I am so, so excited for y'all to read today's guest post! It was written by someone I shared a canoe with for hours and got to know at YBL. Hope is such an influential person, and I am so thankful that she wrote this post that will hopefully speak to you in many ways.
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The other day as I was coming home from a mission trip, I listened to a Taylor Swift playlist. It was probably honestly the most TSwift I've heard in a long time. This time, however, I actually really listened to the lyrics. As I heard each song, I was reminded of the brokenness of relationships. I heard “Fifteen” and could feel the pain of the moment when “Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind...and we both cried.” I heard “Dear John” and wanted to angrily chase down the boy who broke Taylor’s heart. We all get it; Taylor’s songs are eerily relatable, and they instantly make us feel whatever she was feeling when she wrote the song. This is good for us when we can listen to “Forever and Always” recovering from a rough breakup and “Fearless” after a perfect date, but it can also point us to a love that was never meant to be our one and only. I am reminded in these stories of heartbreak and pain that this is not the kind of love God designed for us as His children. No relationship on this earth will satisfy me like a relationship with the living and loving God of the universe. He will never be a “Picture to Burn” or the reason for the “Teardrops on my Guitar.” He is perfect, and His love for me is (and will always be) perfect.
As much as we love our boyfriends or love the idea of having one, they are nothing compared to our Savior. Don't get me wrong...romantic relationships are a beautiful gift to us created by God and can even be an awesome representation to us of His love for the church...but they pale in the shadow of God’s divine romance with us. Using the term “romance” when it comes to our relationship with God might sound a little strange, but it's actually quite fitting. When I Googled the definition of romance, I got this definition: “romance (noun): a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.” Jesus loved us so very much that He died on a cross to prove His love. He desired for us to have a life so full that He laid down His own for us. He IS our knight in shining armor. He IS our king. He longs for us to know His love and wants to take us on an adventure following Him every day of our lives. The Creator of the universe wants to do life with you. If that doesn't inspire some sense of excitement or wonder in your heart, if you can't marvel at that kind of love, I don't know if your heart’s beating!
After hearing several songs on my road trip the other day--some joyful, some somber, some downright angry--I came across one with a new theme, one I hadn't ever heard before in any of Taylor’s songs. The song was “Begin Again” and the lyrics go something like this…
(If you haven't already heard this song, I highly encourage you to give it a listen before continuing this post.)
Take a deep breath in the mirror, he didn't like it when I wore high heels but I did
Turn the lock and put my headphones on, he always said he didn't get this song but I did, I did
Walked in expecting you'd be late but you got here early and you stand and wait, I walk to you
You pull my chair out and help me in, and you don't know how nice that is, but I do
And you throw your head back laughing like a little kid
I think it's strange that you think I'm funny ‘cause he never did
I’ve been spending the last eight months thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end
But on a Wednesday, in a cafe, I watched it begin again
Here Taylor is speaking about a broken past relationship, a boy who never truly understood her and never truly loved her. And I couldn't help but think back to all the places and times and situations and people who I felt have hurt me. Who has been there when people and this world have failed me? Jesus. He has always been there, waiting for me to come to Him with His arms wide open and full of love. Jesus is like the boy Taylor mentions in the second half of the song, the one who pulled her chair out and helped her in, the boy who showed her that love could begin again.
After this song, I began to see each of Taylor’s songs in a different way. I heard “Forever and Always” and felt the hurt of a heartbreak but, along with it, the comfort that comes with knowing my Heavenly Father’s arms are outstretched, waiting for me to run and find in Him the best love. I heard “Fearless” and was reminded of the true joy that living life with Jesus brings me. I could see the hope amidst the hurt.
Amidst the pain, there is a loving God in each one of Taylor’s songs waiting to be found. When we come to the end of our rope, we meet the Lord. He is there in our brokenness, in our problems and pain, sitting right there with us. When romantic relationships fail, He points us to the relationship that has always been waiting with Him. That is a beautiful thing.
I know many of us come from places, whether we realize it or not, where we haven't been shown or given true love. I want to encourage you that no matter what pain or hurt you've experienced in your past that Jesus wants to heal that. His love is better and greater and stronger than any love you have experienced and any love you ever will experience here on earth. Ladies, fall in love again with the One who has loved you from the start. He calls you beautiful. He treats you so, so right. His love will mend and heal any wounds from your past, whether spiritual, emotional, mental, physical, relational, etc. Let Him be your hero, your king. Allow Him to heal your wounds and fill your heart with His love. Allow Him to let love “begin again” in your life: the kind of love only He can give. I think that love is the kind of love Taylor Swift has always longed for and yet never knew. Today I pray you accept God’s invitation into a relationship with Him, one that will fill your heart with the craziest of loves.