A Lily White Princess

God has been stirring in me the idea of living a set apart life. A life of a woman who is set apart from the world, who desires to live a life that is for Jesus and whose life is authentically beautiful and lovely.

Song of Solomon 2:2 "Like a lily among the thorns, so is my darling among the maidens."

Matthew 16:24 (paraphrase) "Jesus made it clear to His disciples that if they would come away with Him, they first must forgo their personal life agendas, say good-bye to all that they prize and are comforted by in this life, and then, and only then, follow Him."

I am reading a book called Authentic Beauty by Leslie Ludy and it talks to young women who want to live the set apart life. Throughout the book it talks in "fairytale" terms (a little cheesy...but how many girls grew up with the dream of finding a "prince"!)
Here is an excerpt:

When I finally surrendered my life to my Prince, I was struck for the first time with the incredible reality of what He had done for me. Growing up in Sunday school, I had limited my perception of Him to what I'd seen on the flannel board. When I was five, I had acknowledged that He died for my sins. But I had never fully grasped the awesome wonder of that truth. My Prince gave up His life to save me. It was the ultimate romantic gesture of all time. My destiny was an eternity of unspeakable suffering-an eternity without my Prince. There was no way I could ever hope to be with someone like Him-a pure, perfect, sinless, holy, righteous, majestic, sovereign, powerful King. I was nothing but a tainted, impure, sinful, unholy, wretched pauper. There was an impenetrable wall that separated me from my Hero-in His perfect and pure holiness, He could never dwell with me in my prison of sin.
And yet He saw me in the midst of my miserable, hopeless, filthy condition. He loved me and longed for me. There was only one way He could save me from my dungeon of eternal captivity-to purchase me with His very blood. He spilled out His life and died a horrible, agonizing death He did not deserve-all so that I could become His lily-white princess, His spotless bride for all eternity. The moment He paid the price to purchase me, the wall between us came crashing down. He made the way, through the sacrifice of His own blood, for me to be with Him forever. His sacrifice was meant not just to keep me out of hell, but to make an ongoing, passionate, intimate love story with Him possible.

It is not enough to just own the title that He gives me as His princess and His bride. But He desires for my life to reflect that:

To live as My princess, I must become the center of your very existence. Your innermost being must become a set-apart place, a sacred sanctuary worthy of My presence. Your heart must be transformed into an intimate retreat, unstained by the pollution of the world, where you can discover more and more of Me and allow Me to shape you into My lily-white likeness. There are many things rooted within your heart that must first be removed in order for a sacred sanctuary to be built there and the process will be painful.

In this book the author gives an analogy through a story called, "An Unforgettable Wedding Night"

Imagine it's your wedding night. You are sitting in the backseat of the limo with your new husband, driving away from the church as your friends and family happily wave, tearfully blow kisses, and festively throw rice. The ceremony was perfect. Your handsome groom slipped the wedding ring on your finger and whispered his promise to love and cherish you forever. You are floating on a cloud of euphoria. The night you have always dreamed about has finally arrived! You look lovingly at your new husband, and he softly brushes his lips against yours. Your heart beats with excitement. You can't wait to share this night of tender intimacy with the man you love.
When the two of you finally arrive outside the bedroom door of your new home, your husband sweeps you into his arms and carries you across the threshold.
"I have dreamed of this moment my entire life," he whispers. "I love you so much!"
He tenderly sets you down. Your heart overflows with passionate love for your groom. It is going to be an unforgettable night of romance. But no sooner do your feet touch the floor than you begin to sense that something is wrong. Your husband notices it too His face is bewildered as he looks slowly around the room. An intense, nauseating odor begins to surround you.
"What is that smell?" you ask, covering your nose in disgust. You flip on the nearest light switch and gasp in horror-there is trash everywhere! Piles and piles of garbage bags overflowing with slimy refuse lay scattered haphazardly throughout the room. Flies buzz around heaps of gooey, used pop cans and sticky banana peels. You stare at the sight in shocked revulsion. Is this someone's idea of a belated, bachelor-party joke?
But before you can speculate about which of your so-called friends is going to be in serious trouble for such a twisted attempt at humor, your attention is drawn to the far corner of the room. Some of your past boyfriends are casually leaning against the wall. One of them looks at you slyly. "Hey, babe," he says softly, his eyes full of charming seduction. He slowly walks towards you (stepping gingerly over a large Hefty bag of rotten grass clippings) and reaches out his hand to touch the side of your face.
You are speechless. This is supposed to be your wedding night-a private, intimate, beautiful time between you and your new husband. It was meant to be the most romantic night of your life, and it is quickly turning into the most horrifying experience you ever could have imagined. You glance over at your groom. He is hanging his head mournfully and making his way dejectedly back down the hall.
"Wait!" you call out. "Where are you going?"
"I'm sorry," he says, shaking his head sadly, "I just can't be with you tonight-not like this." His face is overcome with agony and sorrow as he stumbles out the door. You chase after him in your wedding dress, which is now stained with a blob of spaghetti sauce that dripped out of one of the trash bags. But your groom is gone. Your wedding night has been completely utterly ruined.

Okay, you can breathe a deep sigh of relief. It is highly unlikely that this scenario will happen to you on your wedding night! There is not a sane young woman on the planet who would allow heaps of slimy trash bags or sex-crazed former lovers to occupy her bedroom at any time, let alone during a romantic night with the man of her dreams. And yet when it comes to intimacy with Jesus Christ, so many of us do just that. We pray for more intimacy with Him, ask Him to join us in the innermost part of our being, but we fail to realize there is so much garbage in the way that He can hardly get through the door. We wonder how to "fall in love with Jesus Christ", yet we conveniently forget about the scores of other lovers who have staked their claims on the territory of our hearts and constantly draw our attention and affection away from our true Prince."

Galatians 5:24 (paraphrase) "Christ's set-apart ones have all gone through the same inner-transformation process. They have all kicked Self off the throne of their lives, eliminating the controlling power of sin, and offered the heavenly Prince the ruling power of their existence."

Luke 14:33 (paraphrase) "To be my disciple, to be a set-apart one, costs everything you have. Don't delude yourself into thinking it will only cost you a portion of your existence! The very essence of a disciple is one who has completely emptied her inner sanctuary of all other lovers to make room for Me, her heavenly Prince."

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart."

The deepest, most precious expressions of intimacy are not meant for crowded subways and busy supermarkets. Love notes are not read out loud in crowded bars, and love songs are not sung at garbage dumps. Intimacy with a lover is saved for a sacred, set-apart places-places of aloneness and places that reflect the sweetness of the expressions of one's heart.
Intimacy with the Inventor of romantic love is no different. Our Prince longs to meet with us in the sacred environs of our hearts, alone, surrounded by the sweet fragrance of our mutual affection for each other. But for this to happen, we must each prepare for Him an intimate and sacred sanctuary, a quiet and beautiful place adorned with His light and set apart for His enjoyment alone.
It is in this holy chamber where we experience the life-altering princesses in title alone, but into princesses in behavior as well. It is in this heavenly haven that we learn to live like princesses in the way we think, feel, speak, walk, and talk. The set-apart life of a Christlike preparation of this sacred sanctuary is merely the beginning of the set-apart adventure. For in due time, a set-apart young woman discovers that this intimate place holds the divine secrets to an outrageously abundant and joy-filled life-a life of the most fulfilling intimacy with her Prince.

The Bridegroom (Jesus) says in Song of Solomon "I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley". So as I read 2:2 "Like a lily among thorns so is my darling among the maidens."
The bride bears His likeness. He is the lily and she is like the lily. He has the beauty and she reflects it.

Love's eyes are quick, and her ears are open. Love covers over a multitude of faults, but it discovers a multitude of beauties. Can it be so, O my soul, can it be so that Christ has made you lovely in his loveliness? Has he shed a beauty upon you, and does he himself look complacently upon it? He whose taste is exquisite, and whose voice is the truth, who never calls that beautiful which is not beautiful, can he see a beauty in your sighs and tears, in your desires after holiness, in your poor attempts to aid his cause, in your prayers and in your songs, and in your heart's love towards him. Can he see beauty in these? Yes, assuredly he can, or he would not speak as he does in this text. Let his condescending discernment have all honor for this generous appreciation of us. Let us bless and love him because he deigns to think so highly of us who owe every thing to him. "You are," says He, "My darling, as the lily".
--CH Spurgeon

As I'm learning more about this set-apartness in Christ, living in lily-whiteness and learning to love Him with my entire life, my desires for a husband and a family continue to grow. God is teaching me that as I am set apart for Christ, I should also be set apart for my future husband. Although I have made some big mistakes in the past, Christ has covered me and forgiven me and has given me new life that I can now be set apart for my future husband.
Proverbs 31:12 "She does [her husband] good and not evil all the days of her life"
ALL the days of her life. That includes this time right now, to do him good and not harm even before he comes into my life.

Our girlish passion for Mr. Right can become either our poison or our prize. This craving for human companionship we all feel as young women can prove to be either our undoing or the key that unlocks all the beauty and dazzle of life. We long for a chivalrous prince. We make one of the defining decisions of our lives when we choose where to look for him. If we choose to look among he noble men of this earth, our girlish passion quickly becomes our poison. But if we look to fulfill that craving by giving our lives to our gallant heavenly Lover, we find both the key to unlock an eternal love life with Christ and the key to unlock amazing earthly love with a noble husband-to-be.
The extraordinary thing about earthly love is that it was invented by God. But He alone holds the keys to unlock its purpose and potential in our lives. God trains us as set-apart young women to be set apart not only for His enjoyment but also for the future enjoyment of an earthly husband. Just as He requires us to remove all other lovers from our lives to experience a love relationship with Him, He instructs us to do the same for our earthly lover. If we learn to be one-man women with our physical bodies, with our minds, and with our affections, we set the stage for an earthly love story that is out of this world. And if we never experience an earthly fairy tale, we have the privilege of being set apart for the greatest Husband who ever lived and experiencing the most fulfilling love story of all time. Intimacy with Him is worth every sacrifice we could ever make."

Another great quote from this book that was encouraging and that I'm holding onto is this:

"Your future husband-if he is fully surrendered and devoted to Jesus Christ-will be given eyes to see you for who your Prince has made you to be. With the help of the Lord, he will be able to forgive you completely, no matter what you have done. He will be able to forgive those who wronged you, no matter what has been done to you. Through the eyes of Jesus Christ, he will not see you as tainted or marred but as a beautiful, Christlike, lily-white princess."

These are all things that I have been reading and praying through lately. Just wanted to share!

I have also decided with all of this "lily" talk...I am going to get a lily tattoo! For this reason and for other obvious reasons. I loved reading Spurgeon's quote "She is lovely in all of His loveliness!" LOVELY!