That's Love

Guest Blogger: This week, I am blessed to have my friend April Estes guest blog for me. We met at the first writers conference I ever attended and connected instantly. We literally shut down the party as we were the last ones in the lobby at 11 pm the first night. She just published her first book The Pearl of Great Price.  The book explores the struggles Christians have to stay strong in our marriages in a very genuine and relatable way. I thoroughly enjoyed her book! Here she shares a lesson on love from one of the scenes.

That's Love

I’ve recently published a book, The Pearl of Great Price. In the book there is a touching scene between the main character, Lacey, and her grandfather. Lacey had just suffered a break-up, and tearfully bemoaned to her grandfather how she had made a fool of herself, “jumping in full force into a relationship with no guarantees of any kind of return” - giving her all without knowing how things would turn out.

“But, sweetie,” the grandfather tenderly says, “That’s what love is. That’s what it does.” (That quote inspired one of my songs that says, “That’s what love is, that’s what it does: jumps full-in at full throttle, just because...”)

You see, love sometimes DOES look ridiculous: it’s a father running to his wayward, prodigal son; a mother placing her son in a watery basket; a queen risking her life for a minority people; the savior of the world coming to save, through death. But that’s what love does: it gives all - not without fear, but in spite of it. It gives everything it’s got with no guarantees, no promise of return.  The Bible says love “isn’t selfish, thinking one’s own self,” but, rather, is “full of hope, believing all things are possible.” (I Cor. 13). So, today, if you’re feeling a bit “ridiculous,” fear not! That’s what love is! That’s what it does!

• When have you chosen to love when it was hard?
• How have you felt God's love for you in tough times?
  

Biography: April Estes was born and raised in middle Tennessee, where she enjoyed growing up in a small, Southern town. She attended Freed-Hardeman University, and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Mississippi State University with an Elementary Education degree. She taught school in Americus, Georgia, before starting a family and moving all around the South USA, homeschooling four children. She enjoys songwriting in her spare time.