Sunday, February 8, 2015

Heartbreaks and Love Stories


So I just read a news article that says that Nicholas Sparks is divorcing his wife.

If you knew me when I was 17 and head over heels 'in love' with a so called 'good Christian' guy, you would know what a hopeless romantic I am - so I LOVED romance novels.

And at that point in life Nicholas Sparks was one of my favourite authors and his novel 'The Notebook' was my favourite book.

I read the book till I could answer context questions on it and cried over it till my eyes were blurred and I couldn't read anymore. It was 'the best love story ever' for me at 17.

The story line is something like this: This beautiful rich girl, Allie falls in love with a poor guy named Noah and they have a 'glorious' time together before her mother takes her away because she doesn't want this boy to marry her but he keeps on writing letters to her (for which he doesn't get any replies because the mother hides the letters from the girl) and then (fast forward a few years) she gets engaged to a different man and just a few days before their wedding she goes back to that old town and meets Noah and spends time with him and end up having sex with him and then breaks off her engagement to marry Noah and they live together till they grow old and then Allie develops Alzheimer's Disease and Noah faithfully looks after her even though she couldn't even recall who he was.

To my 17 year old self - this was IT - this was a story of REAL love. (I have read quite a few books written by this man - and trust me all I needed tissues to finish reading each. one.

Later on, after I got dumped by my boyfriend - which was the turning point in my life that led me to the foot of the cross and the Lord started teaching me about what true surrender to Him was (which is also a long story about which I would hopefully write a blog post one day) I started realizing that Nicholas Sparks got it all wrong.

His book, 'The Notebook' says that disobeying/lying to your parents, sex before marriage, unfaithfulness to the man you have given your word to be married to, is the foundation for a lasting, loving, faithful marriage.

The purpose of this post is not to judge Nicholas Sparks for not getting his marriage right after writing so many love stories that has been sold ALL over the world and become bestsellers. The purpose is to share this with you:

Hollywood had it all wrong. Our world has it all wrong. They paint a picture of romance and love that could to yours by following your selfish desires. It tells us to follow our hearts and that then we can make our dreams come true but I want to tell you that this is a BIG lie. I tried it and I know countless young men and women who have tried this - it does NOT give you what it promises. Instead it leaves you with a broken heart and a hungry soul. It leaves you with ashes and dust.


But the good news is that there is a God who can heal broken hearts and satisfy hungry souls. He can turn ashes into beauty. I know this because i have experienced this love. And today I have a man after the Lord's heart waiting to marry me (in 54 days: D ) all because of the grace the Lord has showered upon me. So if you want to know the secret to a lasting, loving, faithful marriage - it's HIS face that you should seek and HIS ways you should follow - because HE is THE AUTHOR of love. And who could teach you better about marriage than the Lord who created love between a woman and a man?