My Girl, I’ve Got a Sweeter Song

The familiar phrasing and beloved lyrics cascaded through the car. Instantly, the music transformed this mother of six, frantically running errands, into a shy seventeen-year-old sitting alone in a dark auditorium.

It was Valentine’s Day. My boyfriend met me after school in the parking lot where he took my hand and guided me back into the building. As the last of the students dispersed, he guided me into the now-dark high school auditorium. Then he left.

Alone I sat on the front row, wondering and waiting for the unknown to break the silence. In the darkness, my mind raced with questions. What’s happening here? Am I alone? When the lights come on, will I be embarrassed by a full auditorium? The darkness begged the hidden question, can my boyfriend be trusted?

Finally, a flicker of light caught my eye and the music began. A single spotlight shone on the stage while my boyfriend and three other high school saxophonists serenaded me with the music of “My Girl” by the Temptations. In that humble high school auditorium, my heart melted into the music as the song declared my now husband’s love for me.

When the song was over and the lights finally came on, I realized I had been alone in the auditorium all along.  The light answered my heart’s questions. My boyfriend could be trusted.

Twenty-five years later as I hear that song, I remember the love poured into that moment by the man who still calls me “My Girl” today. 

Whether you’ve known that kind of earthly love or only seen it in the movies, would you believe me if I said there is someone that feels even greater love for you than that of a serenading saxophonist?

There is someone who knows you, sees you, and loves every part of whom you were created to be. There is someone who will meet you where you are, handle your heart with care, and sing through the darkness a song of love so sweet that it washes away all your fears. There is someone you can trust with your heart.

 God whispers, “My Girl, you are my child, and you are lavishly loved.”¹

Our Heavenly Father gives us a love letter in scripture that calls us back into His arms. A letter that when read takes us back to the first encounter with His love and draws us into its great depth.

“My Girl, there is nothing that you need to do to earn my love. You are enough. I gave my Son for you so that you would know the vastness of my love.”²

The more time we devote to His Word the more we feel the Father’s warm embrace. Soaking in His truth, scars are healed, darkness dissipates, and renewed life radiates out of our hearts.

“My Girl, you are chosen, hand-crafted, and wonderfully made. What you see as flaws, I see as opportunities for my power and your growth. Be patient and rest in me.”³

His Word, filled with sweet vows of love and declaration of faithfulness, shines through our brokenness and leaves our souls yearning to surrender our hearts to His holy hands. 

“My Girl, my love is not fickle or temporary. My love, my daughter, is an everlasting one. Give me your hand, surrender your heart, and trust my unfailing love.”

If you long to hear the voice of the One who calls you His own, ponder these questions and allow God to sing His truth over your soul this Valentine’s Day.

●       When is the last time you bathed your heart in His Word and let His love letter speak to your soul?

●       What lies are you believing that are keeping you from accepting the fullness of God’s love?

●        In what area of your life do you need to experience the comfort of God’s loving embrace?

My prayer for you, my friend, is adapted from Paul’s words in Ephesians 3:16-21.

Heavenly Father,

I pray that out of your glorious riches, we will have our faith strengthened by the power of your Holy Spirit. I pray that we will grasp how wide and long and high and deep your love is for us.

Lord, you can do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine. Meet us in the darkness, sing your song of love over our hearts, and may the glory of our soul’s surrender be yours. May all your daughters rest in the knowledge and fullness of your love forever and ever.

Amen.

Notes

¹ “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1a)

²“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)

³“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14)

³ “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

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