All my life I have struggled with knowing and accepting God's love for me. Yes, I know the Sunday school songs and John 3:16 but, it has never been heart knowledge for me. For years I have thought of Him as my Lord and Savior along with my provider and protector but never someone who loves me.
Because I have never experienced His love for me or at least not in a way that spoke to my heart, I went to other sources for that love. Mainly my hubby. One problem though, my hubby, as amazing as he is, is not able to give me the love that I need from God, nor is he supposed to be able to give me that kind of love. As you can imagine that has put stress on our marriage over the years.
Recently my hubby reminded me that I need to go to God for love, as he has many times before. This time though, it clicked in my mind and heart. Later that day I'm in the shower, crying, both literally and crying out to God asking Him to show me His love.
He so clearly spoke to my heart and told me that He put Jesus on the cross because of how much He loves me.
It finally started to hit me. Love is an action. God sending Jesus to the cross was and is the greatest act of love that mankind has ever seen and it is finally hitting home for me.
I let the news settle for a few days with the intention of digging more into this new revelation. Unfortunately, a few days passed and I forgot. Then a week later I was in my journal and saw what I had written the day God first gave me the revelation and started praying over this new knowledge. I asked God to show me a scripture that started in plain English that He loves me. Outside of John 3:16 that is. Simply because I have taken that verse for granted for years and needed to see a "new" verse in a fresh way. He reminded me of 1st Corinthians 13:4-7. A passage that lists the actions and characteristics of someone who loves you. The first two are patience and kindness. That stopped me in my tracks. God has shown me patience and kindness countless times throughout my entire life. As the truth of this passage started to sink in over the next few days I started to notice a change in my spirit. I feel more confident in who I am and less of a need to prove myself to both those around me and to myself. All because I now know and understand just how much God loves me and knowing that someone thinks you are with dying for is a pretty big confidence builder. I feel calmer and find myself resting in my new self-esteem. What a joy these last few days have been. I'm excited to learn more about God's love for me and then show that love to those around me.
Friends, I pray that you either know this truth already or are like me and are in the process of learning about God's amazing love for us. I also pray that we both continue to learn about God and deepen our relationships with Him.
I pray this post finds you well this Sunday afternoon and blesses you.
God Bless
~Ruth
Today's Photo is simply a photo that I love and am proud of.
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