Happily Ever After

The last weekend in August, I joined friends and family in Maryland to celebrate the marriage of my brother and his wife.  It was one of the most joyous weddings and we seriously couldn't have asked for better weather!

The happy couple exchanged their vows, walked down the aisle as Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Ferguson, and danced the night away.  I was immensely blessed to be able to share in this momentous day.

Isn't it crazy how you can wait with anticipation for a day to come and before you know it, it's over?  However, we did get to enjoy some Maryland blue crabs with our new extended family, I was able to visit with a friend from college, and we even saw the Orioles play in Camden Yards (AL Eastern Division Champs... what what!)... It was an overall awesome weekend.

As we no longer reside in the state of Maryland, my parents, sister, and I found ourselves making the long 12-hour journey down I-95 back to Orlando, Florida.  

TWELVE HOURS.

Car rides are never boring with the Ferguson family, yet there's still a few hours of  "now what?" so I decided to check out what podcasts were stored on my iPod.  I wasn't able to attend church that weekend so I definitely wanted to hear the Word.  I went to a favorite podcast of mine and scanned through the messages over the past year.  Low and behold I found a 4-week sermon series titled "The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating." * 

Now, if you've kept up with any of my recent blogs, you'll know that the Lord has had me in an intensive study about His design for marriage and purity.  For the past several years, He has been growing and establishing a conviction within me in this area and it has been so strong lately.  And, well, seeing how I just came from a wedding, I thought, "why not take a listen?"

This summer, after spending time with the girls in the village and being likened to a princess waiting for her prince, I sensed God was leading me to focus on teaching His daughters what it truly means to be princesses.  For a few months now, I had been holding onto a children's book that a close friend had given me that unfolds a beautiful story of God's gift of purity for young girls.  It's titled The Princess and the Kiss and it follows a young princess who has come of age and is preparing for marriage.  Her parents decide she is finally ready to receive the gift God gave her the day she was born... her first kiss.  It would now be hers to give to whomever she chooses, but she must choose wisely for she only has this one first kiss. 

The suitors come left and right... rich ones, romantic ones, handsome and strong ones, but the princess doubts that they will ever truly value the gift God has given her.  She is tempted to despair and as she confides with her mother on the palace rooftop, the queen encourages her that she can choose to keep her kiss and cherish it for always, or she can wait until the day a man worthy of her comes along.  

The next day, a young man who works in the palace garden came to the gates and asked to speak with the princess.  He shares how he has prayed and watched and waited for one who could be his wife, but never found her. Then one day he saw the princess walking and her beauty captivated him and her "purity sparkled like diamonds." 

He had little to offer her.  He wasn't rich nor strong nor had the means to travel the earth, but he did have one very special gift to give her... his first kiss which God gave to him on the day he was born. 

It is an incredibly beautiful story and I can't wait to share it with the girls.  I had been in the process of translating it this summer, but I happened upon it IN SPANISH when I was back in the states!  (The sales clerk at the bookstore made me the happiest person alive that day.)

I can't even tell you how many times the girls have pleaded with me, "can we read the princess story, yet?!"   But still, something in me was not at peace with this story.  I couldn't figure out why because it's an amazing message of cherishing and saving one's purity for the man God has chosen. 

And then, sitting in the back seat of my parents' van, somewhere in the middle of North Carolina on that long drive to Florida, listening to part one of the sermon series, God revealed to me why... in 3 little words.  

Happily. Ever. After.

So many fairy tales end with "...and they lived happily ever after," as the prince carries his princess off into the sunset.  And that's it.

But that's NOT it.  

I'd be lying to the girls if I said they just needed to wait for the "right" guy to come along.  

I'd be lying to myself.

Finding the "right" person to marry is not going to solve any of life's problems.  Shoot, I've heard it just adds to them! 

Yes, we will experience love on a deeper level as we're known fully and intimately by only one other person in our lives, and yes, we will share in joys with our spouse that we never knew before... but still, that person can never complete us.  They will undoubtedly fail us and hurt us, even if it be unintentional.

Why? Because we're human and we're not perfect.

However, there is One who is.  

His name is Jesus. 

It is He who has come in and saves us from our sins, who gives us beauty for ashes, who purifies and makes us whole.  And it is He who has sent His Holy Spirit to come dwell within us.    

Jesus is our Prince and I believe this is what God wants me to teach the girls.  

Jesus came and saved me... and for all intents and purposes, He has asked for my hand in marriage and I am His bride. I have already found the one whom my soul loves, the lover of my soul, and I am fully satisfied in Him.

If the Lord never gave me a husband here on earth, I would still be satisfied in Him.  This is what I want the girls to receive from me. 

It is perfectly acceptable to entertain thoughts about whom we will marry and to share stories about princes and princesses... I would never take that away from a young girl's heart.  I fully intend on playing up the princess theme as I know some of the girls have already even made crowns to wear when we read the story! 

My heart simply longs for these girls to know how beautiful and precious and loved they are as daughters of the Most High King.  

Although no man or woman can give us a "happily ever after," The Lord has promised eternal life to all who come to Him.  

To me, that's abundantly more than "happily ever after."

*If you are interested in listening to the sermon series that I mentioned above, you can check it out at Your Move with Andy Stanley. (sermons from 8/3/13-8/24/13) Get ready... they are some pretty awesome messages!