It’s going to be valentine’s day soon and many people are getting in the romantic mood. Well then, Let me tell you a love story (since Vals day is around the corner)

Juju stepped into class with an air of confidence. She knew she looked good in her new Jordans and boyfriend jeans with a cute crop top. Very soon all the guys in her class will flock around her to the ire of the girls in the class. Some guys were already sending winks her way, the ladies would hate her. But she cared less. She laughed to herself. It was going to be a great day.
That was the last day she would be so richly dressed.
Her parents separated that day. Her jobless mother was allowed only a handful of clothing to take along as the new woman moved in with all her wardrobe. Amongst her siblings, she was the only one forced to follow her mother. Was it because she was a girl? Or because she was the youngest? Was her dad no longer in need of his baby?
Somehow news got around her school and she was secretly but not so secretly ridiculed by her mates. The guys who had clamored for her attention now snickered at her in disdain. Was it because she no longer wore good clothes or had parties? Or was it because she no longer wore the Victoria Secret perfume? She didn’t know but she was alone, miserable and confused. But there was this one guy who wouldn’t stop bugging her.

Fast forward 5 years
Juju turns to the familiar voice that called her name. “Oh Lord, am I cursed to have this guy in my life?”
Is this guy stalking her or something, she found him everywhere she went. Back in junior high school, he had been quiet, but always watching out for her. She was always aware of his presence. After her parents’ divorce, she had relocated to a nearby town. This guy somehow located her new place and took her phone number. She had given it cause she had been so lonely and vulnerable. They had talked. They had laughed. Sometimes he took her bicycle riding. Back then, he had told her “I’ll love you forever.” Then after sometime, she moved to a different region, attended high school. During her second year of high school, she mysteriously begun receiving letters from him. It always ended with “I’ll always love you.” She never replied any of the letters. She graduated and now as a first year biochemistry student, she did not want any amorous relationship. They always failed anyway.

Juju kept Yaw at arm’s length even though they shared a few classes as he was a first year medical student. She, somehow, always got his help in some assignments and tutorings. It was as though he knew intuitively when she needed help. Once in awhile, she would find a note in her notebook or her bag, even in her shoes, “I’ll always love you.” Instead of feeling loved, it sometimes freaked her out. As her graduation fast approached, she contacted her dad to tell him about it in hopes he would attend the ceremony. She wept her eyes out when he failed to show up. She acutely felt the pain and rejection as the day she and her mom were thrown out. Yaw sat with her through it all not really saying anything. The only thing he said as he was leaving was, “I’ll always love you.” Then he added something new, “Marry me.” She shut the door in his face.

Three years later
As Juju went into the maternity ward to visit her friend who had just delivered, she came face to face with Yaw. He was looking sharp in his doctor’s white coat with a stethoscope in his pocket. He was doing his first year house job in the hospital. Later, as they sat together in the hospital lobby, Juju apologized for slamming the door in his face that day. She had really missed him although she hated to admit it. He also apologized for being insensitive and explained that his silence over the years was just to give her some space. He realized she would continue to push him away if he did not give her that. Then he said, “The request still stands. I’ll always love you. Marry me.” She looked at him in surprise and wonder. She agreed.
They got married a year later, when Yaw had completed his house job. As they said their own written vows at the wedding, Juju’s went like

Nana Yaw Ampong-Duah, you have loved me from the first day you set eyes on me. When we were kids, when we did not know much about love. I have rejected you too many times because all I saw was a girl who wasn’t good enough for her father to keep her. But You have been with me in my most terrible moments and have dug out the best of me when the worst of me was there to see. Because of your love, I have seen myself as I really am. Beautiful, strong and smart.
Now I give it all to you, wholly and completely to belong to you and you alone. All that I call mine I give to you. I lay all other men behind me including my dad. I promise to love and cherish you till death do us part.”

“We love Him because He first loved us.”
‭‭I John‬ ‭4:19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The point of this story is not to entertain you with a love story because it is valentine.

God loved us and gave us His all, His very best. God is dedicated to us His children and His bride. He has sworn to never ever leave us or forsake us. Now it is our turn to respond to Him and give our ourselves, completely and wholly. When Juju realized and finally accepted Yaw’s love, her automatic response was a giving of herself to him. She decided to set herself apart, to separate herself from all other men and give herself to Yaw alone.

YOU PRESENT YOURSELF

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
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Romans‬ ‭12:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Sanctification involves being a living sacrifice. Not just living but also holy to God. Holy meaning separate and dedicated to God. In the new testament, there is no real law of sanctification. It is a response to His relentless love for you.

In a wedding, the bride and groom present themselves to the altar. I know traditionally it is the father who gives the daughter away. But really, it is the daughter who presents herself. If she balks and decides to call the wedding off. The father cannot do much about it. We present ourself to the altar and give ourselves to our heavenly husband. No one can do it for us – Sanctification Is Personal.
There will come a time, as we grow in the Lord, when He will ask us to do something that will need us to forsake loved ones and lovely things – things cherished and adored – and like Abraham go into a land that He will show us. It will need a coming out of comfort zones and and drawing out of safe places into a seemingly dangerous and uncertain place. Our ability to respond when He makes such a call, will largely depend on our awareness of His love for us.

The Lord loves us. He will go to many lengths to draw us to Himself. And when we respond, He expects a total separation to Him and to Him alone. We are His only bride and He is our only Husband.

Lets talk more on this topic of Sanctification. Let us hear from you. Feel free to share your comments down below.