Jesus Wants the Rose

There is One that gave her life...

He created her. Shaped her. He grew her from a little seed, a seed of Himself. He grew her to make known His beauty; and she grew well! A once tiny seed, she blossomed like the most lovely of roses. Delicate, like petals, and adorned with thorns, for when He created her, He had a plan to protect her. The thorns would discourage curious hands from crushing His created, for she was fragile. As she grew, His seed in her, He pruned and prepared her. He watered her roots and sustained her life.

Yes, He had created her beautifully. It was a beauty, not just of her face, but that radiated from her heart, from the place where that tiny seed had grown. Other's noticed her beauty... other's that wanted it for their own.

There is one who wished her dead...

He knew of her creation, and he despised it. He saw her beauty, and He sought to destroy it, for that seed in her carried a weapon far too powerful to overcome. He saw, in that tiny seed, a battle he'd already lost.
But that mattered little, because he would claim this one. He would ravage the beauty of the created. Unable to unleash the full extent of his hate, for his power was limited, he devised an evil scheme, He had a plan to seduce her, to steal the Creator's beloved away.

He was gentle at first. He handled her with care, or so she thought. He whispered sweet nothings while pulling away the thorns, so carefully placed by the Maker's hands, the thorns that were there to guard her heart. And soon, she was stripped of her guard. He aroused in her desires that she thought he could fulfill. Her fragrance was sweet, innocence and purity. He drew her into his chambers, and in a moment of vulnerability, naked and delicate, he plucked her, that beautiful rose, right from it's roots.Taken out of this place, she was lost. What he had promised her was so fleeting; so meaningless.
A petal fell, and so did her tears.

Away from the garden, separated from the Maker, she searched for the acceptance and love she had known when she had her roots. She placed herself in the empty promises of man, but rather than sustain her, her hollowness only grew. She was wilted and crushed, passed through many different hands and cast aside when her beauty had been sampled. Her petals fell, and her heart felt weak.

A ravaged beauty. A shell of what she had been created to be. And with every desperate clutch at love, she kept crying out "Who could ever want someone like me?".

He did.
Her Creator saw her. He longed for her. His heart ached for His created one. He wanted her, with a love so ardent and strong. Even as the gaze of man subsided as her beauty was stripped away by careless hands, He could think only of restoring her, of drawing her back to His life giving waters.
And so He was present, in every moment she cried out "Who could want me?", He bellowed back, "I DO!" He waited for the day where her ears would hear His cry for her. When she would realize that He never stopped desiring her. That he'd been waiting all this time.

And so she found herself in another pair of hands, her worth shattered around her like the fallen petals of a rose on the ground. And just like every other night before, she gave in, the same desperate anthem raising from her heart. Her blood burned in her veins as the inward cry pounded out, "WHO COULD EVER WANT ME?" And it pounded against that seed of a that love she once knew.

I DO.
She was surprised. She could swear she heard her a familiar voice, a long lost love forsaken... but how could anyone love her now?

I DO.
She heard it again. Hope, a foreign substance, flowed through a heart she once thought dead. How could she dare allow that in her heart, when so many wounds had been inflicted on her heart by disappointed hopes.

I DO.
It was tantalizing... and yet her heart was so hesitant.

I DO!
She knew this voice! The voice of her Creator... and with this recognition, the seed in her heart burst. The roots of LOVE overwhelmed the lies and rejection, broke apart the hardness of sadness and despair. The love of the Creator washed over her from head to toe. Restoration and freedom danced in her mind and trampled out fear. He wanted her!!!

It was the greatest love story ever told. It is our story. It is the raw fury and power of the Creator's love for us that empowers us, frees us, and inspires us. It sets our hearts to praise.
It is the story of a Bridegroom standing at the altar, forever making Himself one with the bride He loves, and it began with a little seed.
Yes, there was one who sought her destruction,
but there is One who's blood cries VICTORY for the hearts of those who believe,
One who gave her life
eternally and forever,
to make her His.

All things, apart from Christ, are meaningless.
All my pursuits are so empty when void of Christ.
The longer I have tried to sustain myself, the more I have fought an internal battle. The more I tried to draw strength from my own shallow well, the faster I dried up. Months of trying to fill that well with other things have pushed me to the point of breaking.

My heart is stirred. Convicted. My throat is on fire, and it's a fire that is starting to extend to the most intimate places of my heart. A desire to find God in the places I have placed substitutes, and where I have made excuses.

The most revolutionary, heart transforming truth I know in this moment is that God loves me so much. That all of these struggles over the past months, all of the pain I faced as consequences of my decisions... it's all been part of a refining process. I'm going through the fire, but it is not setting me ablaze... like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, there is a presence with me in the flames, and the only heat I feel is the burning in my heart to go deeper. To embrace who Christ has made me to be. To enjoy the amazing process of getting to know the heart of my God more.

It's time to face this battle with praise in my heart and my eyes on Christ.

Oh heavy heart,
embrace your Maker
let the tears slide down
and stain the paper
Bring your heart
before your Jesus
all the shame
and broken pieces

To the throne
of the God most High,
I bring my cares
and heartfelt cries
And as I cry out
to the ear He lends
He offers me hope
and peace that transcends
my understanding
and my fear
He whispers
"Child, I am here".

To the cross
and my Savior's feet,
I bring my cares,
I bring my needs
My weaknesses
and incompleteness
the hole I need to fill
with Jesus

I take the hand
of the One I love,
I claim His truth,
I sing His song.
For it's His stripes
that ransomed me,
it's His blood
that set me free.

My heart, once heavy
grace-collided
the sadness in it
soon subsided.
My light, my life,
amazing grace
a Love so ardent
took it's place.

He watches

He watches,
as a little cry
carries out into the night,
a first breath sucked in,
a life.
A light behind the eyes of a baby girl.

He watches,
as she takes in the world,
runs into life with her fists unfurled,
a princess, crowned with ribbons and curls
And oh! The dreams in the mind of this little girl

He delights
when she takes a breath,
excited about something she doesn't understand yet.
As He shows her His love,
 and she responds "yes"
Salvation changed the heart of this little girl.

He delights,
as she grows with Him,
as she comes to Him,
as she gives love to Him,
and He gives her His,
because He made her for this.
Oh, the love He pours on this growing girl.

He watches
as the world takes a hold,
as it draws her gaze,
as it pushes her down.
As the lies sink in,
and her heart grows sad,
and her eyes fill with despair.

He watches,
as she struggles to find
a love that fills the hole inside.
As she fills that hole
with satan's lies,
oh, the longing in the heart of this young girl.

And He fights,
because she is His,
and He did not create her for this,
to have her princess gown torn
and her heart flung aside
so He fights for the heart of His precious girl.

He watches,
as she realizes
she is loved fully,
that she is desired.
That His delight is in her,
and He's given her life.
He watches as she chooses Him instead,
Oh, the joy it brought His heart when she did.

And so He watches,
as she stands on His promises,
embraces His plans,
and soaks in His presence.
He delights
in this woman she's become,
the one He knew that she was all along,
and He delights in the praise that pours from this woman's heart.

And He watches,
as another cry
pierces through another night,
a first breath taken in the arms of a woman
holding her baby girl.