A Long-Distance Love Story

It was summer of 1995. A young lady was asked if she would be open to meeting a widowed pastor. She agreed to pray about it, and God gave her peace. The young pastor had asked and obtained her father’s permission to write to her, and soon their letters crisscrossed in the mail. They wrote for three months before meeting. During this time, they started to care about each other. When they met, they knew God was leading them to be together. A few weeks later, the young pastor proposed.

The young lady’s letters endeared her to the young pastor. He could sense her love of God, her love for her family, and her love for the ministry. The sharing of mutual goals made it easy for him to fall in love with her spirit. But, when he met her . . . wow! She was beautiful! No wonder he didn’t wait long before obtaining her promise to marry him! They were married the next summer.

I thought of their love story* when I read this verse: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:8-9).

Our love story with the Lord Jesus Christ begins with His Word, 66 books of His letters to us! We learn about Him, and little by little, we trust Him and confide in Him. We share our heart with Him. Then, we ask Him to save us, because we understand that His death on the cross was to take our place. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). We are started on a path of love. We rejoice in our salvation.

Whom having not seen ye love . . . . We look forward to the day when we meet Him face to face, and then the day when we start our forever honeymoon with Him.

(*This is the true story of a pastor we’ve known for the last thirty years. He and his wife have five wonderful children and a thriving church ministry.)