Dear Lost Little Girl

(This letter is written anonymously to a young woman who is a family friend.  It was written to someone who has never featured in the story of our farm.  I doubt she will ever have the occasion to read it, but if I could write to her, this is what I would say . . .)

Dear Little Lost Girl,

I know you think you have found The One, and you love him with all of your heart.  You look at him with the eyes of love that are blind to his faults and blind to what he truly is.

And what he truly is, is unworthy of a woman like you!

I know you have never felt beautiful, but beauty, my dear, is so much more than what is on the outside. True beauty is inside--and what is inside you is beautiful.  The outside of you is cute and charming and sweet, but what is inside you is loving and self-sacrificing and loyal.  That is true Beauty!  A worthy man would be able to see that, and he would honor your beauty and purity.

I know you have lost your mother, and your father is so taken up with his own life that he cannot see what a beautiful and wonderful daughter he has or that she needs him right now.  And so you have felt very alone for a long time.

You were running for so long, looking for love and not finding it.

I know you thought you would never find Love--and then you found The One (or so you believed).  But dear one, Love does not ask what he has asked of you.  Love does not destroy what is pure; Love does not demand that you prove your love; and Love does not seek its own desires.  Listen to what God says about Love:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.  I Cor. 13:4-8

Dear girl, you knew what God says about Love, but you forgot.  And now you think you are stuck.  You have made mistakes, and you feel there is no way out.  Like Macbeth, you feel you have gone too far into the swamp and now you must just muddle on through to the other side.

Please, please, believe me when I say there is a way out!  And it is NOT to marry this man!  Remember God's promise when He said:

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.   

I Cor. 10:13 

God has given you faithful friends to advise you, friends who love you enough to pick you up when you have stumbled and to walk with you along the path God has set for you.  He will not leave you alone.  Even when you feel alone, He holds you in His hands.

He knows everything you have thought and done, and He still loves you.  You cannot do anything that will make God stop loving you.  So please, please, please, my dear girl--turn to your heavenly Father who is not too busy to care for you.  Turn away from the world's false love and live in God's true Love!  If that seems to look like loneliness for now, remember that is the world's definition of loneliness.  With God by your side, you will never be alone!

I've seen so many girls in your situation, and those that have chosen to seek the love of a man rather than God's love have always, without fail, lived to regret it.  This man has come between you and God--and not for the last time--unless you can find the strength to tell him:

"You may not respect me, and you may think you can manipulate me and that I will always do what you want, but I know my true worth.  In God's eyes I am worth the blood of His Son!  That is the kind of Love I want!  I want love that is not self-seeking.  I want Love that always protects me!  So good-bye!  We are finished!  But God and I are just beginning anew!"

Dear girl, I would have stood as a mother for you to help you plan your wedding, and I now take upon myself the burden that your mother would take if she were still here--to tell you the hard truth that I know will break your heart, but which will save you even more pain in the future.

With much love,
Susan