“God’s Love Story” has never ended, so read on for the next installment in our Advent series!
At the time when my parents were engaged, it was traditional to have formal embossed engagement announcements printed up, followed later by a second set of formal wedding invitations. And just as engraved wedding invitations can be costly, these initial engagement announcements were not inexpensive. My mother placed an order…and then canceled it. She explained that the custom was an unnecessary expense during a time of war when so many people, including her own parents in Ireland, struggled simply to put food on the table. Refugees flooded out of Germany with no clothes except what was on their back. Sending engagement announcements seemed like an unnecessary expense.
March 12, 1941…in one of his letters home, my dad quoted my mother. She said, “Your father, in his book, puts it so well when he says about money, ‘It belongs to God, who expects us to use it in accordance with his will and purpose, and not to be wasted.’”
My father fell in love with a beautiful woman, but he also was discovering through her actions that she was practical and careful with money. She was also revealing her heart for pleasing God. As Dad spent more and more time with his fiancée, he was learning to appreciate new aspects of his future wife.
Just as my father got to know my mother by writing letters back and forth throughout their engagement, the Lord also has written a set of love letters so that we can know Him in deeper ways. I was initially attracted to Christ by His love but later, as I studied His Word, He taught me more and more about His grace and forgiveness and patience. Jeremiah 33:3 tells us, “Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” As we seek Him, the Lord will reveal more and more of Himself to us.
Reread Psalm 23 today and focus on what God’s actions in those verses reveal of His character.
