I am STILL a Hallmark movie fan. Weekends, especially, you\u2019ll often find me indulging in yet another Hallmark movie. Why, you may ask? So many reasons! They\u2019re peaceful and calming. People are pleasant and kind. Their lives are focused on family, friends and doing good things. They\u2019re wholesome and non-violent. The storylines revolve around love and happiness. But mostly — because they always have happy endings. Who doesn\u2019t like happy endings, especially when it comes to love? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We all do. But, the reality is happy endings aren’t always guaranteed. Because of real life. Real relationships. Real people. Real problems. Relationships fail, friendships struggle or end, divorces happen, loved ones pass away, and true love often seems hard to find. When real life happens, we often feel disappointed and alone, especially during this month that is hyper-focused on love and romance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking from a gal who has been without the \u201cromance\u201d side for several years now, I know that earthly relationships should never be what determines our happiness. If our happiness hinge on earthly love or perfect relationships, we\u2019ll always feel disappointed and quite possibly unhappy and lacking joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, really I do know romance without a romantic lover. I experience that romance daily — along with peace, joy, and even happiness through my relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the one constant that always assures my REAL life will have a forever after, happy ending. He shares about His unconditional and endless love for His children in John 15:9: \u201cI have loved you just as My Father has loved Me. Stay in My love.\u201d Jesus calls us to realize how much we are loved, just as the Father loves His Son. Oh, let\u2019s breathe that in and embrace the intensity AND the immensity of that love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In John 15:11, Jesus explains why it\u2019s so important to recognize, and abide in His love: \u201cI have told you these things so My joy may be in you and your joy may be full.\u201d You see, it\u2019s His love alone that can bring true joy to our hearts. God\u2019s joy is the real love we all long for, but sometimes we look for and expect to find it in all the wrong places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be oh, so nice if life were like a Hallmark movie and every relationship ended happily ever after. But I\u2019ve learned it\u2019s possible, each day, to be joy-filled and to feel happy no matter what\u2019s happening in my life — regardless of my relationships status. I know the true joy from God that is the \u201challmark\u201d of being a fully devoted follower of Christ. You can know this joy, too, if you\u2019ll give your heart and life to THE ONE Who hears the desires of our hearts and Who fillls us with joy and happiness every day. His love is enough! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am STILL a Hallmark movie fan. Weekends, especially, you\u2019ll often find me indulging in yet another Hallmark movie. Why, you may ask? So many reasons! They\u2019re peaceful and calming. People are pleasant and kind. Their lives are focused on family, friends and doing good things. They\u2019re wholesome and non-violent. The storylines revolve around love…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15878,16561],"tags":[1210,1769,1084,16404,1086,11704,811,3340,653,16557,41,2043,8592,44,16556,16559,16560,16558,1479],"class_list":["post-11923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hallmark-movie","category-jesus-love","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-family","tag-fan","tag-friends","tag-good-things","tag-hallmark-movie","tag-happily-ever-after","tag-happiness","tag-happy-endings","tag-joy","tag-kind","tag-movie","tag-peace","tag-pleasant","tag-real-relationships","tag-romantic-lover","tag-true-joy","tag-true-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11925,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11923\/revisions\/11925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}