Tag: <span>Marilyn Ehle</span>


“I have loved you with an everlasting love…”  Jeremiah 31:3

Valentine’s Day, as celebrated in many Western countries, is supposed to be a day filled with gifts (usually candy and flowers), lovingly worded greeting cards, and special acts of kindness. Yet for many people—young and old—it is a day marked by an aching heart. The single mother weighed down by burdens of responsibilities almost too heavy to bear. A widowed man sitting quietly in his rocker with only tears of memory as his companion. The young single woman wonders why she alone, among so many of her friends, is without a fiance or husband. The married couple who merely co-exist without a spark of passion. The candy is consumed, the flowers fade and many of the special acts are unfortunately replaced with less loving gestures.

What happens on February 15th? Is there a love that helps us bear our burdens, wipes our tears, satisfies our longings? Madeleine L ’Engle writes:

One of our children when he was two or three years old used to rush at me when he had been naughty, and beat against me, and what he wanted by this monstrous behavior was an affirmation of love. And I would put my arms around him and hold him very tight until the dragon was gone and the loving small boy had returned. So God does with me. I strike out at Him in pain and fear and He holds me under the shadow of His wings. Sometimes He appears to me to be so unreasonable that I think I cannot live with Him, but I know that I cannot live without Him.”

Thank you, Father, that your love doesn’t depend on my worth or my reactions, that you loved me from before the beginning of time, that your love can fill all the empty spaces of my heart.

By Marilyn Ehle
Used by Permission

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FURTHER READING

What’s Love Got to do with It? by Norm Miller

Two Keys to a Happy Marriage by Kevin Miller

Adhesive Qualities in a Marriage – Glue only comes in one flavor

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thoughts by Marilyn Ehle Thoughts by Women


“Look! I am doing a new thing…” Isaiah 43:19

The owner of an upscale boutique led me through the aisles of his shop filled with exquisite clothing. It only took a sidelong glance at a few price tags to determine that this was a shop far beyond any budget I could ever hope to have. Quite unexpectedly, the owner-friend said, “Pick out something for yourself, Marilyn,” but instead of quickly choosing a garment, I seemed stunned into inactivity. Finally our friend handed me a beautiful black and white sequined sweater of intricate design. “This is perfect for you.” In just moments the gift was wrapped in fine tissue, thrust into a bag and we walked out of this shopper’s heaven. In the months and years ahead I wore this lovely sweater on many semi-formal occasions and always felt like some woman out of the pages of the fashion magazine.

But one day I noticed that a few threads binding the front of the knitted garment to the bottom band were loose. Soon the entire front had unravelled from the band and my lovely sweater was in fragments. Its parts were still beautiful but because it was no longer whole, my fine garment was no longer wearable. I carefully folded my beautiful sweater and placed it in the back of a drawer where it seemed destined to be unused and unusable, merely a pleasant memory.

Frequently we look at what we consider our human weaknesses or the “little sins” which plague us and decide they are just part and parcel of the human condition. We allow ourselves to be lulled into believing that a consistently negative attitude, lack of discipline in any area of life, listless study of the Bible, or nonchalant attitude toward physical suffering in the world around us are merely actions and attitudes “common to man.” We measure ourselves against what is considered the norm and become complacent with far less than God’s intended holy purposes for our lives.

We have become like the beautiful sweater tucked into a corner of the drawer, remembering past days when we were seen as reflections of God’s glory, when we glowed with the joy of submission to His will, but we now lie unused and unusable, with merely pleasant memories of our past abundant life.

But the story of my sweater didn’t end in the drawer. One day a new friend, an accomplished knitter, showed me some of her beautiful work and I told her the story of my sweater. “Oh, I could fix that so it would be like new,” she said with confidence. I doubted her word and skill at first, but finally placed my sweater into her hands. Imagine my surprise and delight when only a week later she handed me a re-created sweater with not a trace of its former fragmented condition. It had been restored to its former glory and subsequently was worn on many occasions. When I frequently received compliments on my black and white designer sweater, I smiled and said “thank you,” but another kind of smile was in my heart. Only I knew that this sweater had once been put aside as unwearable but had been made new.

What a thrill it must give God when we allow Him to re-create us on a daily basis so that others look at us and see the beauty of Jesus. We know we have been fragmented and maybe even thrust into the dark corners of drawers for periods of time, but God is always willing, ready and able to re-knit us into beautiful reflections of His glory.

By Marilyn Ehle
Used by Permission

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FURTHER READING

•  He Lets me Rest
•  God, our Shield

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thoughts by Marilyn Ehle Thoughts by Women