Second Best.....
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"Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.” Genesis 29:16-18
Oh, Leah. Leah, Leah, Leah. I want to be your friend. I want to tell you to forget about Jacob and find someone that loves you and cherishes you. However, this is not the case in your story. Your story is a sad one. Full of heartache, jealousy, rejection, and unrequited love.
I cannot help but to have such compassion and empathy for Leah. She was not loved by her husband. Not only was she unloved, but she shared the same husband as her beautiful younger sister, Rachel. Rachel was the one Jacob loved, cherished, and adored. Not Leah.
However, we can learn something from Leah's story. We can see a love story unfold underneath the layers of hurt and rejection of her own husband, Jacob.
We can see the love of the Father lavished onto a lonely and desperate heart.
God hears Leah's cries for children, and He blesses her. In her deepest and darkest hours of loneliness, He provides.
Sometimes we see God the clearest in our darkest hour.
Leah found her true Love, with God.
God provided what Leah's heart really cried for....
To be noticed.
To be cared for.
To be cherished.
To be adored.
To be first.
To be loved.
Can you resonate with Leah's story? Surely, at some point in our lives we have felt like Leah. We have felt left behind, left out, different, rejected, unattractive, unwanted, second-best, and unloved.
I know I have. And it hurts. Deeply.
Maybe you are Leah. Maybe you are in a situation that is unfair. Maybe your heart is so broken that you would not even know how to start putting it back together.
Broken hearts are His specialty. In our brokenness, we see Him. If we choose to look.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
He's the Love our hearts truly desire. His Love mends the brokenness and heals the deepest wounds.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3
But, in order to see Him, we have to look up. We cannot stay fixed on our brokenness and injustice.
When we look up, we see Him. He's been there all along. Waiting for us to see Him. Notice Him. Love Him. Adore Him. Cherish Him.
"We love Him because He first loved us" 1 John 4:19
He's the Love we have searched high and low for. Never knowing He was right there all along.
Now, that's a love story, my friend.
Yes, Leah's story is sad. Oh, but she wins the Prize in the end. Yes, indeed.
And so do you.
"That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
A few minutes before typing this post, my daughter asked me to read her something from scripture. She was trying to go to sleep and felt fearful.
She asked me to tell her what God would say to her. I happily obliged.
I picked up my bible, and read to her Psalm 139. I inserted her name. A love note from God to her.
She smiled so sweetly as I read it to her. Then, within minutes, her eyes closed and she fell asleep.
Sometimes, we have to be reminded. We forget just how precious we are to Him. We forget how He longs to soothe us, comfort us, lavish us, and cherish us.
Here is our reminder for when we forget. Insert your name into this scripture, and read God's love letter to you....
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"Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.” Genesis 29:16-18
Oh, Leah. Leah, Leah, Leah. I want to be your friend. I want to tell you to forget about Jacob and find someone that loves you and cherishes you. However, this is not the case in your story. Your story is a sad one. Full of heartache, jealousy, rejection, and unrequited love.
I cannot help but to have such compassion and empathy for Leah. She was not loved by her husband. Not only was she unloved, but she shared the same husband as her beautiful younger sister, Rachel. Rachel was the one Jacob loved, cherished, and adored. Not Leah.
However, we can learn something from Leah's story. We can see a love story unfold underneath the layers of hurt and rejection of her own husband, Jacob.
We can see the love of the Father lavished onto a lonely and desperate heart.
God hears Leah's cries for children, and He blesses her. In her deepest and darkest hours of loneliness, He provides.
Sometimes we see God the clearest in our darkest hour.
Leah found her true Love, with God.
God provided what Leah's heart really cried for....
To be noticed.
To be cared for.
To be cherished.
To be adored.
To be first.
To be loved.
Can you resonate with Leah's story? Surely, at some point in our lives we have felt like Leah. We have felt left behind, left out, different, rejected, unattractive, unwanted, second-best, and unloved.
I know I have. And it hurts. Deeply.
Maybe you are Leah. Maybe you are in a situation that is unfair. Maybe your heart is so broken that you would not even know how to start putting it back together.
Broken hearts are His specialty. In our brokenness, we see Him. If we choose to look.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
He's the Love our hearts truly desire. His Love mends the brokenness and heals the deepest wounds.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3
But, in order to see Him, we have to look up. We cannot stay fixed on our brokenness and injustice.
When we look up, we see Him. He's been there all along. Waiting for us to see Him. Notice Him. Love Him. Adore Him. Cherish Him.
"We love Him because He first loved us" 1 John 4:19
He's the Love we have searched high and low for. Never knowing He was right there all along.
Now, that's a love story, my friend.
Yes, Leah's story is sad. Oh, but she wins the Prize in the end. Yes, indeed.
And so do you.
"That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
A few minutes before typing this post, my daughter asked me to read her something from scripture. She was trying to go to sleep and felt fearful.
She asked me to tell her what God would say to her. I happily obliged.
I picked up my bible, and read to her Psalm 139. I inserted her name. A love note from God to her.
She smiled so sweetly as I read it to her. Then, within minutes, her eyes closed and she fell asleep.
Sometimes, we have to be reminded. We forget just how precious we are to Him. We forget how He longs to soothe us, comfort us, lavish us, and cherish us.
Here is our reminder for when we forget. Insert your name into this scripture, and read God's love letter to you....
Psalm 139
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
