Jesus' Love

At thrift stores, I splurge on books. I feel like I find little treasures that no one else wants so I delight in my findings.

Yesterday I found a book that I had seen a long time ago at Barnes & Noble called Redeeming Love. What caught my attention when I first saw it was simply the beautiful red, old-fashioned dress that you'd wear in the 1800s on the front cover. The title had LOVE on it so I was totally considering it (and because it was stocked in the Christianity section). For some reason I didn't buy it... maybe because I was broke at the time ha ha. Or maybe because it's more of an adult read.

Well, I found it at Goodwill & totally bought it.

It might be odd to hear this, but one of my favorite books of the Bible is Hosea. I've heard people dog on that book because of how hard of a life Hosea had in obeying the Lord. It definitely is an extreme life, Hosea making a harlot his wife, but what sticks out to me is how Jesus chose the lowest of the low to make His own. He chose the most repulsive to approach when He walked this earth. And He chose to DIE and take the place of the most wretched. With His actions he said, "I love you." And with His actions He said, "What's Mine is yours and what's yours is Mine."

What does this have to do with the book you bought, you might be asking.

Well, Redeeming Love is a novel retelling Hosea's story so-to-speak. It's set in the 1850s. The protagonist is a girl who harbors hate within her & is a harlot. Her life was pain after pain, she was abandoned & she believed lies that she swallowed when she was just a child. She gave up on the Lord because of how bad her life was. Until Michael Hosea (hint hint), a man seeking to please the Lord, hears from the Lord that he is to marry her. Michael does everything in his power to pursue the girl and love her unconditionally until she stops running from him, & from the Lord.

I've been reading it & it has definitely been a heart-wrenching, sad & even repulsive story because of how the girl's childhood story unfolds. However, right now I'm in the part where Michael is introduced, he's sure he heard from the Lord already, but questions the Lord because of her identity.

Coincidently (or maybe not), skimming through blogs, I found a song by Misty Edwards that made me weep. Unveiling the Lord's love, it made me realize, with a poetic touch, how grand the love of Christ is.

You might think the following spontaneous song is pretty weird (I did at first) but listen to it all the way through. I listened to it while I was by myself & had to close my eyes to imagine the story.

"What's Mine is yours, and what's yours is Mine."