Light the Way

We live in a society that loves the idea of love — as long as it fits into boxes that can be labeled, justified, or explained. But what happens when your heart doesn’t fit the hierarchy? When love defies the expectations of family, religion, or social status — suddenly, something sacred becomes something you’re told to feel ashamed of.

Love was never meant to be a performance for the public eye. It’s a covenant between souls and God. And yet, we’ve allowed institutions, denominations, and cultural rules to dictate who deserves love, who’s

“good enough,” and who should be silenced for feeling it.

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Hierarchical structures — religious, political, or social — have long sought to regulate love. Churches create doctrines that define “acceptable” unions. Governments issue licenses to validate relationships. Even families can impose unwritten laws of worthiness.

But these are human hierarchies, not divine ones.
In God’s kingdom, love is not measured by appearance, income, or status.
It is measured by truth, sacrifice, and the alignment of souls.

When we love purely — without manipulation or agenda — we participate in the divine. When we hide love because others might not approve, we participate in fear. Fear that was never placed by God but by man’s need to control what he cannot understand.

Psychologically, shame thrives where hierarchy exists. Research on social conformity shows that humans internalize rejection by authority as moral failure — even when their instincts are rooted in authenticity (Keltner & Lerner, 2010). This creates emotional dissonance: the heart says yes, but the world says no.

Love isn’t supposed to be logical; it’s supposed to be holy.
And holiness doesn’t come from approval — it comes from alignment.
That’s why no amount of external validation can quiet the voice within you when you know a connection is divine.

Love that comes from God cannot be explained through words or measured through human behavior. It’s not something you can prove; it’s something you know. It’s spiritual resonance — the way your spirit recognizes another’s as familiar, eternal, and true.

That’s why you don’t “sense” divine love through words or actions.
You sense it through spirit — a pull that exists beyond sight or logic.
It’s the same force that moved the prophets, the poets, and the martyrs.
Because divine love always asks something of you: courage, truth, and obedience to God, even when others don’t understand.

If you and your person are not striving to be your best selves — to walk with God, to be like Jesus, and to love yourselves in truth — you won’t be able to love each other as God intended.
You won’t be able to find each other in spirit.
You won’t be able to serve your divine purpose together.

Because God’s plan for love isn’t just about happiness — it’s about healing.
It’s about two people refining each other through faith so they can serve something greater than themselves.
That’s what God wants for everyone: partnerships that reflect His grace, His truth, and His love in action.

Jesus never cared what society thought of Him when He was communicating the Word of God.
He loved people the way they were meant to be loved — with compassion, truth, and freedom from judgment.
He embraced the outcasts, healed the broken, and forgave the condemned.
That is what we should all be striving for: to love ourselves, one another, our children, and our communities the way Jesus did — fully, freely, and without condition.

That is the blueprint of divine love — love that transforms rather than conforms.

At church today, Pastor Brian Mabry reminded us that we are all worthy of God because we are made in His image.
He said, “You have to trust yourself and trust God.”

He spoke about communion — how some people see it as forgiveness, and others as thanksgiving. But I realized during his sermon that for me, communion is a time to give God my best prayer.
My best friend once told me, “There’s not a right way. Just talk to God with what’s in your heart.”

Revivals, Pastor Mabry said, are about bringing new followers to God and Jesus Christ — but Shalom means being whole. He shared the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19:4 (New Living Translation): Elijah, exhausted and ready to give up, was fed by ravens in the wilderness. Even when the creek dried up, God led him 100 miles through drought to a widow who would feed him.
God got him there.

Elijah’s story reminds us that even prophets grow weary — but God says, “Eat, and get back in there.”
It was the first resurrection story, the beginning of Elijah’s true discipleship. Even when Jezebel destroyed the prophets, Elijah’s journey showed that God restores us not through ease, but through endurance.

Pastor Mabry connected this message to Luke 13:10–17 (English Standard Version), where Jesus heals a woman bound by a disabling spirit for eighteen years.
He said “Spirit” in Greek — Pneuma — can mean demon, holy ghost, or human soul. Sometimes, the spirit that disables us is not physical, but emotional — the negative thoughts that make us feel unworthy.

When Jesus said she was “made straight,” He restored her spirit, not just her body.
That healing hit my heart — because after service, our Sunday lunch with my family felt like that same restoration.
We laughed, ate together, and even put pumpkins on our heads for pictures.
It was silly, but it healed something in me.

We were together.
We were whole.
And that is Shalom.

Recently, my sister Payten said something that stayed with me:

She was preparing for her Physical Therapy Assistant exams, balancing faith with realism — what she jokingly called “70/30 optimism.” But her words carried something deeper: faith that doesn’t depend on the outcome.

When we have faith, we already know that what’s meant for us will never pass us by.
That same truth applies to love, purpose, and every test we face.
Faith is not a guarantee of timing — it’s a guarantee of God’s presence through the process.

If love costs you your integrity, it isn’t divine.
If it costs you comfort but strengthens your truth, it might be sacred.
Pray for discernment — not validation.
Ask God, “Does this love lead me closer to You?”
If the answer is yes, walk in peace, not apology.

Have you ever hidden a love out of fear of being judged?
What would it look like to love without shame, guided only by God’s voice?
If there is something or someone in your life preventing you from loving yourself and loving others the way they’re meant to be loved — then ask yourself: is it right for you?
And when you are tired — pray first, not last.

If society truly applied this biblical truth — that love is divine, not hierarchical — it would mark one of the greatest spiritual shifts in human history.

When love stops being managed by man and returns to being directed by God — that’s revival.
Not a sermon. Not a policy. But a movement of hearts remembering what they were created for: to love without fear and reflect God through it.

Let’s start reclaiming love from the structures that tried to define it.
Forward this newsletter to someone who needs to be reminded that divine love is not a sin — it’s a calling.
Subscribe to Light the Way for more reflections on faith, truth, and spiritual courage.

When you feel like your love has no place in this world, remember: God made it, not man.

In solidarity,

Lyndsay LaBrier
The Merchant Ship Collective

Holy Bible, English Standard Version. (2016). Luke 13:10–17. Crossway Bibles. https://www.biblegateway.com/
Holy Bible, New International Version. (2011). 1 John 4:7–8, 4:19; John 13:34–35. Biblica. https://www.biblegateway.com/
Holy Bible, New Living Translation. (2015). 1 Kings 19:4. Tyndale House. https://www.biblegateway.com/
Keltner, D., & Lerner, J. S. (2010). Emotion. In S. T. Fiske, D. T. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology (5th ed., pp. 317–352). Wiley.
LaBrier, P. (2025). Personal communication, October 2025.
Mabry, B. (2025, October 19). A Crippled Woman [A sermon]. Bethel Church, Missouri.