Given Away

Oh,

I don’t know if you’ve been with every guy or none,

I don’t know how many times you’ve given yourself away,

I don’t know how many times you’ve given your heart away,

Or how many times you haven’t.

But those voices all sound the same,

The voices that tell you to be ashamed,

That tell you to be ashamed you’ve been with them all,

Or be ashamed you’ve been with none.

To be ashamed you gave your body away,

To be ashamed you gave your heart away.

To feel guilty,

To feel unworthy,

To feel far, far gone from the hope of a love like Christ’s, yet wrapped in a man who’d give his life for you.

I am starting to take this whole love thing a little more seriously.

I am starting to be real, to be wise, to be slower about it all.

I’m starting to heal from things I didn’t know where broken inside,

I’m starting to just let the Lord love me.

My sister,

If you are scared to make eye contact with the loving gal across the table when you talk about your past,

If you get jittery and nervous when the conversation comes up,

If you feel inadequate when younger girls ask for dating advice,

You’re not alone.

If you feel like you’ve given too much of yourself away,

If you feel like you’ve never let yourself open up,

If there’s a voice in your head that has been there for years and years,

Telling you that a godly man would never choose you,

That you’re not worthy of his affections,

That you’re not too much and not enough,

You’re not alone.

My sister,

It’s okay to cry, because those feelings are real.

And they hurt.

But may I remind you, sweet girl, about a man who you already know,

Who is as close to you in this very moment as He’ll ever be.

I’m not going to romanticize him,

Because His love and affections for you are so much more beautiful than romance.

He’s not your boyfriend,

But He is Love.

He’s not here to satisfy a desire you have for a boyfriend or husband or lover,

He’s here to satisfy you.

He’s much, much more than a mere feeling of romance,

He’s God.

And in that, He’s more than enough for you.

And as many times as you’ve heard this,

I pray you hear this with fresh ears,

That these words fall on an open heart.

Because the love of God is so surreal, that it captivates our affections and devotion, if we let it.

He knew you before you were born,

In fact, He knit you together,

In your mother’s womb.

He set forth the plan of redemption in Christ,

Before you had ever entered the world.

He chose you and redeemed you and loved you,

Before you took a breath.

And yes, you have a past.

A past of being given or being withheld,

But He became our sin, that we would have no sin.

He became scarlet, that we would be the purest of white.

And now, you are.

You are the purest of white.

He pursued you,

In your rebellion and givenness and sacredness,

In your sin and stains,

And He won you,

When new life pulsed through his dead veins.

It was never about the guys, my sister.

It was never about you being worthy for a man.

Christ made you worthy, Himself.

He made you worthy of love, of holiness and redemption and honor and glory.

Don’t let the lies of the devil rise above Christ’s precious blood on the cross.

Slow down,

Fix your eyes back on Jesus.

He’s not your boyfriend, and it’s not a fleeting romance,

He is Love,

Patient,

And kind.

This love is deeper than the oceans,

And it reaches to the furthest corner of the earth,

This love would make rocks sing,

It would clench the mouths of tigers.

It’s a deeper, more divine kind-of love, that our human souls have craved all along,

It’s bigger than ourselves,

More than we can comprehend,

And that’s how we know it’s Him.

Love is victory,

Again and again and again.

It’s gentle enough to meet you in the broken,

And powerful enough to make you sing yet again,

You were made worthy of glory, by the precious blood of Christ,

It was never about the guy,

It was always about Christ.

He is what you’ve always been searching for,

He is the One to satisfy your deepest desires,

To quiet you in His love.

Run to the cross,

And rejoice in the Resurrection.

You may fall in love one day,

But after, in the day of the Resurrection,

You will be raised in love.

And it will be all you’ll ever know.

But for now,

Find Him there, in your deepest wound,

Find His glory even there,

And let Him love you,

Until we are Home.

With much, much love. And a song to be sung. –Melissa

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