Finding the right person to share your life with is like searching the ocean floor until you find a clam that shelters a priceless pearl. It is so prefect that you take it to a jeweler and you place it in a beautiful ring setting so you can show it off to everyone you know. Every time you glance down at the pearl you are inspired by its brilliance and it inflames your heart with love.

This is the reason that it hurts so much when you are betrayed by love. It was as if the pearl that was so valuable fell out of it's setting and was lost to you forever. But it was worse than that for me, because I was not lost. The person I loved just discarded me, she cut me off without a word and left me bewildered as to why. I believe one reason she tossed me aside was because our relationship would have caused a change that her family would not have liked.

She confided to me that her son forbid her to ever have anything to do with me! I was surprised, but I just brushed it off believing that her son would eventually get used to us being together. It is true I had no relationship with him after we parted, but it was her decision to cut him off from me.

We had previously spent seventeen years together and I had been her son's other parent from the age of four. I still loved him and I still thought of him as my child. I always prayed for him and his own young son, just like my own three children, whether his mother and I were together or not.

I really didn't understand why her family was a problem. When we were together there never was a good relationship with her father or her grandparents. So why would this time be any different.

Things were totally opposite with my own children. They were very open to the possibility of us getting back together. They all stated emphatically that they wanted me to be happy and they would accept any decision I made. Even though they knew it would mean I wouldn't have as much time for them.

I listened to everything she had to say about how hard her coming back to me would be. I once again asked her if she was sure and she said that she was. I believed she truly was done with her current relationship and that in time her family would accept us being together.

Love shared with another person is the most valuable thing a person can have to sustain life. When love is in place then you feel secure and safe, because you know the other person has your back.

True love makes you willing to give up your life for the other person. You happily make sacrifices because the love you feel is worth more than all the money in the world.

It was an easy thing for me to not even question that she was using me for money. I believed her when she said she was behind on her bills and she needed money for food. I believed her when she said she loved me and that she and I would be together again soon.

True love is the reason why couples can face all forms of disasters. Love gives them the strength to stand by their children when they are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Love gives them the ability to face the loss of a child or to handle the affects of a natural disaster that takes everything they own. Love makes a couple strong!

This is the reason people say it is better to love than to never have loved. Human love is wonderful, but real love is to understand that when it fails, God's love is everlasting!

I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior when I was seven years old. I didn't understand what an important decision that was for me until I began to experience all the pain the world can throw at a person. I didn't understand how much I would need Jesus to be my Savior!

I didn't understand how much I needed a God that had supernatural powers. I only began to understand how much I needed a Savior when my world came crashing down around me.

My human weaknesses wanted me to give up and believe that I had no hope! My inability to hold onto love made me want to quit life and cut myself off from all human beings. I wanted to protect myself from ever being hurt again and death seemed like a wonderful option.

This is when I needed a Savior! This is when I needed Jesus Christ to give me the strength to take one day at a time. This is when I believed that I could have a future that is better than the betrayal I found from the person I loved.

Falling back onto my faith in God I sought Him to explain why I had to suffer for love. I believed that God was giving her back to me. Yet here I was alone.

When Adam and Eve ate the apple, they changed our world. Their desire to be like God brought all mankind to the valley of decision. A decision where we would be presented with choices. The Bible describes these choices as tests. The ultimate goal of the test is to get us to understand the difference between good and evil. Differences that would lead us to understand why love is God, while hate is Satan. God also refers to this as overcoming sin. This is illustrated in the example given to us when Cain kills his brother Abel.

Genesis 4: 6&7, "Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why that scowl on your face? If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling; but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it.'"

The illustration of Cain and Abel shows us how freewill works in our lives. Our own will determines which path we take. One path leads to the reward of Heaven and unconditional love and the other to losing our game of life to evil and being destroyed by the tests we face.

This is the reason why those who don't have the saving power of Jesus Christ, commit suicide or get lost in a drug addiction. They can't stand up to the betrayals of life, so they give up. This is the reason why people commit crimes against each other by taking money under false pretenses. They do this because they choose to take care of themselves and they don't think of how it hurts another person.

Being betrayed by love doesn't make your heart stop loving the person. You still love and knowing how the game of life works makes you look at the betrayal differently. You are afraid for the person who caused you harm. Because you know that what she did to you was wrong.

When Jesus walked the earth He brought an entirely different message. His words changed how people reacted to those who hurt them. These words brought a kinder and gentler way of handling the problems we will face in the world with love.

Mark 12:31a, "The second most important commandment is this: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'"

John 15: 12&13, "My commandment is this; love one another, just as I love you. The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them."

Matthew 6:14&15, "If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done."

We are to love regardless of what happens to us. We are to forgive because when we harbor the grief we feel, then it can pull us down and make us hate. And hate is the opposite of love. To hate is to sin and that makes us just as susceptible to evil as the person who hurt us.

Matthew 6: 24, "No one can be a slave of two masters; he will hate one and love the other; he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

When she took money from me, I truly believed that she did have real financial needs. I do not love money, I use money to live and to help others.

I tell the story of my betrayal not to get back at the person who did this to me, because I will always love her. Rather I tell it so the betrayals that you suffer will lead you to forgive and move on with your life.

Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and He will help you to let go of the pain. Letting go allows God to help you heal. Having faith in a supernatural God helps give you strength and helps you to endure no matter what happens to you in the greatest game ever played, the game of life.