Let me introduce to you a talented young woman by the name of Deidre Miller. Deidre wrote the following passage as she prepares to write a book which is sure to be incredible. I love that she is letting me share it with you. Her insight and perspective is amazing and her writing is to the point and beautiful. Do yourself a favor and keep reading!
We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19) As I sit here on this beach watching the sun rise, my breath is suddenly taken away. I cannot place into words the beauty of this scene before my eyes. I arrived at Folley Beach, South Carolina just in time to encounter this beautiful sight. I knew instantly, God had led me here. I have been struggling with a great deal of a pain within me for a long time. I decided I needed to escape for a while, so I jumped in my car and went to the one place I knew I could clear my head, the ocean. Instantly, I knew, I was meant to reach out to the world. I needed to reach out to those who had experienced "heartache", which was one too many.
There comes a time in life when we fall in love. Just like this sunrise, ocean breeze, and sound of waves before me, you cannot describe the beauty and passion of love with words. Love is much deeper than words. We cannot control love for someone from developing anymore than we can control the sun from rising each day. When your soul tells you, that is the one, you begin to consume yourself with that specific human. You end up falling so deeply in love that you fail to notice how far you are falling. Love occurs this way because it is unspoken.
I gaze to my right and notice a young couple. They were watching the same gorgeous scene I had been, but something beautiful occurred. The beautiful girl had her eyes feasted in the sky awaiting the sun to rise. The handsome boy wasn't watching the scene directly; he was watching it through her eyes. Tears began to fill my eyes because that love is so rare. It is so rare that we think it doesn't exist anymore.
My mother once told me, with love, comes great loss. We must love every single person as if it were the last time you would ever see them again. We are not guaranteed tomorrow.
With every relationship, we reach a dull or hard time. The devil plots that against us the moment he sees God doing good for our lives. Why is it that we let him win? We live in a world where giving up is so easy. Ask yourself this, what if God gave up and quit loving me? The world would cease to exist as we know it.
Instead of pushing ourselves through the hard time, we walk away, fall short to temptation, fear love, hate the thought of settling down, and crush hearts every day.
I always thought I knew what heart ache was all about until my last breakup. Believe me when I tell you, our relationship was as close to perfect as you could imagine. He was my best friend, I spent ninety percent of my time with, I was myself with him, and I fell in love. His love for God set me over the edge. I do not think I will ever come out of this the same way I went in. My soul told me, he is the one. Temptation showed itself into our relationship about six months in, and he fell short. He became torn. Instead of fighting, he gave up. Who knows, maybe he couldn't forgive himself. I asked myself why, became consumed in sadness, quit taking care of myself, and begged God to help and take this pain away. I will return to that in a later chapter.
God spoke to me and said, "enlighten the world on love, and let me speak of love through you since you are one of the few who believe in love left." I then spoke with some friends and they encouraged me to do so as well, so here I am.
I only have two rules before we carry on.
- The first rule: do not enter this book with hatred in your heart toward love. You cannot be bitter toward love, say you're better off alone, or that you will never settle down.
If what I have said to you this far has bothered you, and made you roll your eyes, close this book. You can return to this book when you are ready and less bitter about the word love.
- My second rule is simple. This book is coming from God. He is speaking through me to you. In order to understand, we must be willing to hear his word, and let him speak. I want you to clear your mind for one moment. Pretend that you have never heard the word love before.
After you have committed to my two rules, let us define the real meaning of love.
Love,
Deidre
