(psst) Happy late New Year! 2020 seems futuristic, doesn't it? I hope your resolutions and dreams are kicking off to an astounding start with this brand new decade!
AND... I have a gift for you!
Having a Heart Like His is starting a new series: sharing short, fictional retellings of characters in the Bible. At the end of each one, you'll find a worksheet aimed to start you off with studying the lives of those men and women. You can dig deeper on your own, look up name meanings, have challenges + memory verses for the week, and more!
If you're struggling to be consistent with reading the Bible, maybe this will get you started. *hugs*
If you're struggling to be consistent with reading the Bible, maybe this will get you started. *hugs*
Here's the first one. Welcome to Eve's story, and I hope you dig deeper to find Jesus' love in these accounts.
You're so loved. ♥
Eve's Story
I'm a woman with two stories.
The first one's beautiful. I remember it, long ago. Where the rivers met, flowers bloomed. Water drops danced like the fog that tickled our bed every morning, mist clinging to every bough of the trees, every smooth, silky fruit. Everything was awakening. Even the grass was but tender buds, those tiny snips of green that just began to grow. Little animals danced around us. They rubbed my legs, begged for attention. They cherished us.
That was it. There was this huge thing that held us together, held life together. It was bigger than anything you'll ever see, sweeter than anything you'll ever taste. Like the scent of the rain, something deep and mysterious and beautiful. The power would wrap itself around you like the tightest hug.
The name? I guess you could call it Love.
We were Loved. And we Loved. It wasn't a feeling, it was the Person who walked with us. He was Love, and it clung to us like the morning mist.
He was like a father, but more. Every gift was from Him, and He smiled to just see our overwhelming joy in His presence.
When He slipped out the garden every night, the Love was still there. It was like He left His presence behind, and it rested in our hearts.
More than the sprigs of green grass. More than the snuggles of puppies and lions and eagles beside us. More than the cooing of the early morning doves in the apple groves.
That Love.
But I can't find it.
That's my second story - the here and now. Love didn't leave; we masked it. We shoved it so far down that we can't find it anymore.
The ground grows hard with crusty, dry earth as we try to till it. The sun is hotter, air sharper, nights deeper. I'm scared and alone even with my husband by my side.
We lost Love. Or rather, we can't find it.
There's glimpses. Our babies, pure apricot fingers and blinking eyes. The snuggles of warm bodies together. The laughter as they toddle with first steps. The animals, now gazing at us from afar. The hard-earned fruit from our labors.
It's like a tiny piece of Love. But I look up and miss the real, full, powerful effect of God walking side by side with us.
I'm a woman with two stories. One day there'll be a third.
Eden will return, and the Father who created me will once again be beside us. The grass will shine, mist fall, animals dance, all to the voice of the stars that sing His praises.
This pain will melt away in His light. The earth's blood will be washed away. Love will return.
So today I live in that hope. I rejoice in it. And I'll grasp onto the tiny pieces of Love, waiting for them to be perfected in Him. Waiting for Eden to return, forever.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
- Genesis 1:26
Want to take the story deeper? Here's a FREE worksheet to study the life of Eve!
~♥~