Sweetly LovedSample

Do you remember your first date? Maybe you were stressing over the perfect outfit or restaurant. Anxiously wondering, will he/she like me? Will I like him/her? What will we talk about? Will we hold hands? Oh, the memories of young love.

But if we’ve lived more than a minute, we know that love relationships aren’t all bouquets of roses each and every day. As we progress in our relationship, there is always a risk that it will lead us into “heartbreak valley.” We find that we can’t control the other person’s actions and the exposure to having our hearts broken is a very real thing.

The same can be said of life in general. There are valleys that we walk through that are filled with painful memories and darkness. The temptation is to sit down and give up, letting our tears carry us deeper and deeper into the valley. But God says that He’s not willing for us to stay there. He nudges us to get up and begin again. He shines His Light so that we can find the acres of hope that we desperately need.

God says in Hosea 2:14-15 (MSG),

“And now, here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to start all over again.

I’m taking her back out into the wilderness

where we had our first date, and I’ll court her.

I’ll give her bouquets of roses. I'll turn Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope.”

It’s not an easy walk out of Heartbreak Valley and into Acres of Hope. In fact, it will require much soul-searching and prayer. A relinquishing of control and a willingness to replace it with trust in a greater plan than ours. Yet it’s there that we are wooed once again with bouquets of roses and we remember our First Love. So, brush yourself off and start walking toward the light. It’s time to love again.