“You see, our knight in shinning armor has come! He rides in on a white horse (Revelation 19:11) to bring us the fairy tale ending we were hoping for!  Love Himself will come win the battle to save us and carry us off to live in a palace with beauty we can’t even imagine,” (excerpt Love Letters From God study).

In Revelation chapter 21, we are given some details about the walls, foundation, and gates of the new Jerusalem:

“19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.”

When I was writing this study, I could not pass up the  chance to encourage us to paint this beautiful scene as we received our final love letter from God to wrap up this study.  God’s word is so amazing to give us these details about the heavenly city!

I looked up the precious stones for that are mentioned so I could paint the stones their true colors. Here are some links to help:

There are some beautiful pictures of these gems.  It made me so excited thinking about this scene that our eyes will really see one day!   My girls were beside themselves intrigued about this real castle-like description of the beauty of heaven.

Last, we wrote our our love letters from God over top of them.  We chose phrases Jesus speaks in Revelation 21:5-6 after the Holy City comes down from God out of heaven.

What a love letter to end on:

 “It is finished”

There will be no more death, sorrow, or pain.

The depths of sin, pain, and evil will no longer exist.

These little masterpieces will remind us of where we are headed, to a beauty beyond our wildest dreams.  I hope you have grown in your awareness of the dimensions of God’s love for you through this study.  Remember, as  our theme passage tells us, we could never understand it fully.

Ephesians 3

“18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”  

Our Love Letter to God:

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Only one line showed up in the little rectangular window, again!  Every time, this outcome felt like the end of the pregnancy test was a sharp dagger someone was pushing into my heart, twisting it, round and round.  It hurt, bad.

Why?  Why am I having to wait God when everyone around me is not?  How many baby showers am I going to have to go to and smile on the outside when I feel like I am dying on the inside?  How many more pregnancy tests am I going to have to take before I finally see two lines and I feel like I can move forward with my life?  These were just some of the questions I begged God to answer in those years that felt like decades.

But he didn’t answer.  Instead, he gave me glimpses.  He spoke tenderly to my heart in the secret places that only he and I knew.  He even gave me a name to name the child I would not quit begging him to give me.  Samuel.

Deep down I knew he had his reasons.  Deep down I knew his timing was best. Somewhere inside I knew there was

purpose in the pain.   

Because I knew Him.  I knew he was good.  I knew he would never withhold any good gift from one of his children.

I tried to trace his reasoning.  I tried to figure out why he had decided I would have to wait for this desire every woman has.  But all I could do was wait and trust.

I was reminded of this today in the “Love Letters From God” bible study, because the pain I felt ten years ago has now turned into praise for God’s perfect timing and unsearchable understanding.

Romans 11

33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

I couldn’t search his judgements or trace into the future to see why I had to go through those years of barrenness.  But I can now attest to knowing some of the riches of His wisdom during the wait.

I don’t expect you to disregard the pain you are experiencing now, whatever that may be, but I’d like to encourage you:

1. You will experience a great depth of richness with him if you draw near to him.

2.You can’t understand or “search” his judgements, so trust him instead.

3.You can’t trace his path for your future, but you know The One tracing it.

I hope this encourages you press into God when you cannot understand the pain.  I look back  now, with a healthy, happy eight year old boy, and I try with my shallow understanding to see some of God’s purposes.  I see many reasons, but I know there are more that I will not understand on this side of eternity.

This story has a happy ending.  I know yours may not. Yours may have ended in a death of a loved one, or a broken relationship that never mended.  But you too, have the same promises.  There is divine purpose in the pain, in the depths of his understanding that we cannot fathom.  His love is not absent there.  It is full and present in our deepest sorrow.  I pray that you experience  his presence in your pain.

Tomorrow is our last day I will be blogging about the dimensions of God’s love through the “Love Letters From God” study!  I cannot wait to share the final blogpost based on God’s love through the book of Revelation!  Check back tomorrow!  My love letter from God is below.  My love letter to God was a long, intimate scribble today.  🙂

Love Letter From God:

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