January 31, 2009
It was just like every other Saturday. My sisters and I and a few friends, including my groom, were going out witnessing. We went out for a few hours and saw several come to know Christ. Then we went to my house and took a walk. I didn't know that the walk was all planned out to perfection. When we neared my favorite spot, a cross overlooking a lake, he turned around to face me and had me close my eyes. Excitedly, he picked up a bouquet of lilies and roses he had hid hours earlier. Presenting them to me with a smile, I was happy to get them, yet completely confused as to why. Then came the moment!... and I was in utter shock. Taking the bouquet from me and kneeling down, he said some of the sweetest words I'd ever heard. Promising to love, cherish, and honor me, promising to be faithful and lead me closer to Christ, he asked if I would marry him and spend the rest of my life serving the Lord with him. And with tears in my eyes, I said yes!
A proposal is a beautiful thing. I know I fully enjoyed mine! What girl wouldn't?? Yet....we forget too easily about the magnificent proposal made 2,000 years ago. It was quite amazing. The Great Prince came to this earth and gave his life for us. And He asked us to be His. He proposed! Even though He knew He would be rejected by millions, He came. He offered to us His hand and asked us to "come." We all pretty much know the story of salvation. We know how wretched we are and how much in need of a Savior we are. We know that Jesus came to pay for our sin and to save us and set us free. We know that if we accept His gift, we are no more wretched and lost, but redeemed and found! We know about His "proposal" 2,000 years ago....when God the Son came down to us. ...Yet we forget so easily. And as a bride, I'm seeing it from a different point angle. When Grant proposed to me one year ago, it was beautiful and moving and humbling and - wonderful! But my, when Christ proposed to us, it became the greatest of all proposals.
...and the only one we should NEVER forget.
If you have said "yes" to Jesus, I pray you will continue to live as His precious, set-apart bride. The King's Bride!
But if you have never accepted the great proposal of God Himself and have invited Him into your heart and life, I pray you will do so today.
Matthew 11:28a
Come unto me...
Matthew 19:14
But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
Isaiah 62:5b
...and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
Revelation 22:17
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
