Cross Rhythms website editor Heather Bellamy is a regular contributor for the local Sentinel newspaper's weekly faith column, Yours Faithfully. Each week a different leader from the local faith communities write the column. Check out what Heather has been saying to the fine people of North Staffordshire.

A couple of weeks ago I celebrated my 11th wedding anniversary. When I was 19, the tangible presence of love filled my room and God told me that I was going to get married soon and that I was going to find a gentle love, someone I could trust. He was bang on; I met Jon less than a year later; we were married within 5 months. Having been in an abusive relationship as a teenager, that had left deep scars, gentleness was something I needed, and trust was something that needed restoring.

Marriage is something I'd shout from the rooftops about! Did you know that divorce rates are dropping in the UK and that they're now at their lowest level since 1984? With bad news stories abounding, that's something to celebrate!

There are so many great things about marriage. I love the tenacity of an older generation, who stuck it out together through thick and thin; the war generation who stayed with each other through poverty, years apart and many other hardships. Their commitment is something we need as Gen-X's; we may not be a war generation, but the fight to stay committed with temptation all around is real, and let's face it faithfulness is the foundation to any relationship!

'If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!' - The Bible. We all need friends, those that know us and love us anyway! Those that care when we cry, that celebrate our happiness and just do life with us. Marriage at its' best provides the best friend you'll have ever known; someone who knows you intimately and is next to you on the road of life until the end.

And where would we be without romance? I love a good chick flick! The human soul was made for romance. On our 10th wedding anniversary, Jon took me to Venice for 24hours; I don't think there can be a more romantic place on earth; it was the best night of my life!

Commitment, friendship, romance are all at the heart of the greatest love story of all; a love story well known in previous generations, but less popular today. The story is of a guy in his 30's who gave everything for his bride. He was royalty, but let all his pleasures go, for her sake; he was really close to his Dad, but left the family home to pursue his love. In the end he was beaten, tortured, humiliated and killed for her, but he considered it nothing compared to his deep love. Every woman yearns to be rescued and that was exactly his intention when he gave himself up in her place. He was heroic, but gentle, unassuming, but strong, truthful and unafraid, yet tender; he was a leader, but served. The story has a happy ending as any good chick flick does; it ends with the son back with the father, having risen from the dead and the bride with him at his side, having been won from the enemy.

The guy, well, that's Jesus; the bride, that's all who know him. The family home is heaven and the Dad, that's God the Father.

This Valentines Day, whether married or single, you can know tangible love. As Jesus once said, 'greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.' He did just that for you.