The Love Boat

Mike and I just celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary on a Caribbean cruise! My boss was given 20 cabins to fill on the KLOVE cruise. She offered one to us, and it was the perfect way to celebrate. I know—what an amazing gift!

The morning before our ship set sail, I was enjoying some quiet time with my Bible. Before I read I generally ask the Lord to speak something specific to my heart—something I can think about and meditate on throughout the day. This day was no different. I had taken a copy of the New Living Translation with me, and my daily reading was taking me through Deuteronomy 5. Verse 10 stood out like it was written in neon letters, “I lavish my love on those who love me and obey my commands.”

Throughout the entire cruise, that verse continued to resound in my heart and I felt the Lord lavishing His love on Mike and me. His love was experienced in so many sweet moments like basking in the sun on the deck, gazing at the vast ocean, exploring a Caribbean island, eating wonderful food, meeting interesting people, and enjoying “together time” alone in our cabin.

But probably the sweetest moment for me, was on the last day of the cruise. The sky was an indescribable blue, the breeze was warm, and the smell of the ocean air was a so fresh. I could almost feel a tangible presence of God. We were standing against a railing on the open deck with (literally) 1,000 other people listening to Mandisa sing. She sang “God Is Speaking” from her True Beauty album.

Listen to some of the lyrics, “Who knows how He’ll get a hold of us, Get our attention to prove He is enough, He’ll do and He’ll use whatever He wants to, To tell us, I love you…” The last line of the song is, “God is speaking, ‘I love you’.” Standing there after the song, with Mike’s arms wrapped around me, tears were streaming down my cheeks. Mike whispered in my ear, “Everything okay?” I couldn’t even tell him how perfectly loved I felt at that moment, not only by him, but by God.

God is speaking, “I love you!”