head. I forgot it was perfection.
I quietly whisper His Name.
And just like
THAT.
I am back in His arms, reeling from the Love and forgiveness and butterflies in my stomach. Every moment with Him transforms my soul, I feel healing taking place as if I'm watching flowers bloom on fast-forward.
Life isn't so hard to bear when you're intimate with the One True God.
As the earth begins to feel the birth pangs, as the time draws near, I excitedly await my Lover's return. I allow Him to make my spirit His, mold it so it's how I need to be. To be with Him. To be His bride. To be one, forever.
Intimacy check: when was the last time you and the bible took a long hard look at each other? When was the last time your prayer left you breathless and tipsy? When was the last time you enjoyed the arms of Jesus?
by Arianne, To Think Is To Create
Leave a Comment
Marilyn says
Powerful. When we have forgotten how to be His bride, we should not wonder why we are lonely. Still, the invitation to return remains, if only we turn and run to it.
Jean Klinger says
Just the other day I had one of the extra ordinary encounters…read my blog titled TEAM JESUS…
It seems like this is a common thread these days…very exciting if you ask me!!!
Thanks for such beautiful words!
Holley Gerth says
Ari, I love the way you love Him…and inspire us all to do the same. You’re beautiful through and through.
Kelly Langner Sauer says
why is it that saying His name is so intimate? it is home…
Jenny says
seem to be reading this same message over and over again the last couple of weeks as I fight to keep my devotional times regular and those times just slip through my fingers… need some time with God.
Stacey says
So true ” I know I must take trials and tragedy and not squander their potential for greatness in my life. ” But so hard at the same time!
Thanks for sharing your heart wide open. It is glorious.
Jesse says
Thank you for this post.
I feel that so many Christians are missing out on this love relationship with Jesus.
We get so focused on following unspoken rules and living the way the world tells us to and forget to stop and spend time with the one who made the world. And, ‘He waits still’.
My intimate time with the Lord is by far the best moments of my life. Nothing compares.
But, I admit, it takes an investment of time and energy to set aside myself and focus on Him. I’m afraid so many Christians just don’t make time for it and they are missing out on the most amazing gift this side of heaven.
His love is so intoxicating and life changing. What a crazy good God we have…
Robin ~ PENSIEVE says
Sometimes I feel like there’s something wrong with me because I can not….do not…call Jesus my lover. A judgmental acquaintance once told me it’s because I see the term “lover” as sexual, to which I agree.
OF COURSE I understand the intimacy of relationship with Christ; and certainly I try to absorb the depth of His relationship to the church, His bride. But “lover language” escapes me…and leaves me wondering “What…is…WRONG…with…me??”
This is lovely though, Ari…and your poetic voice encourages me. There’s beauty in these words, and though I don’t experience them as you do, it leaves me wanting MORE of Jesus.
Isn’t that “right” in the midst of all my wrong?
xo
Sara Sophia says
I know you already read me portions of this but it hit me hard fresh and new this morning.
My eyes are full and my heart quakes in agreement.
This is the True Love
This is the True Peace
This is the True Life
The bride; chosen and waiting for her Groom.
I am His.
Carrington says
Wow, this was beautiful Arianne. I love your words, and the way you love Jesus. Being such a great example again to your little Sister :). I want to love Jesus like this…
Ashleigh (Heart and Home) says
Dearest one, this leaves me breathless. Thank you for showing me THIS Jesus… and for teaching me that such intimacy is exactly what He wants from me, from us, His beautiful bride. This post, this depiction of True Love, makes me hunger and thirst for Him all the more.
Tracey says
Whoa, mama! That was a smokin’ rich read. Thank you.
Laurie Wallin says
So precious a view of the One who loves us more than anyone in the world! I’m so glad you wrote this today. At a writing workshop last night the speaker had us spend a few minutes writing what we felt the Lord speaking to us and I had a keen sense He was just standing next to me, holding me close and smiling. It meant so much to me and I could have forgotten that image and feeling in the issues of today, but you reminded us all! Thank you!
-Laurie
http://livingpower.blogspot.com
Melissa | Madabella: made beautiful says
I constantly need remind myself to live as His bride. To anticipate. To look forward to. To be consumed by. to be overtaken by. The imagery of this perfect love relationship is beautiful.
I read my husband Isaiah 62 and was so enthralled in it…As a bride, I totally understood the anticipation and joyful expectancy…but he did not. He couldn’t relate.
How do any of your husbands view themselves in light of being part of the bride of Christ? Can it be just as captivating for the men in our lives? I wonder…
Adventures In Babywearing says
Just the other night I heard in my heart that the romance I long for, the fire and passion, can be and should be first with Him. Seriously- it came to me like Monday. I only kept it inside until now. Such interesting timing. So, I get this, oh do I.
Steph
Meghan says
Thanks for writing this. It really got me thinking about how I’ve longed for a romance but never saw that I had one already. This just helped me become more excited about understanding how He is the true lover of my soul. Thanks again.
Meghan
A Bride and her Lover says
[…] the rest of my love story over at (In)Courage today…}} […]