By Jerria Martin
Martin is the Director of Hope Ministries and adjunct instructor of religion at WCCS.

I’ve always been a sucker for a good love story. From the unexplainable joy I would receive as I watched the underdog receive her happily ever after in Disney’s Cinderella as a child, to the empathetic tears I cry every time I watch the ending of Titanic. Love is that amazing, yet crazy thing that causes us to do amazing, yet crazy things. Love stories remind us that love is, has been, and will always be the greatest gift of all. Maybe this is why the Apostle Paul declared in 1 Corinthians, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

Over the holidays, I experienced a real life love story that had the tear-jerking, bittersweet ending of an award winning novel or movie. My paternal grandparents had been married for 59 long fruitful years, until my granddad, Dan Jones, passed away just a few days before Christmas. This loss hurt my grandmother, Vera Jones, so much so that she followed him to glory just a few weeks after, passing away just a few days after the New Year. Even death could not part their love.

Just a few days after attending my grandmother’s funeral, I attended the funeral of my friend, Renee Kelley Wilkerson. During the service Judge Bob Armstrong reflected on how Renee’s life was centered in love: love for her community, church, business, family and friends. Yet, it is at these times, when we experience excruciating loss, we find ourselves pondering the E.A. Bucchianeri quote “So it’s true, when all is said and done, grief is the price we pay for love.”

However, as I contemplated this, I found hope as I picked up my most favorite book and I was reminded of the greatest of love stories. If you look at the Bible as a whole, it’s redemptive and beautiful, and it’s God’s love story to mankind.

The biblical truth that Jesus loves us so much that he will return for his bride, the church, should provide us with the strength and fervor we need to face each day in love, in spite of our losses and challenges.

Through the ups and downs, ins and outs, wins and losses, love is amazing, and I’ll continue to be her sucker, because there is awe-inspiring, alluring, and breathtaking hope in love stories.