Amy Carroll » Feel » Immeasurable Love

Immeasurable Love

May 25th was the day we all waited for, counting down the months and then the days. The time seemed immeasurable, unbearable even, but the date finally arrived.

Wedding day!

The previous October, my youngest son, Nolan, and his beloved, Madison, got engaged, and everyone was thrilled. Nolan and Madison had dated for almost 2 years, and both families watched as the trust and love between them grew. Madison was the girl I had dreamed of and prayed for since Nolan was born– the just-right mix of godly and sassy in a beautiful package. She’s the girl of Nolan’s dreams, and we couldn’t wait to officially fold her into our family.

On the morning of the wedding, I reflected on a call I’d had the week before with my friend, Lisa. “Tell me what I need to know that I don’t know I need to know!” I pleaded. Lisa’s son had gotten married around the time of Nolan’s engagement, and I knew that she’d give me great girlfriend advice me about how to handle my mama-heart.

Lisa replied with wisdom as I knew she would. “You need to have your ugly cry before the wedding,” she said. “When you feel it coming this week, don’t hold back. Just let it go and cry your eyes out. That way, you’ll feel what you need to feel, but you won’t be a mess on the big day.”

I tried to follow her sage advice. The week before the wedding was busy and filled with emotion. Every time I felt the tears prick, I attempted to let go. I tried to feel the full gamut of emotions: the joy of gaining a daughter, the thankfulness of knowing that Nolan had chosen well, the sadness of the changing season, the overwhelm of all there was to do, and the gratefulness of two God-loving families joining in this union.

As the wedding processional began to plan and I settled in my seat, I felt a little smug. I was good. My ugly cry was over, taken care of the privacy of my own home in the days before the wedding.

And then this happened…

My son saw his bride. Overcome with deep love and awe of her beauty, the tears started. And they flowed, and flowed, and flowed.  I thought my big cry was over, but seeing Nolan’s emotion re-engaged my own and everyone else’s. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.

Every time I see this beautiful picture, I’m reminded of one of our family’s happiest days. My heart soars over the way this marriage was birthed so full of love.

But I also think of Jesus.

There’s a coming wedding, and Jesus will be the groom at the end of the aisle. When He sees His bride, the church, I can imagine He’ll react just this way out of His deep, deep love for her and in awe of her radiant, righteous beauty that He bought with His own life.

It’s easy to give mental assent to this illustration, thinking of Jesus’ love for the church, but you know that the church is YOU, don’t you?

When Jesus sees YOU, He’ll be overcome with love immeasurable, and He’ll be in awe of YOUR beauty. Jesus is going to look at YOU this way.

That’s what I thought about when my son cried over his bride. My tears flowed as I watched the earthly wedding in front of me and anticipated the heavenly wedding to come.

(So much for mascara and avoiding the ugly cry.)

As we start this series called “Feel,” I want to spend a few weeks on how God feels. Considering His emotions and how He engages them makes my own feel more like a gift. I’ve often treated my emotions as something to be squelched or a problem to manage, but if we follow in His footsteps, our emotions are something precious to be engaged.

So let’s start with the emotion that is God’s very essence: LOVE.

I Jn 4:8, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Exodus 34:5-7a, “Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.'”

God is love. It defines who He is, and it’s the characteristic that He proclaims about Himself. He also declares its primacy among His gifts to us.

I Cor. 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

God is love, and He gives it lavishly to us.

Ephesians 2:4-5, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 3:17-19, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

In total, there are 686 uses of the word “love” in the Bible describing God Himself, the way He loves us, and the way we are to love Him. I know “love” has become a hippy dippy word in our culture, describing the rush of infatuation at the beginning of a romantic relationship, but it’s so much more.

Let’s determine now to engage all of loves facets and power in order to knock down the walls of fear, rejection, and hurt that have kept us from divided from others. Let’s pray for help!

Lord, You are love. Because it is the core of who You are, You love us. Help us to begin to love others the way You love, without conditions or limits. We want to be people of lavish love, following the way Jesus loved by laying down His life. Amen.

During the wedding reception, something unusual happened. The DJ stood at the end of the family speeches and gave one of his own. He said that in over 30 years of DJ-ing wedding, he had never seen a reaction quite like Nolan’s, and then he gave my son a challenge. “Nolan,” he said, “if you’ll look at Madison like that every day, your marriage will last a lifetime.”

Every morning this week when you wake up, I want you to pause a minute before you roll into your day. Imagine Jesus, your bridegroom, looking into your eyes with greater love than my sweet son (or any human) could ever muster up. Every day. That’s the way your Savior loves you. Not just for a lifetime but for eternity.

Living in the light of that loving look will change you. And me too.

ps. I knew you’d want to see a picture of the beautiful bride, too, so here’s the whole happy Carroll family on wedding day!

 

 

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31 Comments

  1. Amy, I didn’t get a chance to read this blog post until today and now I know why. I needed these words of encouragement. My emotions have been all over the place. Silly little things that get me all worked up. I know better. I go to Christ for forgiveness and peace and I feel it. I feel joy. I feel peace. I feel all is right with the world. Then the little worry creeps in. Then another worry. Then hopelessness. Then fear. Then angry that I dropped my guard and allowed Satan in. But Jesus experienced emotions as well and your beautiful post reminds us of so many things. I absolutely love this pix of your son when he sees his bride. What a beautiful writing you had to tie all of this in. I miss seeing you. Will see in CA in a few weeks. 🙂

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      Yay! See you soon in CA!

  2. Grace Lahr says:

    Thank you for sharing the beautiful pictures of your family.
    What a perfect picture of your son.
    Thank you also for sharing your love of Christ.
    I appreciate all your love for the awesome God we serve.

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      Those were two of our happiest family days! Love you, Mom!

  3. Candace Harrell says:

    Thank you so much for sharing this most precious moment with us and sharing your heart. And thank you for pointing us to Christ with the comparison of Jesus and the bride, His church (me) and your son’s reaction to his bride.

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      So much my joy, Candace!

  4. Tammy B. Gauss says:

    Beautiful devotional & amazing way in which you were able to use the look on your son’s face to give us a “visual” about how Jesus will look at us on the most important wedding day of all. Thank you & God bless you, your son & his lovely bride, Madison, your husband & your other son.

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      Thank you so much, Tammy!

  5. Beautiful! And … you got me to tear up too now. 🙂 Congratulations for the newlyweds. May the Lord make their marriage stronger and stronger day by day and their love deeper.

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      Thank you, sweet Gabriela!

  6. Gloria Ray says:

    How lovely!!! What a beautiful comparison! I will work to keep that image of Christ in my mind. Blessings to all and congratulations!

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      I’m so glad the post encouraged you, Gloria, and thank you for the blessings!

  7. Mary Anderson says:

    Thanks for sharing that beautiful story, Amy, and the Bible verses. I especially love the vision you gave òf waking up every morning and seeing first Christ’s love for me. I plan to do that starting tomorrow. Always take the time you need to recharge. We’ll still be here.

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      Praying that even this morning, Jesus’ look of love toward you starts your day right!

  8. WOW! just WOW. the emotion this post evokes is almost too hot to touch. Like WOW. overwhelmed or overcome, not sure which.

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      🙂 Blessings, Pamela!

  9. Lindsay Rodgers says:

     Hi! Wow this really touched my heart! I am a big fan of seeing the grooms face when he sees his bride. Your sons is the best! brought me to tears! Such a beautiful analogy of how Jesus will look at us??☺️ Thank you for sharing that amazing picture w u

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      I’m still overcome by the day, too. Nolan’s reaction is something I’ll never forget, and it will always turn me to Jesus. 🙂

  10. Amy
    What a lovely family you all just radiate beauty from the inside and outside.
    Thank you for your words of Godly wisdom love your posts we all need a little love
    in this world!!

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      Thank you, Linda!

  11. Edwina Cowgill says:

    Amy,

    What a beautiful picture of God’s love for us! Thank you for sharing your lovely family’s special day!

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      Thanks, Edwina! It’s a joy to link my family with my friends here.

  12. I saw that photo before on one of your other post and it is just beautiful. And by the way mama, there’s no mascara runs so you took care of that nicely before the photos started. My eyes would’ve been puffy. But there’s no way you could’ve cried with that. This was beautiful. Thank you.

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      LOL! Thanks, Eva!

  13. Thank you Amy, I needed these words today! When I feel I am not enough or not good enough I can remember the Truth that God loves me and that is all that matters. I can remember too, that feelings aren’t facts, but God’s love for me is quite factual!
    PS (Beautiful wedding, love your mom of the groom dress, sassy! Super adorable family)

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      I’m so glad you were encouraged today, Jane Ann. Hugs to you! (I just couldn’t do beige. :))

  14. Kylie Hinze says:

    So beautiful Amy. God bless you all.

    1. Amy Carroll says:

      Thank you, Kylie!