Valentines Day Times Three

Three wonderful years we've been able to  celebrate the holiday of love.

It makes me forget those lonely days when I didn't have a lover to make the day special. 

I think back ten years ago. It was only eleven days after Bill, my first husband, entered eternity and I was by myself. That day, my dear sister Joyce drove down from Seattle just to be with me. We visited our mother, who was recuperating from a broken hip in a local care center. We then selected a quiet restaurant in Ridgefield to have dinner. Just the two of us. It wasn't the same as being with my husband, but my soul was soothed by having a companion with me I loved. It was bearable. 

Six years ago, I was alone again. My sweet Valentine was abruptly taken from me only 15 days earlier when my second husband,Blair, entered eternity. I don't remember what I did that year. I know I was numb from disbelief that after only 17 months of marriage, I'd be alone again. 

But I wasn't alone, for I had my loving Savior, right beside me. Some people might question the sense of an unseen Person there. But I did. God promises that he is. So many times I reflected on the passage in Isaiah where God promises to be the husband.

"...and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. 

For your Maker is your husband

the LORD Almighty is his name--

the Holy One of Israel is your

Redeemer;

he is called the God of all the earth.

The LORD will call you back

as if you were a wife deserted and

distressed in spirit--

a wife who married young,

only to be rejected," says your God.

Isaiah 54:4b - 6

There were times when in the early years of my first marriage where things were not good. I felt like I didn't have a husband though I was married. I took hope in that passage. "My Maker is my husband." 

Perhaps you're in a "widowhood" period of time in your life. You'd like to be married or with someone who loves you like no other. I can't promise you that God will bring that perfect man into your life, but instead, He gives Himself! The Holy One who redeemed you!

Lean on that this Valentines. And though I'm with a lover on this third Valentines celebration, I haven't forgotten what it's like to be alone--yet not alone. May you sense the "God of all the earth" as you celebrate this day of love. With someone. Or with Someone. Either way, you can have the best!