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The Best Love Story
Lessons Learned from Sleeping Beauty

By Katie Berry

As little girls, we dreamt of our own Prince Philip—a strong, courageous, and brave warrior who fights to win our love. While some of us have searched high and low for a man who can rescue us like the prince does for the princess in this movie, I have come to the conclusion that many of us have been missing out on the real thing—God Himself. And let me tell you, our God is a better Prince than one Disney could ever come up with.

From the beginning of time, God has chosen you and me to partake in the most beautifully epic love story there ever has been and ever will be. Looking at a depraved sinful creation with a love so strong and pure, He chose to bless us with incomprehensible levels of mercy. From the moment we fell to sin, God began His pursuit of us with a never-ending portion of forgiveness. Our God had such a desire to give His creation—His children—another chance for His love that He had His only Son come down to earth. Perfect and blameless, both man and God, He was crucified in the name of each depraved child of God, paying their wages for sin.

From this sacrifice, the perfect princess story is set—a Prince had come to save His princess.

This love story, as different as it may be from the Disney tale, holds onto some truths that, if we look at them from our spiritual lenses, show just a little bit of God’s love and endless pursuit of His princess.

Our God is much like Prince Philip. He wants to love, protect, fight for, and rescue us (not just from the big angry dragons of life, but from the everyday worries and situations we have). Our true Prince (Jesus) died for this to be able to happen in the first place. And, once we are children of God, we enter into a relationship with a God who will fight harder for us than any prince in the world, and always win!

But, more than anything, just like Prince Philip, God wants to romance His princess.

God, especially within the Holy Spirit, wants to romance you. He wants to take care of all your needs, leaving you fulfilled and satisfy your deepest needs and desires. He wants to be the comforter and confidant of His princess—the one you can always run to in times of need.

And, as if it couldn’t get any better, He will never let us down. The dragon will never win. No matter what we go through, we can have faith that our Prince will always slay that dragon at the end.

When we can look at God and see Him as our fearless Prince, we can realize that, while it may be nice to look around in the world for that “knight in shining armor,” we don’t need any other Prince to have a happily ever after.

When we can shift our focus from finding our Prince in those around us (who will eventually let us down, no matter how perfect they seem) to looking up to the real Prince who has been there with us the whole time, we can live life a whole lot freer. Free from the need for someone to rescue us. We’ve got a big God who has already got it covered!

Once we realize we don’t need a man to be that “Prince” in our lives, I firmly believe we start to see the world a bit differently—especially when it comes to dating. No longer is it something you desire to fill a void or to be satisfied. A relationship is now the way God originally intended it—a place where God’s love is represented between two God-centered individuals.

Speaking from experience, it wasn’t until I actively stopped, fasted from relationships, and was romanced in my own relationship with God that I began to be satisfied. I had been so desperate before then to have a Prince to come satisfy my deepest needs and rescue me. But, thankfully, God cared enough to teach me this very lesson before I met my boyfriend.

Once I had created a foundation with God as my ultimate Prince, my first Love, my top priority, and my Rock to run to in times of trouble (Psalms 18:2), I was able to add a boyfriend into my life the right way.

Now, my boyfriend is absolutely amazing—a gift from God—but he isn’t perfect. We sometimes disagree. We sometimes hurt each other. We sometimes let each other down. But, when those things take place, I don’t feel a lack because I know my God, my true Prince, will be the one I can run to. He will never let me down. While I might not understand why there’s a dragon attacking me, I do know my God is working it out in my favor and He will slay the dragon in the end.

Because of this foundational truth, my relationship with my boyfriend is an absolute blessing. This is because I don’t receive my satisfaction from him, nor do I need him to fulfill that Prince role in my life. Without that need for him to be that perfect, Disney-esque Prince that saves me when I’m in distress, I can focus on loving him the way God intended.

And, in complete honesty, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

So, while I may not be his Sleeping Beauty and he may not be my Prince Philip, I know I can live a happily ever life. And that is because no matter how many dragons attack me, I have a Prince who will always be my hero in the end.

To the princess out there reading this, know that you can have that same epic love story. With or without a significant other. Because, when you have a Prince that is too good to be true like ours, there is no other ending but happily ever after.