I am an Oklahoman by birth, a Texan by current living situation, but claim the world as my playground.I love to travel and hope to someday soon take our family on adventures to far off lands, where we can share God with others and experience all the wonders He has created.
I am a mother of 5 crazy, homeschooling children ages 10 & under, wife to an amazing man, and daughter of the King of the Universe!I enjoy reading, making my kids laugh, cooking, all things natural, learning to play guitar and dusting off my piano skills.One day I hope to run again, but until then I’m learning patience.
Blessing Others with a Valentine’s Day Heart Attack
For the first time last year, the kids and I decided to give some friends and neighbors a Valentine’s Day Heart attack. This is a fun way to secretly let others know that they are loved and someone cares about them.
We not only wanted them to know that they are loved by us but by God too, so of course, we made up our own Valentine’s Day Heart Attack Hearts saying as much! We printed them out on red paper, cut them up, grabbed tape, and tried to not get caught by our neighbors.
Achieving Part of our Goal
The goal of not getting caught by our neighbors was blown in the first 10 minutes. LOL!! I tried to nonchalantly send the children to the house next door while the neighbor’s vehicle was gone only to have the lady of the house pull into her driveway as the kids were running wildly with the hearts in hand. It was hilarious!
We were able to give a Heart Attack to the rest of our neighbor’s and friends without them initially knowing, although I’m sure they eventually realized it was us.
We need to work on our secretive sneak factor. At least, the true goal of blessings others worked out.
Unexpectedly, we also received a surprise of our own.
Receiving Our Own Heart Attack Surprise
Trying to be sneaky, we decided to give our own front door a Valentine’s Day Heart Attack too because we didn’t want to make it easily noticeable that we did the attacking.
After attacking our friends and neighbors, we received our own surprise. It wasn’t a heart attack but actually more along the lines of a heart hug!
I thought this was a cute idea for Valentine’s Day and really expected everyone to remove the hearts a couple days after Valentine’s Day.
However, the opposite happened.
Some people left the hearts on their glass doors, windows, or mailboxes until the weather and wind removed.
The neighbor, who caught our not-so-sneaky crew, sent us a picture months and months later after we had moved saying the last remaining heart was hanging on for dear life and she was going to leave it on there until it fell off by itself.
What a blessing this was to us! We felt so loved and cherished! And that is exactly what we wanted them to feel.
Our mission was accomplished with blessings that were returned!
In reference to sharing God’s word and love with others, this verse from Isaiah 55:10-11 comes to mind:
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Valentine’s Day Heart Attack Printables
I hope this has encouraged you to give out Heart Attacks for Valentine’s this year.
Those red paper hearts simply said:
“You are loved!”
“God loves you!”
“You are a blessing!”
Although the message was short, the blessings were felt for months after the chocolates were devoured.
Whether it’s Valentine’s day or not, may we choose to find ways to let others know they are loved and cared for not only by us, but by the mighty One who created this entire universe. They are loved and they are special. He knows them by name and wants to be an eternal blessing to them.
Prayer Over our Hearts
Lord, we praise you for loving us the way you do. You give the best gifts and we praise you for the gift of Jesus, who died on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven and we could come to be blessed as having you as our Heavenly Father.
Lord, give us the courage to spread your love freely to others. We praise you that every gift you give does not return to you empty. May we share the blessing you’ve given us with others freely. In Jesus’ holy name – Amen!
Hello, there! I grew up as a military kid who loved adventure, so I fell in love with and married a military man right after college graduation. The two of us had adventures together as we traveled for a while, but we finally settled in cozy Southern Indiana. However the excitement is still alive, because God has given us four kiddos that I homeschool. I love nerding out on anything from school curriculum to thrift store bargain hunting, from rockin' recipes to theological debates, and pretty much any lively discussion in between. Thanks for reading!
I know you so well. I know everything about you. And I know your heart so completely that I could even finish your sentences.
I will protect you with my whole being. You are never far from my heart and I will be with you and help you in everything you do.
You are wonderful to me. I am always by your side and always will be.
Love, The Creator of the Universe and Creator of you
Ok, so I’m truly not trying to be tricky or overly clever here. But what I am trying to do is to open your eyes to a powerful truth: God has written you a love letter.
And He’s not just talking. He’s making good on His words.
Friends, this is so true. God’s Word truly is a love letter. And I believe that if we can start to see His Word as the love letter it is and not only as an instruction manual,it can revolutionize our attitude toward His Word, and through that, our attitude toward God.
Now, God’s Word has wonderful instructions that lead to everlasting life, I don’t want to minimize that truth. But my point is that His Word is also so much more and it’s sometimes easy to miss…
Consider this: who of us would receive a love letter and then put it aside to read “someday?” Probably not many of us! If I ever were to receive a love letter, you better believe I would tear into that faster than I would tear into a king size Snickers! My heart would be racing and my hands trembling, my mind eager to read what the letter said.
But how many of us do this exact thing with the Word of God?
How many of us put it aside to read “someday” or “later tonight” and then maybe even forget because we are too tired or too busy.
Friends, I have been that person all too often. But seeing God’s Word as a love letter is changing my heart, and I pray it changes yours too.
Going back to the above letter, it is a very loose paraphrase of Psalm 139. Let’s read that psalm together. Before we read it, instead of thinking of the words as ancient text, something to memorize, or a lesson, let’s pause…
See Scripture with New Perspective
Let’s read them as one who is beloved by the Author. Read the words with fresh eyes, as if we have never gazed upon them before. Let’s hear these sentiments as though they have crossed our hearts for the first time. Take a deep breath and read this as if our hands are trembling because we are about to open an envelope from the one whose affections we desire the most…
Psalm 139
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there,
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb,
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand–
No, every promise of love, every hope He sets in our hearts through His words, He makes good on.
God’s love letter starts in Genesis when he promises Adam and Eve, after they betrayed their Creator and Friend, that He Himself will make it right and fix the damage they have done. Talk about heroic and relentless love.
Every book in the Bible has God’s thread of love and redemption running through it. We just have to notice it.
The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are overflowing with exclamations of love in action toward you. Read them again this week with a heart that seeks to hear the love letter in them instead of only getting the history out of it. Ask God to give you eyes to see His love story for you. Seek and you will find.
The Culmination of God’s Love Letter
My other favorite love letter chapter is Romans 8. For me, it is the culmination of the love in the gospels. It says to us:
Dear beloved,
I am for you. I have done what I promised and given you everything, even my life. No one can harm you or accuse you anymore.
Nothing can tear us apart. Nothing. No matter what happens in this life, you are my beloved and I love you relentlessly.
Everything will all come right in the end when you come home to me. I have fought for you and conquered the evil one who was out to destroy you. You are my beloved.
Love, God
Romans 8:31-39
Let’s read the real letter out of Romans now with those same fresh eyes, eager heart, and trembling hands as when we read the psalm.
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one.
Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
