Our Longing for Love
by Ashley Thompson
Every woman desires romance, whether she’s married or single. This deep longing is timeless. Everywhere we turn, artists work to appeal to this immortal yearning. Almost every popular song is about love. The top best-selling books are in the romance genre, and new movies keep recreating the ideal love women crave.
A good love story leaves a pleasant aftertaste in our mouths. It touches our hearts with warmth and fills our minds with sweet thoughts. There’s something divine in a good love story. Something that calls to us underneath the surface.
I grew up in church and volunteered as a youth leader for nearly 8 years. Additionally, I worked as a homeroom teacher for 7th and 8th grades at a private Christian school. During that time, I noticed how the teenage girls around me would gush over their crushes. They’d whisper (loudly) to each other, huddling together with giddy smiles, often bursting into giggles. I observed how they talked and sought their idea of perfect love.
And why shouldn’t they?
Have you ever considered this? The Bible starts with a love story in the Garden of Eden and finishes with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation.
God did not create man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). He placed this beautiful dream in our hearts, and it should ultimately lead us to Him. After all, the covenant of marriage is a mysterious revealing of the kind of relationship Christ and the Church are meant to share (Ephesians 5:32).
As a single Christian, I remember praying to God about my future husband. At 16, I surrendered my life to Jesus, was born again, and was filled with the Holy Spirit. From that day on, my life changed forever. I went from being obese, depressed, and failing in school to becoming fit, experiencing genuine joy and peace, and making the honor roll. I began to realize how much God loved me, and I loved Him back, spending hours with Him in the morning and throughout my day. I finished reading the entire Bible and became very involved with my local church (hence my 8 years as a youth leader), while becoming less involved with TV and other worldly distractions that I once found addictive.
Despite all the changes in my life, I still dreamed of the day I would get married. I still yearned for a loving relationship with a good, faithful man. The topic of romance was rarely discussed in my church, yet it was a daily longing inside me, and everywhere I looked, the world promoted its idea of what love should be.
Gradually, God started revealing to me that this desire was good, and I began inviting Him into my love life. As I did, beautiful stories that resonate with this eternal craving came to mind.
I started writing His Liberating Flame over 13 years ago. This story features all the themes that tug at our hearts: a dreamy setting, a Beauty-and-the-Beast-style transformation in the main character, and a redemptive ending. The book addresses culturally relevant issues such as addiction and resisting temptation, while also exploring vulnerable topics like true intimacy, purity in love, and discovering God’s eternal love story through marriage.
I specifically emphasize the importance of falling in love with Jesus first, before starting a romantic relationship. The book’s main character is a rich heartthrob who has lived the past decade in the limelight. He is a diamond in the rough who embodies everything the world idolizes. When he encounters a godly young woman who captivates him, they both face their own temptations.
This book sums up everything a Christian girl, as she evolves into a woman, should be exposed to and journey through in her own love walk with God and man.
As a popular model, Noble has been anything but what his name implies. He’s spent a decade living a lucrative, infamous party lifestyle and dated more than his fair share of affluent women. However, the glamor of stardom has tarnished, and the taste of self-indulgence has soured in his stomach. The drugs and fame cannot appease the growing emptiness gnawing at his soul.
Ashley is a life coach, teacher, and bestselling author. She believes in God’s ability to write beautiful love stories. She married her first boyfriend, Stephen, on a majestic mountain in Colorado beside a quaint church. They met at a heavenly three-story chalet with a sunroof, indoor pool, and stone fireplace. They currently live in a picturesque Mediterranean beach town on a forested mountain with an ocean view. They have two beautiful girls who bring them more joy than they could have imagined.
Ashley’s passion is for people to enter a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and be made whole by his love. She enjoys coffee, Autumn leaves, scenic walks, candles, worship dancing, and the vivid Pacific coast. Her greatest treasure is her relationship with Jesus and her family.
She is the author of Visions of Celestial Love, Romantic Rendezvous for the Soul, Fallen Coins, and His Liberating Flame. Her newest book, The Sacred Wooing, is set to be released soon. She has coauthored two bestsellers, His Beauty for My Ashes and The Runaway Bride of Christ Overcoming Church Hurt.