I fell in love with a boy who took me to church.

The end happened in my hand raised and began again with my face down kneeling and weeping.

I fell in love with a boy who needed saving, but didn’t know he was saving me from myself.

He took me to church and Jesus found me - pulling secrets from places I thought no one could see.

I fell in love with a boy who took me to church

and in losing him

I lost the parts of me

that were never meant to last.

I fell in love with a boy, but what saved me was much more than him.

It was mercy

It was pursuit

It was the way the Lord works

never mysterious

always deliberate

premeditated.

He hunts for the torn-up souls,

the ones calling sin survival.

And that’s where He found me.

I fell in love with a boy who took me to church,

and what felt like a kiss became a lifeline.

He was supposed to be a fling

a one-night stand

a distraction across a country bar.

He was supposed to be a bandage

a passing

a temporary fix for a permanent grief and ache.

But he became the doorway. Not the answer, but the entrance. Not the moment BUT the moment that led me to God’s plan for bigger things He had in-store for me.

I fell in love with a boy who took me to church, and instead I was introduced to the me I was always meant to be.

I fell in love with a boy who grew into a man,that helped me fall into the hands of eternity.

This was never happenstance.

This was orchestrated romance.

A setup from the start.

Not to fall in love with him, but to fall in love with Him.

With grace.

With mercy.

With a God who chased me down when I was running on empty.

I fell in love with a boy who took me to church, and learned that demons can be slayed, dreams can be holy whispers and survival can be surrendered into freedom.

I thought it was a love story about us.

But it was always a love story about God.

I fell in love with a boy who took me to church

but what I really found was the One who had been in pursuit of me all along.

Author Robyn Lynn Tanner