Newsflash. Cinderella is a fairytale. I repeat, Cinderella is a fairytale. Prince Charming does not exist. Search the whole world over, but you will not find him. Anywhere.

Fairytales are a great idea. Their ideals most often accurately represent what love should be, were this a perfect world. And Prince Charming emulates the ideal of what every man could be, were he governed by pure love. But you can wait all you want. The guy’s not gonna show up in shining armor, riding a white horse, and ready to whisk you off to some far away castle.

The unfortunate fact is that every relationship will inevitably encounter disappointment. You may have a fairytale of a beginning, but one day reality will set in. The mirage of perfection will fade. The fairytale will die. And why? Because no one this side of heaven is perfect.

It will take something infinitely more powerful than the wand of a fairy godmother to transform the ashes of disappointment into something beautiful. Perfect love is impossible in human hands. It requires divine intervention.

Mary Magdalene was a woman whose life had been reduced to ashes. Every relationship had proven to be a disappointment. The notion of a fairytale encounter was trampled beneath the feet of those who’d once promised love. Only the touch of perfect love could reach her, and it did. When she finally met the one man with power from heaven to love truly, completely, and sacrificially, her life was transformed. Because only a supernatural love has power to bring beauty from ashes.

“Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” (James 1:17)
 
“…he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair…” (Isaiah 61:3)
 
True Love…is LIFE-TRANSFORMING (Day 46, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)