Beginning on page 104 of "Who's Picking Me Up at The Airport?", Cindy
Johnson writes:
“It
would be really nice to have someone take care of me once in a while. Taking out the trash, calling the plumber,
and bugging my dad to help me move out of my apartment every six months get old
– for both of us. While I won’t tell you
that getting close to Jesus is the same as finding a husband, I will tell you
He has a plan in place for this stuff too.
It involves being a part of His family.
There
is a group of people who usually hang out at church, and they are meant to be
the hands and feet of Jesus. You and I
need them. When I needed a place to grab
dinner before a meeting, when my car battery died at work, and when it was time
to look for a new job, these people showed up.
My church has encouraged and affirmed me on a regular basis. They provide a place for me to be deeply
known and loved many times over. And in
the end, isn’t this what we are looking for?
Whether
we are married or single, we all want the same things. And it can be very painful to go
without. At the time of the fall, in the
middle of the punishment given to Eve, right after the pain of childbirth in
Genesis 3, there is this fascinating line in verse 16: ‘Your desire will be for your husband.’ When I came across this in college, a light
bulb went off in my head. Oh my gosh!
It’s a freaking punishment!
This crazy feeling, this chasing after love, this sting of rejection –
it’s a punishment. And it feels like a
punishment.
Just
like God never promised that pushing a baby out would feel easy, He’s not going
to make the unmet desires of our hearts feel easy all the time either. Regardless of our relationship status, you
and I are plagued with a desire for a man in some form. Be it attention from strangers, the affection
of a neglectful husband, or the adoration of an absent father, we want their
love. And it’s not going away. (Is that not the crappiest news ever? Sorry.
At least it means you’re not crazy.
That’s something, right?” I
believe one day God will wipe away every tear and our hearts will be fully
mended. But we carry some form of this
curse till then. We will always feel our
needs go unmet in some fashion. We might
as well be honest about it.
If
we continue to seek Jesus, even with a disappointed and confused heart, our
lives will be okay. If we keep going
after the things we were wired and created t odo, we will be okay. God never promised it would be easy. Maybe this is where the idea of becoming the
bride of Christ actually makes sense – it’s a for-better-and-for-worse
relationship. You and I have to come to
a place where we decide we will stick with Him even when we are afraid we will
never get the things we want – not pretend we don’t have wants, but not become
consumed by them either. We daily give
them over to Him and listen for what to do next.” ~ Who’s Picking Me Up at the Airport, by Cindy
Johnson
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