Dee Brestin - Falling in Love with Jesus: Abandoning Yourself to the Greatest Romance of Your Life

Falling in Love with Jesus

Abandoning Yourself to the
Greatest Romance of Your Life

BY DEE BRESTIN AND KATHY TROCCOLI

2000 by Dee Brestin and Kathy Troccoli.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, TN, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc. titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations used in this book are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Other Scripture references are from the following sources:

The Amplified Bible: Old Testament (AMP), 1962, 1964 by Zondervan Publishing House; and the Amplified New Testament, 1958 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

The King James Version of the Bible (KJV).

The New King James Version (NKJV), 1979, 1980, 1982, 1992, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publisher.

J. B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition (PHILLIPS).
J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

The Message (MSG), 1993. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

The Living Bible (TLB), 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Ill. Used by permission.

The New Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV) 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brestin, Dee, 1944

Falling in love with Jesus : abandoning yourself to the greatest romance of your life / Dee Brestin and Kathy Troccoli.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8499-4236-5 (hc)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8499-4334-8 (tp)

1. Christian womenReligious life. 2. LoveReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Troccoli, Kathy, 1958 . II. Title.

BV4527 .B688 2001
248.8'43dc21

00-064653
CIP

Printed in the United States of America
08 09 10 11 12 QW 21 20 19 18 17

Dedication

To the Beloved of Christ,
you dear precious women whom we
have the privilege of speaking to, singing to,
writing for, and praying over.

You are the object of His affection.

Contents

To the Thomas Nelson team:

We thank each member at Thomas Nelson who has contributed to this endeavor. We especially thank:

Mark Sweeney, David Moberg, and Lee Gessnerfor believing in us, listening to us, and catching the excitement for what this could mean in the lives of women.

Ami McConnell and Kathy Deckerfor your enthusiasm about the book, and for editing with great sensitivity.

Harry Clayton, Heidi Groff, and Russ Hallfor your commitment to excellence, in being sensitive to capture the unique and passionate content of this book on video.

Debbie Wickwireyou are far more than an author liaisonyou are a friend who is indeed respected deeply. How kind of God to have you involved in this project. You possess the very heart of the woman weve portrayed in this book.

To our team:

Matt and Stevefor constantly being men of integrity. It feels so safe to know that you always want to be sensitive to what God desires.

Our faithful prayer teamsfor your willingness to place yourself at the feet of Jesus on our behalf.

Linda and Gayyou are priceless.

Dee

This has been such a beautiful experience for me. You have become a cherished mentor. Thank you for pursuing me, encouraging me, and teaching me. I love you.

Kath

Kathy

Thank you for saying yes, yes, yes... to the book, the video, the friendship. How thankful I am to you for being so vulnerable, so fun, so honest, so passionate... How amazing it has been to see the glory of God fall. I love you.

Dee

When I Fall
in Love

Orchestra
maestoso e appassionato
(Begin strongly, with majesty, to stir the heart)

1
A Dream Is a Wish
Your Heart Makes

YEARNING. THAT IS THE EMOTION THAT POURS THROUGH THE parchment pages of the journal Kathy Troccoli is writing to the man she prays will one day be her husband:

October 20, 1994

I wonder where you are tonightIve been praying for youI wonder if youre yearning for me too... Please know I long to hold you, kiss you, share the depths of my soul with you... Sweet man of my heartI go to bed this night with the comfort of knowing youre out thereand the hope that someday we will be together.

I want to dream with youdrink life with youjourney to high places with you.

Please find me.

Somewhere Out There

In making this entry, Kathy is keeping alive a dream that she might one day meet a wonderful man, the man who would be her husband. And on a deeper level, Kathys journal shows the heart of every woman. No matter our marital status, there is a part in each of us that God created to be a bride. For Scripture is clear that true believers will one day become the Bride of Christ.

When Kathy vulnerably showed me her journal, I thought: This isperfect. If Kathy will share this we can help women understand the amazingparallel that Scripture makes between falling in love on earth and falling inlove with Jesus. If women would yearn for closeness with Jesus the way theyyearn for closeness with an earthly mate, their lives would be absolutelytransformed.

When Cinderella sings A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes, females from nine to ninety sigh. God knows us, He designed us to be uniquely feminine, and He knows how to talk to us. He continually makes a romantic analogy in Scripture, telling us that He is our heavenly Bridegroom.

He woos, He wins, and He weds.

And His heart is broken when we are unfaithful.

Kathy, as a single woman, has taught me so much about approaching the Lord as my Bridegroom. I have typically approached the Lord as my Father, yet Scripture makes both analogies. If we have put our trust in Christ, we are betrothed to Him. Kathy is helping me to understand and cherish this promise from the Lord:

As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you. (Isaiah 62:5b)

Kathys passionate songs swell with emotion, expressing an intimate relationship with Jesus. A friend commented on her ballad When I Look at You. She said that it was pretty bold to sing Hold me, dont let me go, I need you... in that really desperate way about God.

Kathys response was simply:

But thats the way I live with Him! And thats the way I want to express my relationship with Him to the worldto help them understand that Hes as close as our very breath, and we can get that close to Him. Not only that, He desires to be that close to us.

I (Dee) have been married for over thirty-five years. In considering how to draw closer to Jesus, my heavenly Bridegroom, I can draw upon what I have learned from my earthly marriage to Steve. Our marriage has progressed through three stages: