The Theme of My Life - Meyer

Recently, I was listening to a series of CDs recorded at last year’s Write! Canada. They were of a continuing class by Sheila Wray Gregoire. On one of the CDs, she asked the question of her audience: “What is the theme of your life?”

I really puzzled over that one. I know that the books, stories, articles or poems that I write need to have a theme. Even this blog post must have a theme. But my life…? How could an entire lifetime be summed up in one theme?

But as I gaze backwards now and think about my life’s journey, it can indeed be summed up in one theme.
As a young child, I dreamed of love. I had a crush on my grade 2 teacher. As a ten-year-old, I wrote an eight-chapter book about a nurse during WWII who travels overseas to find her brother and ends up falling in love with a soldier. I loved watching Roy Rogers movies where the hero would rescue the beautiful young lady from the men who were trying to steal the deed to the ranch owned by her recently deceased father. They would ride off together into the sunset with sweet music playing in the background. I dreamed even of a time when my father would return to be reunited with my mother. I dreamed of love.

But I never believed in it. Not really. The fairy tales of happily-ever-after were places I traveled to and places I inevitably returned from. They only lasted as long as the movie or book or the day dream in my mind.

I had given my heart to Jesus at a young age. I longed to serve Him. Every day, I worked hard to please Him. I worked hard so that He would be pleased with me.
Looking back, there are specific people whom I remember who began the breakthrough in my disbelief of love. I began to think that perhaps it might truly exist – for other people. It wasn’t until I met my husband and he said, “I can’t prove that I love you; you’ll just have to trust me,” that I came to understand what love was. I experienced it for myself and KNEW I was loved.

Still, I strove hard to win my Father’s love. I was constantly vigilant, fearfully aware of every little area where I might need to improve.

Then one evening, walking out under the stars, arm in arm with my husband, the Lord spoke to me and told me that the way that I trusted John’s love was the way that I could trust God’s love. I could rest in His unconditional love. I didn’t need to strive or live in constant fear and doubt. I could rest. As the Bible says, I was “accepted in the beloved.”

That should have been the end of my story but it isn’t. I still struggle with accepting the love of my husband, my family and friends. And I still struggle with accepting God’s love.

Coincidentally, I have just finished the sixth book in a series of novels that depict a seven-step journey of healing. The sixth step is: “God loves me.”

It’s true. God loves me. God loves you. “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

We just need to “believe in Him.” We just need to trust that He loves us. Walk into His arms and let Him hold you close. God loves you.

God loves me. The theme of my life. The theme of my song for all eternity.

Dorene Meyer
www.dorenemeyer.com

Contributor to Hot Apple Cider and A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider
www.hotapplecider.ca
Author of Lewis, Jasmine, The Little Ones and Deep Waters
Now in book stores across Canada
Distributed by Word Alive Press www.wordalivepress.ca.
Available online and as ebook on Amazon www.amazon.com (key in title of book and publisher: Word Alive Press).