God will redeem what is lost and restore what is broken when we give our hearts to Him.   ~~~   Are you afraid of love? I was at one point in my life. I don’t know what chapter in your story led you to where you are today with how you feel about love, but for me it had to do with trust. I didn’t trust love. If we dig a bit deeper into the root lie I was believing, I ultimately didn’t trust God with my heart. What I’ve come to discover over the years about the lies we believe, is that the broken pieces of our story can lead to broken views of God. Broken views of God lead to lies we then believe about His LOVE for us, His character and His plan. Those lies take root deep in our heart and the fruit is unhealthy. Jesus had my life, but there were pieces of my heart I had on lock down. Only when we shine the light of God’s redeeming love and truth into those dark chapters of our story can love be trusted and have room to grow. When I went to college the last thing on my mind was marriage. I had a five year plan. Marriage was somewhere after those five years, IF it happened. Plans are great, but hold them loosely. The Lord had my path set for a different course. Something unexpected happened. I met a cute boy that didn’t get on my nerves. We actually had fun together. He became my best friend. We even went through a break up and only by the amazing grace of God were we able to see beyond ourselves to something greater God had in store for us. It was His plan, not ours. But the beautiful thing was that all the things we desired individually, God gave us together and it was better than we could have ever asked for or imagined. God has a way of working like that. When I look back over 30 years ago now to those early days of love, I see clearly why I was afraid. I didn’t want to trust God with my heart when it came to relationships. It was too scary. Love couldn’t be trusted. Here’s a light of truth. 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. Jesus had my heart, but the truth is, He didn’t have all of it. The pieces I was holding on to needed to be released into His loving care. I let go and released my control of what I couldn’t even control in the first place. Freedom flooded my heart. And with every step of faith I took, what was broken was restored and redeemed by the most perfect love of all. That’s how our love story began and it is still being written today. It’s a beautiful story. It’s not perfect, but we look to the one who IS and we abide together in His perfect love. That has made all the difference. Give your heart to Jesus. If you’re afraid of love or maybe believing a lie, shine the light of truth into what you’re believing to be true about God. He’ll redeem what was lost and restore what has been broken. The redeeming love of God is deep and it’s unlike any you’ve ever known. That’s the truth. Don’t let fear hold your heart captive. Abide in the perfect love of God and He will redeem your love story. I’m Lori Cline.