“Would you be my Valentine?” Whenever I hear those words, they take me back to a time in my life when I was a skinny young boy with awkward features,  a clumsy walk and goofy speech; in other words I was a mess 😉 Can any of you relate? I had zero confidence in myself. much less around girls. Yet it was in those awkward times that I wanted so much to be noticed by girls. I also had those boys back then who seemed like they could do everything great, they were handsome, athletic  and all the girls like them.

It was really hard when Valentine’s Day came around and everyone would pass out Valentine cards to the girls or boys they really like; hoping they would get one back in return.  I can really relate to that song sung back in 1986 by Janis Ian: ‘At Seventeen.’ There is a line in the song that says , “The Valentines I never knew,” can you relate to that. I can vividly remember giving Valentines to girls I really liked, saying, “Would you be my Valentine,” only to be rejected by a cold “No” Yes, those early years in our lives were difficult years for many of us.

Now we have become adults who have more confidence and more self-esteem to lean upon. Some of us have even become successful in life with great jobs and lots of money and some of us are even well like by everyone. Yet I believe there still lives in many of our hearts, that hurt little boy, that little hurt girl who still has those vivid memories of being rejected by that first love.

We all know that verse in the Bible that says in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall never perish but have eternal life.” The problem for many is, just like the rejection they had as a young boy or girl from that special person, they don’t feel worthy of God’s love.

When I came to the Lord, I too struggled with accepting the truth that God really loved me. Then I came across that verse in Psalm 116:6 “The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, He saved me.” Once I thought  the Lord, Almighty God, could actually love me, a simplehearted boy,  just as I was and not reject me, I began to have hope. I gave the Lord my messed up life, especially those deep hurts that still lived in that little boy in me, and He cleansed me of all of my sins and healed my wounded heart.

The Lord knew what it was to be rejected, that is why He could relate to our feelings of rejection. Isaiah 53:3 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” 

The month of February will always be associated with Valentines Day for as long as we live, and for many Valentines Day brings back those difficult feelings of rejection they suffered by those, “Valentine we never knew,” as Janis Ian sang about.

Let me give you some good news today that we don’t have to stay in our feeling of rejection anymore for there is someone, Jesus Christ, who knows our pain and loves us so much that He died on the cross for our sins, so our sins would reject us again

There is One who will not reject you and truly be your Valentine my good friend. There is One who loves you with an unfailing love. Psalm 36:7 “How priceless is Your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of Your wings.”

It was over 35 years ago in the month of February that  I gave my wounded heart to the Lord and I have never regretted that since.

If you haven’t given your heart and life to the Lord, what a great month to do that!! If you have given your life to the Lord, what a great month to dedicate to the Lord by showing Him how much you love Him. Be mightily blessed my good friend; oh by the way, Happy Valentines Day 😉