Today's Living Lesson is called “Love Languages.” Now, let me say right up front because I don't want this to become a bait and switch, meaning I'm telling you I'm going to talk all about love languages. In a roundabout way, I am, but not in the way that you might be excited to hear if you adhere to that whole premise. To be honest, I believe the whole concept, things like this, tough love or love languages, is entirely hogwash. 

Since the whole presumption that “love languages” are valid is the exact opposite of the overall truth in God’s Word. It is selfish to expect everyone else to know how we want them to speak to us, knowing their language. Therefore, it's contrary since we should be trying to understand others. Making sure that their needs, wants, and desires are all met by people who, quite frankly, are bankrupt and cannot provide what they need is the other problem.

“And my GOD shall supply ALL your needs (not me or you) according to His riches in glory...” (Philippians 4:19).

“Let each esteem others better than themselves. Do not look out for your own interests, but for the interests of others. ” (Philippians 2:3).

That's just one of the many reasons I don't adhere to the whole “love language” nonsense. However, I wanted to share that if we focus instead on experiencing more of His love and having it so much that it's overflowing all over everyone close to us or anyone who even comes near us, they will be able to feel Him and then, He can then supply all their needs. 

Thus, this whole new love language is rubbish, and quoting it and getting people to become more and more selfish because we're born selfish and self-centered is just as ridiculous since it's all about dying to self (Galatians 5:17). 

Let me explain that I used that little nonsensical "Love Language" phrase when I asked my Husband while having breakfast, “What should we title this Living Lesson?”

So I have to say, He's right. As He said, it probably caught your attention, but here's the real message I wanted to share today: He is really, truly, and honestly all I want, all I need, and all I live for. Recently, I've had to really, well, consider whether this is true in my life because being a Pharisee is a dangerous and slippery slope (pretending your one thing and hiding the truth). 

Lately, it's been quite a journey, quite a journey, and because it's really easy to say, “Oh, He's all I want, all I need, and all I live for.” And you also might have said, “That's easy for you, Erin, to say” because, well, as you probably know from all my previous podcasts, or not all, but most of the previous ones, ever since the pandemic and our lockdown when I was living in paradise. I mean, every door that I came close to, my Husband, the Gentleman that He is, just opened the door for me. So I didn't even have to wonder what door I should go through.

Not only did He provide that, and of course, yes, this is the abundant life I’m living. When I would envision something—before I  needed to do anything—I would lean on Him, and He would allow me to be able to actually see where I needed to go and what I needed to do. It happened so many times, hundreds and hundreds of times that would happen.  

So when everything's playing out perfectly, it’s easy to say, “He is all I want, all I need, and all I live for.” But what happens if things don't work out like that? What happens when you're not living in paradise? When you're not living on a continuous vacation like I have been for almost two years? 

What's so funny is that as soon as I started writing down just a few notes, I totally forgot about Job's life. Job is the epitome of not living in paradise. Do you remember what his wife said? “Curse God and die!” I hadn't remembered this because, since moving from traveling on a restoration journey to my Abundant Life journey, I can't compare it to that kind of life, what Job endured, and his suffering.

However, as I was making my notes, my Husband reminded me that there's a significant backstory to the Restore Your Marriage book and A Wise Woman that I've never shared. You were given a little glimpse into the Abundant Life Series, which I wrote using the BNN as Michele.  

Since I hear my Husband's saying, “Just give them a little synopsis,” there was a time when I lost my entire income. I lost my ministry when my website mysteriously disappeared “poof” in one day. Completely gone. Next, I lost my children. Next, I lost my home, and finally, I even lost my country. I was driven from my country and left for the sake of my children's safety.

So the question is, can you live an abundant life when your life is like that? Can you remain in love, and can you feel His love in order to give His love? The answer is Yes, without a doubt, yes. If you read the entire Abundant Life Series, you can see that I haven’t always lived the life I’m living now.

Now, let's fast forward. It's been many years, so my children have all grown. They're all adults; all but one is married, and I'm almost 70. Goodness, I have to laugh because I thought, am I really going to share that? I was asking my Husband recently how I could live differently than the whole world, especially in the United States, who fear getting old, looking old, acting old—desperately trying to hang on to life, to youthfulness.

So I said, “Darling, I don't want to go with the trend because usually the trend is the wide road to destruction and misery. Instead, I want to take that narrow road. So help me to do that.” And that’s when He told me just to start saying, “I’m almost 70,” which is funny because it's like that with my grandchildren. As soon as my grandchildren have a birthday, the next thing they're saying is they're a year older! After turning 10, they say, “I’m almost 11." So I thought, "I'm going to do that." 

Sorry, let me get back on track. My children are grown, and I'm almost 70. I was living in paradise and then I went on a never-ending vacation for almost two years. But then, abruptly, everything began to unravel. There was significant loss and extreme difficulty thrown at me, which also included many of our favorite ministers being called elsewhere and leaving. When He'd given us the promise of expanding, bursting at the seams, we are down to a mere skeleton of what we once were— to the point where I wondered, “What is going on?”

Yes, I just have to say, “Please don't let me forget that here where I've been living is still “the lap of luxury.” But even when it's not, and where I'm living now (even though I'm still in the same area near Disney), I've been forced to move to (what my family fondly refers to as) Nicaragua.

Please understand that it’s nothing against Nicaragua. Though I haven't been there, my daughter ministered there twice, along with many of our RMI ministers, so I've heard firsthand that it's not like living in the USA. It’s a third-world country. The USA is a first-world country, a very rich country, yet it's been somewhat difficult for me to live here recently, especially since I still must move every few weeks, which means I've got nothing but a few pieces of luggage that I own. There’s no home to go back to, no storage where all my memorabilia is waiting for me.

It certainly is not like when I was down to having just one piece of luggage that held everything I owned, like when I was writing the Abundant Life Series. Nevertheless, Oh, and please, this is funny too. It didn't help when my friend came to visit and said when she walked in, “Oh my gosh, Erin (and in her Southern accent), this is a dump!” So I had to laugh. But here's the thing… 

Is He really all I want, all I need, all I live for? When people are saying, “Where is your God? Where is this Heavenly Husband?” I have to say, right now, today, “I can feel His love even more.” Just saying that makes me very teary-eyed. I also find that I utter lots of sighs—sighs of satisfaction and contentment. And just as I've proven to myself and to the other scoffers when they asked, “Why would you want that kind of abundant life? Why would you want it when you've gone through such deep, dark valleys? Why would anybody want to have what you have? Sure, I want what you have when everything's going well, but when it's not, and when you're living in a dry desert. No thanks!"

When you have blessings such as a restored marriage, an impossible marriage that God restored and everything's just, just one blessing after another. That’s when people say, “I want what you have,” but when you are called to go through underserved difficulties, that is a life no one wants. 

When people go out of their way to judge you, “She must be out of God's will, or I wonder what she’s being punished for, or She's being punished for the way she's living or what she's saying. Obviously, obviously, she's not right with God because she's being punished.” Will we forget about Job's “friends,” the sort of “friends” who'll remind you, then confront you to usher in the voice of the enemy, so in your head you think, “I'm disqualified. I'm not a good representation of His bride. “How can you have no abundance of blessings and still live “the abundant life?”

Well, that's the point—the whole point of this podcast. Living an Abundant Life is when you appear to have nothing but troubles and are still beaming. That's living proof that “He is all I want, all I need, and all I live for.” I am happy. I'm content. 

“They looked at Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be the same” (Psalm 34:5).

When my friends and family say, “You've got to, you've got to put up a fuss, make them move you into one of the new buildings, not this one, " even though I am so close to the freeway, I hear the elevator going up and down all night because it’s just behind my headboard, and everything feels like a nightmare.

That’s when I sleep like a baby because I lie down with my Husband, and I feel perfectly content because I know this is where He wants me to be for now. "When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet" (Proverbs 3:24).

How long will this continue? Who knows? God knows. No matter how long it is, whether I live in the lap of luxury and paradise or here in what we fondly call Nicaragua, a third-world country (situated right in the middle of the United States and all its abundance) I am content.

What's the proof? The proof is that as the Proverbs 31 Woman says, “She smiles at the future,” but His bride lives today. His bride is with the Man of her dreams, the Man who knows and can speak all the love languages. His “Love is patient, kind, not jealous, not arrogant or act unbecomingly. He does not seek its own, not provoked. He "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. His Love never fails . . .”(1 Corinthians 13:4).

As I close, let me ask you, “Do you hear Him whispering and calling your name?”  

If you enjoyed this message, if you love it, comment, but more than any accolade (because it doesn’t matter how much you admire me or praise me, “I loved your podcast”), what I'd love most is to hear your testimony. 

Thanks again for listening, and I hope you remain encouraged and, most importantly, that you’re in love with Him.