“This is the story of a runaway. With no way home and no way out… I threw the best of me away, I had my chance–it’s too late now. Too far gone and too ashamed, to think that You’d still know my name. 

But love refused to let my story end that way.”

– Love Moved First, Casting Crowns

I stumbled upon this song the other month, and it is one of the most beautifully written pieces I’ve ever heard. I listened to it and thought of the lost girl: the one running full speed through the darkness; the one crying in the shower; but especially the one sitting on her bedroom floor, hurting and broken and feeling so, so alone. 

Maybe you are one of those lost girls.

I don’t know your story. I don’t know what you’ve done or where you’ve been. I can’t see how shattered your heart is or feel the pain you are in right now. 

Maybe right now, your sin is telling you that you are too far gone to be forgiven and redeemed. Dear Rose, that is a lie. No amount of sin or brokenness is too great for God’s love to heal and save! 

YOU CAN’T CROSS THE DISTANCE ON YOUR OWN

A woman named Mary McCarthy once said, “we are the hero of our own story.” The world tells us to be our own heroes. But you can’t truly save yourself. Neither can I. No one can. When Adam and Eve first sinned, it created a chasm between us and God. No amount of good works or ‘righteous’ intentions can ever bridge that gap.

 God must punish sin because He is holy, as it says in 1 Peter 1:16, “…Be ye holy; for I am holy.” Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” And in Romans 6:23 it says, “For the wages of sin is death…”

Because of our sin, we are separated from our holy God, and to pay the price of it, we are doomed to die and go to Hell. 

But, the story doesn’t end there. 

I love the way a preacher named S.M. Davis explained it: In a way, there is hope in the mere fact that we are sinners! If you weren’t a sinner, you couldn’t be saved. The simple fact that you are a sinner implies that you have a need for a Savior. And dear Rose, that Savior is more than willing to save you. Jesus once said in Mark 2:17, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” 

LOVE DIDN’T WAIT. HE MOVED FIRST.

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

If Jesus had waited for you or me to pick up the broken shards of our lives and put ourselves back together… He would have never come. 

But while we were broken, scarred by sin, and by all means, worthless to Christ… He came.

Jesus left His throne on high, and came to Earth as a baby–fully man, and fully God. Made flesh to save us from ourselves, He was beaten and blamed for sins He’d never committed by the very people He came to rescue. He was nailed to the cross, and held up before the world as His crimson blood ran down. 

He came. 

He didn’t have to. He could have stayed up there on His throne and left us to our own demise. He could have waited for us to call for Him.

But Jesus didn’t do that.

He moved first.

Love moved first.

Dear Rose… it moved for you. Even now, Jesus is holding out His nail-scarred hands, calling your heart to Him. 

YOUR STORY ISN’T OVER: LOVE IS MOVING

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Love is writing every chapter of your story. Did you hear that, dear Rose? God—the One who created the stars and the ocean, is writing your story. Just like a writer, carefully crafting the journey for their beloved character, God has written every stumble, every valley, and every mountain of your life—and even though it may hurt sometimes, even though some things might not make sense, He will make all things well. Because He isn’t just the Good Shepherd, He is also the Good Author. 

It might feel like your story is over.

It might feel like there couldn’t possibly be a future for you.

But dear Rose, God isn’t finished with you yet. Your story isn’t over, and He has something good and beautiful awaiting you. 

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

Love is moving mountains, drawing you closer and closer to Him. He’s never going to give up on you, never going to leave you, never going to reject you if you turn to Him. 

“I remember where You found me… I’m amazed by where I stand. Your cross is the proof that love made the first move.”

– Love Moved First, Casting Crowns