TO LOVE IS TO BE VULNERABLE /// HEART ON HER SLEEVE

The girl didn't understand how people got so close to her heart. How with only a brief moment of eye contact they could walk away with a piece of her heart? How could a person she had had only minimal contact with, attach themselves to her thoughts so constantly? How could one glance into the face of a passerby at the grocery store, keep bringing their image into the forefront of her mind for days after? Why was the girl so passionately and easily drawn to each person that she came into contact with? 

A page in my journaling Bible    #illustratedfaith 

             It is love. It is not a middle school crush kind of love, a love for family, or a romantic love, but a greater, deeper, a most passionate love of Christ's. Nothing greater. Nothing less. For what can be greater than love? God himself is love in its entire essence. It is His love pouring from The Holy Spirit through the girl. It is this immense love that God instills in the girl that binds her heart to every human, every searching soul, and every child of God. It is the heart that she wears on her sleeve, allowing people to draw from His everlasting love, through her own heart. It is His love that makes the girl love people with a passion.

            It is because of this love for people that the girl’s heart is so easily broken. Though it is mended again, still a small piece is always carried away by the breaker. The girl loves without reserve, for there is nothing she can do to withhold this love. She must share it. The girl must allow herself to be vulnerable, to better share His love. The girl must be willing to have her heart scattered to the wind if she is going to love, trusting that Christ will gather the pieces up again. She cannot lock her heart away, hiding it from the people whose souls are desperately crying out "Someone love me! Please.". The girl is unable to stop loving, no matter how much she wants to, because as a child of God she is filled with His presence. If He is love then He must show through Himself through the girl.  

When the girl finally understood this it gave her such a feeling of freedom, unlike anything that she have ever felt. Through His word, God revealed Himself and the answers to the girl's question. She realized that love it always worth the pain, no matter how much it may hurt. The girl was willing to love, despite the hurt she knew she would feel, knowing that one day she would be in the presence of Love Himself, pain never to be felt again. The girl is vulnerable, but so very happy.  

            The girl must go on loving people, allowing them to break her heart, because it may be their only way to truly find Christ's love. And the girl is willing to endure it, for even now she can sense Him holding her, whispering in her ear "I love you, my beautiful daughter." He will be her rock when she feels as if she can sink no lower, her protector through stormy seas, and her light after the darkest of nights.

To love is to be vulnerable, but it means that she is truly living.

xoxo Emma