Journal the Journey

To the lonely and hurting one on Valentine’s Day,

I intended to write you much later tonight, if I could make the time for it amidst other things pressing. But I believe God wants to speak to you through me and He is so adamant in doing so that this is the reason I am writing you at 3:23 am in the early morning of Valentine’s Day.

You’ve dreaded this day as you’ve seen it approaching. I kinda have too. If we were face to face having coffee, I’d ask to hear your story. I’d listen and cry with you as you shared with me the loneliness or heartache that has caused you to dread this day. And if you wanted to hear it, I’d share with you my story as well. The time hasn’t come for me to share the whole story publicly like this, but I can tell you that I know what it’s like to be in deep grief, the kind where you’re not sure if you can even take one more breath.

This world we live in, it is so full of hurt and heartache. We cannot find a single person on this earth who hasn’t experienced pain, yet we are somehow left feeling as though we are alone in ours. I’m here to tell you, you are not alone.

I’m also here to tell you, you can be victorious over the loneliness and heartbreak today. Yes, on Valentine’s Day. This Valentine’s Day can be redeemed for us, but it’s going to take effort on our part.

Today, instead of being consumed by pain, we can fight back. How? We can pursue Love. Capital “L,” Love. Hear me out, as one who can attribute her incredible heart healing to this Love she speaks of:

A truth I am living and willing to die for is that the God of the Bible made known through Jesus Christ wants you. I don’t care who has rejected you and it doesn’t matter what you’ve done; I can say with 100% certainty that HE. WANTS. YOU. This God who doesn’t just love but actually IS Love (and apart from Him there is not real love, but only a fraudulent, disappointing substitute that disguises itself as the same word) wants you to come to Him today, even with the shattered pieces of your heart slipping through your fingertips as you try to gather them and stumble toward His way, eyes blinded by your tears and head bowed in shame.

As you make your way toward Him, you may find yourself looking down at the pieces, some of them like dust because of the immense devastation of the beating your heart has taken. You’re wondering how you could ever possibly be healed from this. And just as you consider walking away, not because you don’t want to go to Him (you do!) but because you simply think your mess is too hopeless, you look up to see that He has met you there in the pain.

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

“All your heart” means all of it, even if you’re carrying it in pieces to Him.

He’ll rush out to meet you, and you’ll encounter Love like you’ve never known.

Love is selfless; it looks like the Creator of the universe choosing to send His blameless Son to take on our death so that we may be made right with Him.

Love is sacrificial; it looks like the perfect Son of God choosing to die a humiliating, torturous death nailed to a splintered cross, beaten so badly for our sake that He didn’t even look human.

Love is victorious; it looks like the risen Son of God bursting forth from the grave, declaring to the entire universe that He drank to the dregs our punishment for sin, buying back our rights as heirs to His throne with His very blood.

This is not “Christianese” talk, lonely and hurting one. There is no reality greater than this Love I speak of. He knows your pain, oh how intimately He knows it. He came performing miracles and was accused of being demonic. He came to demonstrate God’s goodness on earth and was rejected, misunderstood by the very ones He would love unto death. He befriended the despised and was slandered for it. He was betrayed, handed over to death by one of His closest friends… yet His love was displayed in His washing the betrayer’s feet just hours before the betrayal. In His darkest hours, nearly everyone left Him in fear that their own lives may be taken for being associated with Him. He took on the sin of every single person in the entire world- past, present, and future- knowing that many of them would choose to reject Him! What love!

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Isaiah 53:3)

We are in good company when we choose to come to Him. He knows our pain; oh, how He knows it.

Don’t let the one whom Love has defeated – your enemy, your adversary, the Father of Lies – convince you that this day is dreadful. No. This is the day that the Lord – LOVE – has made! We will rejoice and be glad in it!

Here are some practical ways to experience Love and be victorious over pain and loneliness today. Please, try it. What do you have to lose? (And dare to imagine… what could you gain?):

• Read through the Gospel of John, and imagine being there alongside Jesus as if you were there. Look beyond His words to His heart behind them. This isn’t a fictitious story; it’s an accurate, historical account that teaches us about God’s nature and essence.
• Make a list of people and things you are grateful for, or just name them out loud all day as certain people and things come to mind. Gratitude has been an incredibly effective way to combat pain for me!
• Worship God alone. Sing, play an instrument, write a song or poem, dance. You will be amazed at the joy and peace that He brings when you wholeheartedly worship Him.
• Write out 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Then think about and list the ways God has personally shown you such love. Thank Him for loving you so perfectly and wholly!
• Make (or buy) a treat for someone you know is lonely today. Deliver it to them personally, or if you’re too shy or too pressed for time to visit then leave it on their door with a note letting them know that they are never alone, for God is with them and He loves them.
• This one isn’t as easy as all the above, but it is crucial: Ask God to forgive you of any sins that you have committed, knowingly or unknowingly. Invite Him to search your heart and reveal to you anything that is displeasing to Him. He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us of our sins when we ask, but He cannot forgive what we aren’t willing to lay down. If you’ve never done this before, and you do it today, then Valentine’s Day will forever be a day of celebration for you no matter what your relationship status is in the years to come… for your relationship status with God will be from now until forever: Son or daughter. Beloved one. Chosen. Redeemed. Blessed. Co-heir with Christ. Friend of God. Welcome to the family! Please go back to the top of my list (read The Gospel of John), tell another believer of your decision that they may encourage and pray for you, and join a Bible-teaching church.

Love came down and rescued me, Love came down and set me free; Now I am Yours, Lord I am forever Yours. Mountains high or valley low, I sing out and remind my soul I am Yours, I am forever Yours. -Brian Johnson, Love Came Down