Hosea: From the Perspective of Gomer

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Dear Husband, <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I remember the first time I saw you. You stood there in your suit, tall and brave, radiating a charm that felt like a command. It was no wonder I was drawn to you; other women were too. I remember adjusting my dress, pushing my pride forward, and fluttering my eyes, using the only language I knew to get your attention. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But you came to me with a request I had never heard before. You spoke of marriage, of redemption, and of God. You spoke of things I didn't want to hear, whispers that planted secret, terrifying seeds of hope in my heart. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I didn't agree at first. Not because I didn't want you, but because I was afraid of what "forever" meant. When I reached for you, trying to pull you into my world of flesh, you pulled back. You held my hand firmly against your chest, stopping the game. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"Marry me," you said. "Let us belong to each other." <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How tempting it was, to leave the only life I had ever known for a man I’d known for a single day. Yet, I followed. I followed because I knew instinctively that you would never lead me astray. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Soon, God blessed my womb. He had His requests of the names they should have, but I didn't care. As long as I had them, as long as I had you, my family, that would be enough. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The devil crept in soon enough, he wanted to ruin what we had built and I let him. I had to let him. What is there for God to heal me from if I suddenly become sinless? What would you do with me if I learnt all your sermons and memorised all your prayers. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The devil shoved me and I went. I went from man to man; I gave them what they wanted. It was easier somehow, just giving them my body, knowing that my soul belonged to you. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I missed my children, and I thought about them all day, their fights and their little adventures, the movie nights and dog walks. When men ran their hands over me, I imagined it was you, in that soft way you’ve always touched me.<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What have I done? Is this regret? Guilt? I don’t know. I need to get you out of my head. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then, a man in a suit stood in front of me. You looked different from last time; your eyes were sad, but they held determination. When I recognized you, I bowed my head in shame and cried.<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You didn’t let it last. You took me in your arms and cried with me. Your words tickled my ears; you said you forgave me, you begged me to come home, you prayed for me. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What was this? What was this love? The same thing Christ had for the church? It seeped from your skin into my heart and it rested there. It healed all my sins and gave me a bed to rest my head. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My husband had come for me. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Once again, you paid in gold and silver. You washed off the sins with love and patience; he brought me back to life and made me his strength. My husband. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I know now what I had almost lost, my love. You are the most beautiful man in all of Israel, God’s prophet, the symbol of Christ’s love. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I will do my best to not falter, but I know if I do, you’ll come for me with bags of gold and silver. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For now, and forever, it is enough.

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