Daughters of Promise March/April 2014 | Page 19

Love is risk. It is vulnerability and emotional nakedness. We would much rather extend nice deeds than our hearts. of love that the world has ever seen. Our kindness should jolt people’s hearts awake to the sense of belonging and intimacy that their souls were shaped for. The love we extend should introduce them to Jesus. It should never look like a to-do list, but rather the outpouring of Love Himself. Everything in us wants to be that kind of woman. But we struggle, don’t we? Several years ago I read the testimony of a Christian lady that helped me understand why. This woman wrote that she loved her husband very much and went to extravagant lengths to show him. She would cook fabulous meals and always try to look just right when he came home from work or when they woke up in the morning. She would exhaust herself creating the perfect atmosphere for romance and feel stressed when something was out of place. It was all an effort to let him know how important he was to her—which is very beautiful in a way. But one night, the wife had an awakening: she had prepared a 19