(Excerpt from The Princess Within...)

Where it all began…

It was the summer of 2001 when my life was changed forever.  Actually, life had already been building up to this moment for a long time.  I can really reach back in time and let you know that this “Hopeful Romantic’s” heart was in full bloom even as a little girl watching the classics like Cinderella and Snow White and of course playing with my beloved Barbies.  I remember that I would choose my favorite Barbie to play myself and I would dream up some big fairy tale adventure about how my Prince (Rock Star Ken, in this case) would come for me.  Of course, he would always come riding up; yes you guessed it, on a white horse.  I can not tell you how many times that I had those Barbies rehearse this drama.  Somehow, it just never got old to me. 

I fail to remember when it was that I put those Barbies in their case for the last time, but I know that a day came when it was not considered “mature” anymore to go around using your Barbies to dramatize your own long for fairy tale.  Somewhere along the way, a few people even told me to get my head out of the clouds.  They wanted to make it very clear to me that life is not a fairy tale and happily ever afters simply do not exist in the “real world.”  I went along with their line of thinking, but I was secretly crushed.  No matter how hard I tried to let go of my happily ever after dreams, they just would not die.  Then one day, Christ whispered to my heart and His words blew the doors off of my imprisoned childhood dreams.  It was then that I knew for sure that happily ever after was real.

So, back to the summer of 2001…

I was a counselor at our church’s summer youth camp.  It was a pretty tough week.  I remember those who had come from our home church were pretty broken because our pastor’s wife, Helen Watkins, had just passed away due to heart problems.  Some of us had to actually leave the camp in order to go to her funeral.  I cried a lot.  I wish you could have seen them together.  Pastor Watkins and Helen really loved each other.  He was such a gentleman and was so open when talking about his beloved wife.  He was the kind of man who would open doors and take her hand as she would walk up the steps.  Pastor would tell us stories about their love affair.  Once, he even risked his life to save her from drowning in a raging river current.  I know! It’s the stuff movies are made of, right? I would always watch them together and notice that they would find little ways to show one another that they cared.  So, needless to say, I was pretty devastated when she passed away.  My heart was broken.  In this world where so many couples have horrible marriages and selfish relationships, why did Helen have to leave?  Their love story profoundly impacted me.  It had given me hope.

It was Thursday night of our youth camp.  The evening service was ending and the girls that I was counseling had left their seats to go and pray at the altar.  I was moving out of my seat to go and pray with them,  when I heard the Lord in a still small voice say to me, “Stay here, I want to talk with you.”

At that point, I broke and began to pour out my broken heart to the Lord asking every “why” question I could think of.  “Why did Helen have to go? Pastor and Helen were my inspiration.  Why now?  Their love affair is a legacy.  I will tell my own children about Pastor and Helen and how he saved her from that raging river,” I cried.

That’s when I heard God whisper to me, “Amber, I want our love affair to be a legacy.”  He later came to me again and said, (paraphrased) “All of those things you have always dreamed of?  The happily ever after?  Where do you think all of that came from?  It has always been about your hope for real love.  Those desires come out of a heart that has longed to be with Me.”

I was totally blown away.  I think it even took me a few days to get over the shock of such a beautiful encounter with God Almighty, the Ancient of Days.

He began to speak to me and show me in His Word of His own longing to have a love affair between Himself and His bride, which included me!  He spoke me about what I have come to know as “The Great Legacy Love Affair.” 

From that moment forward, I began to search out the heart of God and what it meant to be His and to share with Him in this great legacy love affair.  Needless to say, it has revolutionized my entire life.