So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

For most of my life, Valentine’s Day was a somber reminder of how unloved I always felt. Visits to the store around this holiday always made me feel like I was the oddball, never knowing what it was like to feel truly loved. Worse yet, my desire for unselfish love was called “unrealistic” by my former abusive spouses. The desire to love and be loved that God planted in my heart at a young age was “unachievable,” I was told. As a result, I believed the kind of love I hoped for could never be real. It was a fairy tale, an illusion, a stupid, unattainable, idealistic notion. Sad as that was, I acknowledged and accepted that as reality.

Mercifully, God thought differently – and sent me David.

Knowing that I am now unconditionally loved every single day still seems surreal to me. And yet, here I am, still in awe of finding my soulmate – the one person God created for me even as he crafted me for him. I still find myself asking my husband, “Are you for real?”

“Every day is Valentine’s Day to us,” I told David in the lead-in to the candy-crusted celebration. “Every day, we have love, love, love – not just on one day of the year. I love you more every day, and that’s never going to change.”

Our love story spans the ages. I never tire of hugging, kissing, and telling David how much he means to me. Our prayers always start by thanking God for “love, love, love.” No matter what passes between us, we are committed to staying as much in love today as we were when David asked me to marry him.

But how can we do so? I can answer that question with a single word – God. God is the cord that ties the two of us together. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Can anyone imagine a love like that? David and I can. Each of us would gladly lay down our lives for one another. We can’t imagine a world where we aren’t together. Isn’t that just how our Creator feels? “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

And what about 1 John 4:19, which says, “We love because He first loved us”? Isn’t that precisely why our Creator joined David and me in marriage? We stepped out in faith to show God’s love to strangers, and in return, we can now be the embodiment of His love in action to one another. To David and me, love is precisely what our hearts always hoped for but never thought we’d find.

David and I found one another because of Christ. We know that. We thank God for that – daily, constantly, with every heartbeat. God is the cord that surrounds us. Jesus first demonstrated love by dying on the cross for our sins. And that unique, unselfish love ties the two of us together. We are unbreakable because of Christ.

David and I each know that we could have spent the rest of our lives apart, serving God, worshipping our Savior, and praising Him for His mighty love in our lives. Instead, we not only have the Creator’s love but also share that same unquenchable, unexplainable, unbreakable love for one another that He has for the two of us – and all the world that He made. God doesn’t want us to be separated from Him – that’s why He sent His Son to bridge the chasm that would forever separate us from Him – sin. Christ’s sacrifice covered our sins with His love. The perfect blood of the Lamb allows us to live forever with our Creator for all eternity. We have only to acknowledge our sins, proclaim our need for a Savior, accept Jesus as God’s only Son into our hearts, and ask Him to make us new again.

My wish to everyone reading these words is not that you will find your true love on earth but that you will acknowledge Jesus as your Savior first and let Him lead you to His great love. Without Christ, there can be no such thing as perfect love. You must begin with God and keep Him at the forefront of your heart and mind thereafter. Then, and only then, can you find and understand what real love is.

1 John 4:7 reminds us, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” Love isn’t a fairy tale. It’s obtainable and achievable by anyone who asks Christ into their heart. Do so today! Your lonely heart can be filled to overflowing when you invite Christ into your life to become your Savior. I’m a living, breathing testimony to the same.

I’ve always had Christ – and that thought kept me strong enough to hold on. If someone couldn’t love me like Christ could, I would rather be alone. Through all the fires, all the triumphs, and all the brokenness in my life – God was always with me.

And now – thanks to Jesus – I have David.

Invite Jesus inside you and let Him make you whole. He has always held you in the palm of His hand. Once you’ve asked Christ into your heart, you too will be able to say with as much joy as I do that “I got you.”