The Runaway Bride- Part 1

What’s popping my people ? I hope everyone’s weekend went well? You can’t even begin to imagine how excited I am as I’m writing this blog but I’ll try to contain it. I have so much to share with you guys and I might just explode soon…I’ll try to act like a sane person. Lol

First, today’s post is going to be a book review like I promised. Last week, I started reading a book with some of my friends- “The Runaway Bride by Heather Lindsey” And we decided to have a small group where we share our thoughts on it every week. Awesome right? I know! 

Before I start, I just want to take a moment to thank God for the friends he has surrounded me with. My God! These people have been nothing but blessings. When I posted Get your groove back on few days ago, I was absolutely unaware that the Holy Spirit had even bigger plans to make sure I acted on my convictions. Somebody say Amen! 

You won’t believe that Heather talked about the exact same thing I posted on my blog in the first two chapters of this book. Okay okay, before I get you guys all confused, I’ll just go straight to the point. 

In the first two chapters of “The Runaway Bride”, Heather talks about knowing your place in Christ and discerning the voice of God. 

I’ll try to summarize it for you all to assimilate. 

She makes an analogy, described in most part of the New Testament, of us being the bride and Jesus the groom. As brides, we get excited about our wedding day, make plans for things to go as perfect as it can be. We are getting married to the most eligible bachelor in town and our excitement is beyond measurable. This day comes and just as we are about to walk down the aisle, there’s a voice in the crowd screaming and beckoning that we come to him. It’s our Ex who did nothing but cause us pain the whole time we were with him and here he is asking for another chance on our big day! He sure has the best timing. 

And guess what? Because we’ve been convinced so many times that nobody could ever love us better than that lowlife screaming in the audience, we drop the bouquet and run back into his arms. 

I can’t remember the exact date I first gave my life to Christ but I’m pretty sure I’ve gone back to the altar a thousand and one times after that. Everytime I feel convicted by a sermon and my guilt has eaten me up on the church seat, I’m forced to raise my hands when the pastor says : 

“if you’re here today and ready to give your life to Christ, raise your hands and say this prayer with me…” 

Yup. Replay that moment a thousand and one time. It wasn’t until two years ago, when I realized my confusion and decided that was going to be my last time of going to the altar because this time, I was going to surrender for good. 

You see, all those other times I kept going back to give my life to Christ, I never really understood my place. I was a confused bride who kept dropping the bouquet on her way to meet her groom and running away with the lowlife. 

The truth is, even after we successfully say I do, chances of us running are still very high. Many of us don’t even realize this because we have become so comfortable with the “idea”of Christianity instead of understanding the true reason behind it all.  We make it a routine to go to church every Sunday, pay our monthly tithes, wake up every morning to read our devotionals and that’s exactly what it is, a routine. We basically just want to do the bare minimum and it doesn’t even become apparent how further away we are from the groom himself. 

A lot of things have taken the place of God in our hearts and it’s difficult for us to notice it because they are things we do regularly and have made us complacent in our relationship with Him. Like Heather says: “most of us have more faith in our bank accounts than we do in the Holy Spirit “. It doesn’t even have to be money, it could be something as little as a TV show that has drifted us apart from our husband (Jesus) – Isaiah 54:5 

Heather also talks about how to know when you’re hearing the voice of God. I have struggled with this myself for a really long time now. Trying to differentiate between God’s voice, the devil’s and yours can be a bit of a hassle. Well, this stage comes after you’ve known your place as the bride who was bought at a very expensive price.  

The Bible says: “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb” Do you even understand the power in those words? It means there’s nothing your groom doesn’t know about you, he understands you more than anybody. Can you say the same for him? 

You need to stop seeing your morning devotional as a routine but as a time set aside to get to know your groom. I mean, even if Jesus comes today would you be able to recognize him? To have the spirit of discernment, you need to invest some time in actually getting to know God, understand how he operates and read about his past relationships in the Bible. There’s no way you can get to know someone if you don’t intentionally create the time to do so. 

The closer we get to God in prayer, worship and fellowship, the easier it is to know whose voice we hear, no matter the circumstances. 

I pray that God gives us the grace to understand who we are in him and the spirit of discernment in our most trying times.  

Grace and peace.