One like you.

I wish I would have known God made them like you. One who hears every past shame and falls deeper in love. Who wants to understand the insecurities and pray me through the valleys. The kind who waits when he doesn’t even know if there is anything to wait for.

I wish I knew He made them like you. A man willing to jump while his hands are shaking. One who wipes the tears rather than causing them.

I would have waited. Or would I have? Would I really have been able to believe that you were there? Just 24 years away. Could I have waited?

If I would have waited, your eyes wouldn’t seem so innocent. Your hugs so safe and comforting. If I would have waited I wouldn’t appreciate you as the treasure God created.

See when He made you He gave you patient hands and a kind soul. A voice so deep one could drown, but not in envy or arrogance. He gave you a heart unable to insist on its own way yet bold enough to walk His. And a gaze that can bear all things but refuses to be removed from His will. He gave you a strong frame, sturdy enough to withstand the storm but humble enough to crumble at His feet.

I wish I would have known He made them like you.

But knowing wouldn’t have changed this prodigal daughter’s heart any faster. I chose the long way. The wrong way. And yet there you stood…by God’s grace. Arms wide open. Ready to pursue your Gomer.

Your rich voice and deep brown eyes got my attention. Your loyalty and friendship caught my affection. But the love you have for God stole my heart and your vulnerability captured my soul.

You admired from afar until God told you to move. And despite being in quite the valley, you went after me. I’ve stood paralyzed as God has used you to remove chain after chain from this tired soul.

I’m starting to see that I came from the same mold. That He used a piece of you to make me. That I too can be created by love and for love.

I now know that God doesn’t only make them like you. But He makes them like us.

By His grace, I am worthy to be loved and I am enough to give love.

Thank God for making you to be my greatest lesson yet.

In the midst of restoration,

From Her Fortress