I have been doing my SOAP study on the word love since then, and have had some great moments with God. I've had a couple of people ask me if I would post my "findings". But I got to thinking about that.
Have you ever read a scripture, and then read it a month later or six months later or ten years later, and it says something completely different to you each time? God is speaking to me through each scripture I am reading on love. But just because He is saying something specific to me, doesn't meant he would be saying the same thing to you through that scripture.
So that's why I am declining posting about anything I'm finding through my study, unless I feel God clearly tell me I should share something He reveals to me. I hope that doesn't offend you. I guess I just want to encourage you to do your own study on the topic if you feel led to do so. I know God has some amazing things to reveal to each of us who make the commitment to study His Word about this topic, or any other topic.
I have had a couple of other profound moments this week, though, outside of the study but also in conjunction with it.
Have you ever seen the movie A Walk to Remember? First of all, if you haven't you must! What an awesome movie about love, real love! It stars Mandy Moore and Shane West, was written by Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) and directed by Adam Shankman (a choreographer and judge from So You Think You Can Dance). I start crying in the movie at the play scene and cry through the end of it, and then every time I think about the movie for a couple of days after it. It may be because I know how it ends, or it may be the sheer emotions from the love displayed in the movie. I won't ruin it for you.
But it makes me ask myself .. who in my life do I love as much as these two loved each other? Have I ever expressed my love in such tangible ways, in ways that make the other person feel loved instead of in ways that I think they should feel loved?
And then I have thought so much about the book Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. This book shows yet another example of that same kind of love, that "I am with you until the end, no matter what it takes, no matter how hard it is, no matter how long it takes" kind of love.
So, if you're not ready to commit to an in depth study on what the Word says about love, watch this movie and read this book. I almost guarantee that it will give such a start in your spirit that you'll want to dig deeper.
