CULTIVATE LOVE CONNECTIONS
When you think of love- what comes to mind? February is called the “love month” with Valentines sandwiched in between on the 14th. What happens around Valentines is crazy- approximately 224 million roses are grown for Valentines, around 1.9 billion is spent on gifts, flowers, and chocolate in America. This love DOES make our dollars go round and round for one day-, but how do we cultivate a love that will last a lifetime?
WHAT is Love in the first place?
When we look at the definition of “love,” it’s simple, in fact we can boil it down into three words: “God is love.” In 1 John 14:16, the Apostle John writes that “all who live in love live in God and God lives in them. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him.”
So, love is a circular commodity which starts with the Trinity, who then “invites” us to join and then FROM that love, we give love to others. Love not only makes the world go round, but it propels every kind of relationship that it touches.
HOW do we manifest that love?
Through-- CREATIVITY
One of my interns was “abiding with Love (God)” on Valentines and had a degree in stick figures. He created a simple Valentine which had a heart on it, and inside read “Will you be my Valentines Always? Love, Jesus.”
After making this “God-marked” card (better than Hallmark), he went to the store to give it away. He saw a woman in line to buy groceries and told her he had a Valentines card for her. She turned and told him that she was profoundly deaf and she would need to read his lips.
He immediately knew that God wanted to heal her. Standing in front of her so that she could read his lips, he shared his Valentine and asked if he could pray for her after she was done with her purchase. She told him to pray right then, rather than wait to check out.
So, with everyone watching, my intern put his hands on her ears and commanded them to open in Jesus’s name. He then stepped behind her and asked her questions and asked if she could hear him.
He took 5 steps, 10 steps, and then 15 steps and she was repeating back everything he said!
People in the check out said that they could barely hear him and were crying as they witnessed this miracle.
Afterward, he gave her the card and responded, “What a great day, God just healed you, you must be so happy!” To this comment, she replied, “Oh no, son, it’s not a great day because I was healed, but this is a good day because I’ve been going to church my whole life and I never knew that God loved ME personally. I am going to put your Valentine on my mantle above my fireplace to remind me that I am His Valentine.”
Love finds a way!
I believe God is writing a valentine for you. He is putting all different kinds of messages around you creatively, for you to find!
- Theresa