The Love Story

Hola :)

I hope you each are having a great start to a new week we have been given. I challenge you to go into it with an attitude of joy :) What a better week you will have when you do that. God loves a cheerful giver. Notice that the word cheerful comes before giver :)

I am going into this new week with much joy and thanksgiving (as I should every week), but mainly because I am looking back on the last 3 weeks of doing this here Makers Diet. I feel healthier, stronger, more energized, and another perk alongside these would be that I have lost 20 pounds since beginning this :) I am now more than ever encouraged to keep it going and to see my goal achieved. If you have the right attitude going into something like this, set a goal, be self-disciplined, and most importantly, place it before the throne of our heavenly Father, it'll happen for you!

Lately, I have been experiencing more of His grace, peace, and LOVE over-pouring onto my life. God is showing me so much more of His love and what love looks like through what He has done for us all. I am in a new season in my life in all things, work, ministry, and a relationship (which is going splendidly I might add) So, God challenged me to begin reading the Bible from beginning to end and to take my time going through it all and really soak it in. He told me that it would speak so much into my life if I did this and man has it ever! A week or so back, I came to Genesis 24 and boy-oh-boy did God rock my world with it. He showed me LOVE in its purest form. So, I would LOVE to share with you what has been revealed to me through this passage and for those of you who don't believe that God is love (1st John 4:16), I challenge you to read this passage (Genesis 24) and just see for yourself.

As an overview,

We see Abraham telling His unnamed servant to go get a bride for his son, Isaac. The servant obeys his master, prays before everything he does, worships the Lord when He provides Rebekah for him to take back to Isaac, and gives God all of the glory. I am summing it up quickly, but man did God knock me out of my seat once He revealed to me who each person in this story represented:

1.) Abraham represents God
2.) Isaac represents Christ
3.) The servant represents the Holy Spirit

4.) Rebekah represents the Church

Abraham sends the servant to prepare and bring the bride back to Isaac, just as God our Father has given us the Holy Spirit who equips us and is preparing us for the day we, the Bride of Christ, are presented to Christ. This just melted my heart!

Now, there are so many other amazing things woven into this true love story like, the gifts the servant gives gifts to Rebekah just as the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts (Genesis 24:22), the beautiful "pursuit" or Rebekah we see, and the final scene where we see the servant bring Rebekah to Isaac and how the word says that Isaac was comforted (Genesis 24:67). Again, my heart melted when I read this story.

It truly is The Love Story as we see a perfect picture of Christ and His bride, the Church. We see His love for us, how He pursues us, and how one day, we will be His again.

This is love in the purest form.

Below is a poem I wrote the day I read this passage. Keep in mind that I wrote it on a whim and with a melted heart:

The Love Story
(Isaac and Rebekah)

Obedience led to prayer -- prayer to going

and in the journey, prayer led

and at the gates, prayer said

that God would show favor

that God would provide

that God would not waver
that Love would decide

a bride for Isaac

a hand to hold

the servant delivered

through prayer

patience

worship

and by trusting in the Lord

And in due time,

Isaac beheld Rebekah

and took her as his own

Behold true love, in its purest form

Be a Part of The Love Story Today,

Erica