Love, the greatest possession

At the end of this week, it will have been 6 weeks since I've seen Luke. When I signed up for the Baylor in New York program for my last semester of school, Luke and I both knew what we were getting into. Being that our relationship has always been long distance, we knew we could handle it. But this whole distance thing is turning out to be a lot tougher than we originally planned. I guess our normal 300 mile distance seems a lot closer now that we're 1,862 miles apart. Luke is coming to visit for my birthday weekend, in another 6 weeks. We are half way through the longest amount of time we've ever gone without seeing each other. It's getting tough and tougher as the days go by.

Luke and I try to read the Bible and pray together as much as possible because we truly believe our relationship and life in general is just better when we do this. It's been a little harder to keep up with our daily devos together since I've been in NYC because of the time distance and our schedules, but last night Luke and I jumped back into it. Wow, I had forgotten how much this time together lift my spirits. I think Luke feels the same way; I'll explain that a little bit more later:)

Luke and I are currently working through Max Lucado's, "Fear Not, For I Am With You Always" Promise Book. I love this daily devotional book because I think that one thing Luke and I both struggle with, in different ways of course, is fear. Each time we read through this book, we read one page on the left and one on the right. Sometimes we do this twice. The left hand side usually has two or three verses. The right hand side usually has a sort devo written by Max. Yesterday was sort of a down day for both Luke and I. I'm fighting the flu. Luke is way over work and school. We both miss each other terribly. So, we read four pages instead of the normal two. Pages three and four really stood out to me. As Luke was reading the verses on page three, my eyes filled with tears. These were the verses he read:

"Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands." Psalm 90:17

"I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord." Psalm 194:33-34

"What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me? I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." Psalm 116:12-13

This was the devotional on page four:

"Eternal instants. You've had them. We all have.

Sharing a porch swing on a summer evening with your grandchild. Putting your arm into your husband's as you stroll through the golden leaves and breathe the brisk autumn air. Listening to your six-year-old thank God for everything from goldfish to Grandma.

Such moments are necessary because they remind us that everything is okay. The King is still on the throne and life is still worth living. Eternal instants remind us that love is still the greatest possession and the future is nothing to fear."

Wow. Great words.

After we finished reading, Luke prayed. He asked the Lord to heal me and he prayed that God would give he and I joy through these tough times. Luke is very sincere when he prays, but this one was different. As I listened to him pray, I felt like Luke was truly at the end of himself; that he was giving up his frustrations and just letting the Lord take over. He was remembering that Luke cannot do it on his own; he needs God. Even as I was hearing this confession in Luke's voice, I was feeling the same way and confessing the very same thing. Even though its tough for us to hit these low places in our lives and see our loved ones be there as well, it was refreshing to be in that place with Luke at the same time and to be able to pray to our God for strength together.

"...love is still the greatest possession and the future is nothing to fear."

I was reminded of this tonight. Max Lucado's devo reminded me. Luke's prayer and love reminded me. My God and my Savior reminded me. Luke and I will be fine and I know we will make it 6 more weeks:)