Why Do We Write Romances? Guest Blog MaryLu Tyndall

God is a Romantic at heart!  By Mary Lu Tyndall  https://www.marylutyndall.com/ Posted: 16 Sep 2019 12:30 AM PDT Sometimes people ask me why I write romance. Aren't there more important things to write in these trying times? I always answer them that I write about God, and God is a romantic!  In fact, the entire Bible is one huge love story composed of a bunch of little love stories.  It goes something like this. God seeks out a bride for Himself. A people who will love Him and follow Him and be in relationship with Him. He wants a bride who will tell the rest of mankind about Him.  He chooses the Jewish people. He saves them from bondage (Egypt), marries them on Mount Sinai, and then intends to bring them into the promised land where they will live happy and free with Him.  The Jewish people cheat on God. They run off after other lovers.  God divorces them.  Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. Jeremiah 3:8 Jesus becomes a man in order to pay the penalty for everyone's sin and bring the Jews back into relationship with God.  God loves the Jewish people (all people) so much that He is willing to sacrifice His own Son in order to win them back.   The Jews reject Jesus. Jesus turns to the gentiles to seek a new bride.  God has sent His Holy Spirit to earth to call each individual member of the bride and help them get ready for her wedding!  Note:  In the end, God will save Israel when they turn to Jesus, and they will once again be His bride.. He's not done with them yet. (This is mimicked in the story of Jacob listed below) So you see, the entire Bible is a love story!. It's all about how much God loves us, how much He is willing to pay to set us free from our prison of sin, how much He is willing to lose to bring us back to Him, how much He is willing to suffer.. It's the greatest love story of all time., and embedded within it are a dozen great love stories that all illustrate and point back to the major one: God loves you with an undying, sacrificial, unconditional, immense love! And He never leaves you and never gives up on you, and He pursues you as if you were the only object of His great affection. Don't ever forget that! Look how God has woven the same story throughout Scripture! Adam and Eve What a grand love story. Adam was lonely. He needed romance in his life. He needed to fall in love. So what did God do? He brought him Eve. What is God preparing for His Son now? A Bride, which He will bring to Jesus at the rapture. Note. Jesus doesn't come down to earth. We go up to meet him in the clouds! Just as God brought Eve to Adam. Abraham and Sarah. What a grand love story!  Apparently she was so beautiful he had to lie and tell other men she was his sister so they wouldn't kill him for her. Not his best moments. Isaac and Rebekah!  Who could forget this great love story that mimics the love story between Jesus and His bride. Abraham (Father God) sends Eliezer (the Holy Spirit) back to his homeland (earth) to find a suitable bride for his son, Isaac (Jesus). Eliezer finds Rebekah, who agrees to marry Isaac. He pays the bride price and brings her willingly home to her new husband (Jesus) Joseph, who many scholars believe is a typology of Jesus, took a gentile bride from Egypt, an Egyptian princess. Just as Jesus is taking a Gentile bride (the church) Jacob, who was forced to marry a bride he did not want at first, Leah, in order to get the bride he did want, Rachel.  Sounds a lot like Jesus who is now about to marry a gentile bride, (the church), but that is not the original bride God wanted for His Son. The Jews were to be the chosen people, the chosen bride but they rejected him. However, after Jesus marries the gentile bride, the Jews will be saved during the tribulation and they will once again become part of God's family. Moses took a gentile bride. Rahab, the prostitute of Jericho who sided with the Jews. She married a Jewish man and from their union, Jesus was eventually born. David and Bathsheba - who can forget this love story, as immoral as it started out. It was through their lineage that Jesus came as well. Ruth and Boaz, one of my favorite love stories. It it the perfect analogy of Jesus and the Church. Boaz was Ruth's kinsmen redeemer, just as Jesus is ours. If you don't know the story, I encourage you to read the book of Ruth.  Esther - who doesn't love a story about a young girl who is nobody but who then becomes Queen of the Realm!   And of course the ultimate love story. Jesus, who loved us so much, He gave up everything to become nothing, who was beaten and scorched and crucified so badly, He didn't even look human. He was rejected by men, a man well acquainted with sorrows, belittled, mocked, spit on, and harassed. And He did all of that to win your love,. to save you from eternal fire. Now, there's a love story for the ages!  In fact, many of the things Jesus said are idioms for a Jewish wedding. It's a fascinating study, and I encourage you to read this article about the Jewish Wedding and Jesus And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:38-39 Remember you are bought with a huge price--the death of the Son of God. It is the bride price God paid for you to become His Son's bride. That makes you the most valuable thing in all of creation. Highly loved and exceedingly precious!                                                                        *** Thanks for stopping by! Would love to read your comments about this post by a dear author friend, MaryLu Tyndall. Feel free to share by clicking on the icons below. Be blessed, Elva Elva Cobb Martin is Vice President of the SC Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. She has two inspirational novels published with Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas. Summer of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense, and an historical romance, In a Pirate’s Debt. Both have spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers List for Women’s Religious Fiction. She has indie published a Bible study on Amazon, Power Over Satan, on the  believer's authority in Christ. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have carried Elva's articles. She and her husband Dwayne are semi-retired ministers. A mother and grandmother, Elva lives in South Carolina. Connect with her on her web site http://www.elvamartin.com, Twitter www.twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin; Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin;  and Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin    Link to her romance novels and non-fiction works on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pOgVHI  Coming Nov. 12, 2019  Marisol  Book 1 in Charleston Brides           https://amzn.to/33Npc2L