Whispers of Love

 

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.  By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.   And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.  I John 4:7-19

To each and every broken-heart or lonely person that comes to this page, I want to tell you a brief story before I share the poem I have for you today.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who more than anything else just wanted to know that she was loved.  She always seemed to feel rejected or that she just did not deserve love, as though there was something deeply flawed.  She started school with a speech impediment and overweight which made her the one made fun of.  As the years went by, she worked very hard; never satisfied to be the mediocre.  That need to be accepted became the driving force toward achievement.

Along this path, her desire to be loved led to what seemed to be many bad choices.  Divorced twice by age 22, she willingly accepted abuse within a third marriage; hoping that if she loved enough—one day he would love in return.  He declared that love with all his passion and then took his own life within 24 hours of that declaration, leaving her a widow at age 39 with teenage sons.  Picking up all the pieces of her shattered life, she marched on.  Once more she failed at marriage; but, this time she was also battling to overcome cancer at the same time.  Then, came two decades of illness, surgeries, and more failures at finding anyone who would love her just for who she was.  Or so, she thought.

Then one day sitting all alone in her house, she began to look back over all the years of her life.  There it was!!  Love had always been there!!  It was that whisper from God at age 5 that drew her into His arms, for she had accepted Christ as her Savior way back then.  Whispers of love that had lead her to become driven by passion and love to reach out in kindness to the under trodden, the hurting and the least loved among the world.  As she looked back, she saw many souls who had come to know Christ as Savior who had in some way been touched by her life.  The husband whom she lost to suicide had come to know Christ as His Savior only 6 months before that fatal day.  God had allowed her to see beyond the abuse to realize that deep within the heart of this man was a heart hurting from years of abuse himself, a gentle and loving heart trapped within a bipolar mind.  God had given her the ability to forgive and love unconditionally so this one soul could be saved from the wreckage of this broken world.  In the dark nights, alone battling illness; God had drawn her close into His own arms of love.  God had loved her so much that He had allowed all this so that He could use her to change lives.  Love had always been inside her from the moment she had accepted Christ as her Savior, so many years ago.  Love was abiding inside.  Love had been her driving force to give to so many along this journey.  What she had spent a lifetime in search of had always been there inside of her.  For now she knew the truth, God had been her constant companion and she was His Beloved.

And so it was, all alone on February 28, 2016  I wrote this poem.  For you see that girl is me.

WHISPERS OF LOVE

Whispers of Love flowing all through my life

Even in moments of sorrow or strife

Whispers that came in the dark of the night

Promising Joy with the new morning light

Whispers of hope for the bleakest of day

“Love will find strength and will find its way”

Into your heart and grow from within

Until it flows forth rejoicing and then

Suddenly out of those long and sad years

Love does spring forth out of fountains of tears

Into rivers of joy bursting forth then to see

That love had been there abiding in me

Oh, thank you dear Lord for teaching me love

As Your spirit descends with the wings of a dove

And gathered the pieces of this shattered heart

To weave it with steel, Your glory impart

A Picture so rare, its beauty unmasked

A portrait of you made in brilliant stained glass

Your love had been there inside of me

Even when I had been too blind to see

Whispers of love, it was You all along

Holding me close, I am your love song!

[bctt tweet=”Whispers of love, it was God all along Holding me close, I am His love song!” username=”effiedarlene”]

Photograph used by permission:  https://unsplash.com/@spiritvisionstudios

©Effie Darlene Barba, 2016

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post.  I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.