I am His Bride, Isaiah 54:5 by Susan L.

  "For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth." Is 54:5

  My Bible says that the Book of Isaiah spans the reigns of four kings and took at least forty years to write. It's humbling to think of the One, who inspired Isaiah, who is so great that a span of ages is not bound by the restrictions of time as we mortal souls know time to be.
  Chapter 54, in my New King James Version Bible, is titled, "A Perpetual Covenant of Peace."
  That means it's full of promises for all eternity, forever, and always no matter where I go, what I do, the choices I make...it's there. Permanently.
  It warms my soul and shakes it free of shadows. It makes me want to live better, love better and make better choices because sometimes they aren't the best or wisest decisions. My ability to love is broken, too, but my Redeemer will fix that right up if I let Him.

  This is a slow day, a day I have needed to pause often and bask in the simplicity of God's truth.

  My soul also dances with delight in the knowledge that I am His and He is mine. It's a forever covenant. No strings attached except an unbreakable, holy thread of connection.

  Yet, I still baulk at being called His Bride. Human experiences taint the idea of what a bride "should be". I guess there's still some unhealed hurts from my time as a wife...

  Wait a minute... I am not Jesus' wife... I am His bride!

  Hmmmm...a wedding day is a day of excitement, happiness, and hopes for the future. It's a day of promise and celebration. It's when the groom stands at the front and waits for his beloved to come to him or when the couple walk hand in hand to the front to enter into a covenant of marriage. It's the day when two become one in front of a cloud of witnesses.
  If I am the bride of Christ, this is what happens every moment of every day over and over and over!
  Shakespeare wrote, "Love is blind" as a way of pointing out that when a person is head over heels about someone, they tend to overlook any flaws. This all too human "blindness" is a glimpse into God's heart. We are, after all, made in His image.
  Jesus' love is blind. He only sees me, sees all of us, in the Truth of who we are. He doesn't see the bulges and sags and bags of age. He doesn't see the scars on our hearts. He doesn't see the sin.
  His love washes all those things away because all that matters is His delight in joining with His beloved bride. To have and to hold. For better or worse. For richer or poorer. In sickness and in health.
  Except death doesn't come between us. Our covenant with Jesus stretches far beyond the boundaries of this mortal coil. (Thanks again, Shakespeare).
  "Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore." Is 54:4