He whispered it softly one day. He overwhelmed me with gentleness, kindness and affection. I was stunned by the loving voice of the very One who holds my whole world in His hands.
Then He said it again… ‘I Love You!”
I stood there with a microphone in my hand and a song on my lips, before a packed room of hungry worshippers who wanted to lift His name higher. I kept my focus clear and my voice on the melody, but inside a torrent of water was drenching my weary soul. To all those present it was an ordinary Sunday morning, but as the following moments unfolded I knew I was encountering a depth of intimacy that I neither had to initiate or control. And God spoke again…
I cannot speak yet of all of the things that He shared with me that morning, and it has taken me several weeks to even try to put it on (virtual) paper. But my life has been changed by a simple yet profound question. It is for you that I share this account, because it is He who wills it and He who wants you to know, that yes, there is more, much more for you than what you have experienced up until this moment wherein you stand… He waits, He calls, He asks. Come with me as I try to take you on the journey…
I stood there, holding my breath and continuing to sing, not easy to do at the same time. God had crept up valiantly and hi-jacked my heart, stolen my attention in a magnificent way, and it was beautiful. The discourse that took place began with an invitation by the Almighty to surrender my heart in an entirely new way to Him. He simply said, “Denise, will you marry me?” Yeah I know, not the kind of words you expect to hear from God. But what then unfolded was a beautiful portrayal of what it means to really trust, commit and surrender one’s life to the Creator. It’s all about our vows. And that’s exactly where God brought me…to a place of renewing my vows to Him and His will for my life. The magnificent voice of God whispered to me: “Will you trust me and be true to Me in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health? Will you love and honour me all the days of your life? Will you walk with me for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer? Will you keep your vows to Me even when life makes no sense and you are walking through difficult times?
I stood for a while as tears ran down my face…then soon found myself kneeling on the stage, unaware of what anyone else was doing around me, yet continuing to sing with the team. But I was in the presence of Greatness, a mighty Lover who wanted ALL of my heart, right there, and forever more. I thought about the wedding vows normally exchanged by couples on their wedding day, and how they take each other by the hand and the heart and pledge to walk together through all of the seasons of life. And although I have not stood there at that altar as so many have before me, I now found myself standing at a different kind of altar. And I answered ‘YES”. Yes God, I will trust You in all of the seasons You walk me through, through all of the losses and gains, joys and sorrows, thrills and tears. I will trust You, knowing that even in death, we will not be parted, because that part of the vow ‘until death do us part’ is not true for those who love God, as we know when we pass from this earth we simply change garments, names and dwelling places to be transported to a Heavenly Kingdom that never ends.
Maybe God is whispering to you right now, a quiet yet provoking ‘Will you?’ ~ Maybe you desire to know Him in a greater way, and find your heart pounding in your chest as mine did?
Later that day I did some research on wedding vows and wrote my new vows of love and trust to my God. While doing so I found a beautiful wedding song used by the Eskimos, which goes like this:
Eskimo Love Song
You are my husband, you are my wife
My feet shall run because of you
My feet dance because of you
My heart shall beat because of you
My eyes see because of you
My mind thinks because of you
And I shall love, because of you.
As I read it I was reminded that because of the breath of my Creator in my lungs, and His life in my bones I can say that He makes me do all of these things I sometimes take for granted! The Father of creation loved the world so much, that not only did He die for us, but He died ‘as us’… (Bill Johnson – Hosting The Presence) God uses the symbol of marriage to describe the love He has for His Bride, in the same way He uses it to remind us of the sacredness of a wedding between two people. May today be the beginning of a new love romance for you, may you find yourself whispering to your Creator…’I do!’
For we know that on the Cross, God has already screamed ‘I Do!’ to a world He loves.
Denise Kennedy❀ 