Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
I Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)
As a fourteen year old girl I cross stitched the scripture passage of 1 Cor. 13:4-8.
The chapter is often referred to as the “Love” chapter. Yes, I did love the Lord . . . but at the time I was mainly just interested in cross stitching and creating something to put into my hope chest for marriage one day. Little did I know how precious this piece of art would become throughout my life as an adult.
As a new wife at the age of 21, I proudly hung all my cross stitch artwork pieces in the one bedroom apartment belonging to “us” – the “newly-weds!
After two years of marriage, Steve and I moved into our first and only home. Once again the cross stitch artwork made the move and once again I hung it on the wall in our bedroom.
We were no longer newlyweds. Life’s realities had started settling in:
- mortgage payments
- utility bills
- car payments
- a miscarriage
- and insecurities in many areas.
At times we looked at the other person in our marriage and said, “Who are you?”
Let’s be honest, married couples have disagreements more often than they really want to admit. Steve and I were having our fair share. Feelings were getting hurt on both sides – with no easy fix in sight.
At those times, my eyes would be drawn to the cross stitched scripture passage hanging on the wall. I would read the words, “Love. . . is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
This seemed impossible, so I would cry out to the Lord and ask for His help. At times, all I had was a small amount of belief as to how that Word – found in 1 Corinthians 13 would ever come true for me.
At those times, my eyes would be drawn to the cross stitched scripture passage hanging on the wall. I would read the words, “Love. . . is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
This seemed impossible, so I would cry out to the Lord and ask for His help. At times, all I had was a small amount of belief as to how that Word – found in 1 Corinthians 13 would ever come true for me.
I would sometimes justify my questioning of His Word by saying, “Lord, all my girlfriends keep a record of their husbands wrongs, why can’t I?”
I would read the scripture passage all the way to the end, “Love never fails.”
I had very little understanding of this powerful statement at the time but I spoke those three words over my broken heart and over our marriage.
My husband and I have been married now for 32 years. Cross stitch artwork went out of style years ago. Yet 1 Corinthians 13 was no longer a piece of art – it had become the very lifeline I hung onto for three decades. Through surrender to His Word, 1 Corinthians 13 was now written on my heart and seared into my conscience.
I truly can’t explain how the Lord erased the pain and often the memory of the record of wrongs.
But He has!
But He has!
He’ll do it for you as YOU surrender to His Word – living it out – despite how you feel like responding or how your girlfriends may be responding to their husbands.
God will be faithful to His Word!
God will be faithful to His Word!
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