I AM A BRIDE !!!!!

Lately,God has really been wanting to reveal to me alot about purity,authentic beauty,intimacy and love.These apparently are areas that He wanted to address with me.Through lots of personal situations and "happenstances" I've gotten the hint.I've been still before God and allowed Him to speak to my heart.The most important aspect of this is that God has repeatedly spoken to me "you are a bride" and "you are my bride".
I've heard scriptures about this all my life but I've just recently gotten a sense of what this really means.Scripture tells me that I am the bride of Christ as a member of His church.I also will be the bride of my husband one day. So,what does this mean to me? what does this have to do with purity,authentic beauty,intimacy and love? Well,as a bride of Christ i am purified and loved. I am blameless because of Christ's blood and am able to stand before Him in my white dress.I also am able to be intimate in my relationship with Him because I know He knows everything about me and sees my authentic beauty thanks to Christ's blood.I heard on the radio today an expert on this area describe intimacy as "in to me see".We are so afraid of intimacy because we don't want to be that vulnerable.We don't want to see our ugliness and we don't believe we can be beautiful.But,how great it is to be open,intimate and vulnerable before a God that we KNOW loves us and only wants to make us more holy.Once we're free of the fear of judgement or condenmation,we're more likely to enjoy intimacy as a "bride". As the bride of my husband,God has designed it to be a picture of the relationship I have with Him.The same expert i mentioned before also commented that we can't have an earthly intimate relationship without first having a heavenly initimate relationship.My husband also should expect my purity,authentic beauty,intimacy and love.I'm prepared for this relationship as i've already experienced it with my heavenly husband.My former pastor who is still my spiritual confidant told me just today that He believes the best way for me to know God's will is to know God.He told me that I learn about God as I allow Him to talk to me through
His Word,prayer,music and every day circumstances.If I'm accustomed to this,then I'll be prepared to learn about my husband in the same way.I'll get to know his pet peeves,passions,turn offs,turn ons,quirks,sayings,etc as I spend time with him.I'll be eager for this too as I know the rewards of an intimate relationship because I've been having one with my heavenly husband for a while.So,I am blessed to be a "bride" tonight and to know that I'll always be a "bride". What a great feeling.Scripture also describes this picture of a "bride" in Ephesians 5:22-27.I read this in the Message translation and liked the wording......


Wives,understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ.The husband provides leadershipto his wife the way Christ does to his church,not by domineering but by cherishing.So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership,wives should likewise submit to their husbands.
Husbands,go all out in your love for your wives,exactly as Christ did for the church-a love marked by giving,not getting.Christ's love makes the church whole.His words evoke her beauty.Everything He does and says is designed to bring the best out of her,drsssing her in dazzling white silk,radiant with holiness