“O, Lord, how I love him and am so ready to tell him! You’re amazing! Lord, I can hardly believe I’m going to see him tomorrow, and that I’m going to be able to tell him that I’ve fallen in love with him. Jesus, I see in his eyes that You’ve prepared him for the most wonderful news of our lives -- that the Almighty Lord, who has blessed us with loving us first, has blessed us with the love of each other.” -Melissa Camp-
Melissa was filled with the love of God and it spilled out all over those she met. The love she shared with Jesus was not just meant for her to hold onto it was meant for her to share with the world. The day she met Jeremy Camp that love intensified. They had an instant connection and their love grew quickly.
Jesus tells us that the love with which the Father loved Him would be in us, and He would be in us. His love and His presence were evident in Melissa and Jeremy. God gave them an extraordinary love, a supernatural, sacrificial love that would show off His glory, His miracles, and the true meaning of love.
Their relationship was tested and challenged as God was perfecting the two of them for a miraculous journey that would require uncommon faith and trust in Him. After a time apart the Lord orchestrated a beautiful symphony of answered prayers to bring them together in His perfect timing.
Melissa wrote, “All those things I’ll forget, and soon all I’ll remember is that Jeremy helped me in the hardest time of my life, and then as if that wasn’t enough, decided to walk through my life with me.” Jeremy chose to walk through the valley with Melissa -- that is what love is! He loved her as Christ loved her. He was the physical presence of Christ’s love that she embraced and held onto and Oh how she loved him.
Their love exemplified 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and the fruit of the Spirit was evident in both of them. They experienced miracles and saw the glory of God shining through Melissa. God gave them a spectacular wedding and a beautiful romantic honeymoon only to return home to the most devastating news anyone can hear. Melissa had only weeks to months to live.
They both remained strong and walked by faith. They fought the good fight and they ran their race together never giving up hope and praising God through it all. The Lord had given Melissa the desires of her heart. He gave her Himself and he gave her the love of her life to be his cherished wife. She loved being Mrs. Jeremy Camp.
Reflection
Jesus said that all would know that you are His disciple by the love you have for one another. Love -- unconditional, sacrificial, unrelenting, reckless love -- reveals if one is truly Christ’s disciple.
Scripture
"And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare [it], that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:26, NKJV)
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23, NKJV)
"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away." (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV)
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35, NKJV)
"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." (Ephesians 5:22-33, NKJV)
