God Loves Boldly

     Currently I'm reading a book by Max Lucado, A Gentle Thunder. There was a chapter about God's love that almost brought me to tears; it's downright mind boggling (which God's love always is to me). I figured I could write about the beauty of God's love, but I thought he did it so well I'd just share an excerpt from his book. Anyway, here it is!


"God, I have a question. Why do you love your children? I don't want to sound irreverant, but only heaven knows how much pain we've brought you. Why do you tolerate us? You give us every breath we breathe, but do we thank you? You give us bodies beyond duplication, but do we praise you?
   
    Seldom.
   
    We complain about the weather. We bicker about our toys. We argue over who gets which continent and who has the best gender. Not a second passes when someone, somewhere, doesn't use your name to curse a hammered thumb or a bad call by the umpire. (As if it were your fault).
    You fill the world with food, but we blame you for hunger. You keep the earth from tilting and the arctics from thawing, but we accuse you of unconcern. You give us blue skies, and we demand rain. You give rain, and we demand sun. (As if we knew what was best anyway).
    We give more applause to a brawny ball-carrier than we do to the God who made us. We sing more songs to the moon than to the Christ who saved us. We are a gnat on the tail of one elephant in a galaxy of Africas, and yet we demand that you find us a parking place when we ask. And if you don't give us what we want, we say you don't care.
    We pollute the world you loan us. We mistreat the bodies you gave us. We ignore the Word you sent us and we killed the Son you became. We are spoiled babies who take and kick and pout and blaspheme.

You have every reason to abandon us.

I sure would! I would wash my hands of the whole mess and start over on Mars. But do you?

    I see the answer in the rising of the sun. I hear the answer in the crashing of the waves. I feel the answer in the skin of a child.
    Father, your love never ceases. Never. Though we spurn you, ignore you, disobey you, you will not change. Our evil cannot diminish your love. Our goodness cannot increase it. Our faith does not earn it any more than our stupidity jeopardizes it. You don't love us less if we fail. You don't love us more if we succeed.

Your love never ceases.
How do we explain it?

    Perhaps the answer is found in yet another question. Moms: Why do you love your newborn? I know, I know; it's a silly question, but indulge me. Why do you?
    For months this baby has brought you pain. She (or he) made you break out in pimples and waddle like a duck. Because of her you craved sardines and crackers and threw up in the morning. She punched you in the tummy. She occupied space that wasn't hers and ate food she didn't fix.
    You kept her warm. You kept her safe. You kept her fed. But did she say thank you?
    Are you kidding? She's no more out of the womb than she starts to cry! The room is too cold, the blanket is too rough, the nurse is too mean. And who does she want? Mom.
    Don't you ever get a break? I mean, who has been doing the work the last nine months? Why can't Dad take over? But no, Dad won't do. The baby wants Mom.
    She didn't even tell you she was coming. She just came. And what a coming! She rendered you a barbarian. You screamed. You swore. You bit bullets and tore the sheets. And now look at you. Your back aches. Your head pounds. Your body is drenched in sweat. Every muscle strained and stretched.

You should be angry, but are you?

    Far from it. On your face is a for-longer-than-forever love. She has done nothing for you; yet you love her. She's brought pain to your body and nausea to your morning, yet you treasure her. Her face is wrinkled and her eyes are dim, yet all you can talk about are her good looks and bright future. She's going to wake you up every night for the next six weeks, but that doesn't matter. I can see it on your face. You're crazy about her.

Why?

    Why does a mother love her newborn? Because the baby is hers? Even more. Because the baby is her. Her blood. Her flesh. Her sinew and spine. Her hope. Her legacy. It bothers her not that the baby gives nothing. She knows a newborn is helpless, weak. She knows babies don't ask to come into this world.

And God knows we didn't either.

   We are His idea. We are His. His face. His eyes. His hands. His touch. We are Him. Look deeply into the face of every human being on earth, and you will see His likeness. Though some appear to be distant relatives, they are not. God has no cousins, only children.
    We are, incredibly, the body of Christ. And though we may not act like our Father, there is no greater truth than this: We are His. Unalterably. He loves us. Undyingly. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. (See Romans 8:38-39).
    Had God not said those words, I would be a fool to write them. But since He did, I'm a fool not to believe them. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ."

I'm not entirely sure why this chapter of the book struck me so hard, but I found it incredibly inspiring. To compare our touch, our eyes, our face to that of our Father's ... that is just amazing to me. Any time that I read about God's unfailing love for us, I am astounded. I hope that this inspires you the way that it did me.

"How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings." Psalm 36:7

Oh How I Adore My Prince Charming

“I want to meet my own Prince Charming someday.”

All of our dreams differ, even as we are children, but in almost every little girl’s dreams there is the fantasy of meeting a prince. We begin fantasizing about our Prince Charming as young girls and continue to do so for years and years to come. We dream all about a man, THE man, who will come in to sweep us off of our feet.

We dream of a man brave enough to come to our rescue; a man strong enough to slay the fire-breathing dragon; a man who will take care of us until the end of time; a man who will provide for us; a man who will love us unconditionally; a man who will treat us like a princess; a man who will wipe our tears when we cry; a man who wants us, even when we don’t want him; a man who chooses us. We dream of this man, we long for this man, and we pray for this man.

Does this man even exist? I mean, he’s perfect, right? Is such a prince even possible outside of fairytales? The answer is yes, yes, and yes.

How do I know such a prince exists? Because I have found him; I have found my Prince Charming.

When I first met my prince, I had no idea who he actually was. I knew him, yes, and I knew what he was all about, but I had no idea that I would one day find him to be my prince. I was very young when I first met him and I sometimes only spoke to him out of obligation, because he was a family friend and it was what I was told I should do. I think that my mom knew all along how I would see him differently once I was older, because she always encouraged me to talk to him. She seemed to always be talking about how great he was and how much she loved him (and my mom is an incredibly smart woman) so I figured that he MUST be something really wonderful.

As I grew older, I started to talk to him a little bit more. He became a pretty good friend, but I certainly never thought he was my prince. It’s not that I thought he wasn’t a good enough prince; it’s that I didn’t even know he was a prince! It’s like he was a prince in disguise and was just waiting for me to realize it. (I wish he would’ve had a sign that said, ‘I’m a prince,’ because that would have made it a lot easier. But looking back on it, maybe he did). So, not knowing that my best friend was actually my prince, I waited patiently for my handsome prince to come find me and sweep me off my feet.

I waited and waited for years.

In those years, my friend and I grew apart. I don’t think that we necessarily grew apart from each other; I think that I just grew apart from him. My life took me in a different direction than where he was going, and so I just stopped talking to him. I wasn’t a very good friend to him after that and I felt like I disappointed him almost every day. He tried to talk to me all the time, but I ignored him for years.

I didn’t know he was my prince back then, but he was. He acted like a prince and treated me like a princess even when I ignored him. Regardless of the way I treated him, he told me every day that he loved me. He would remind me in every way possible, even when I didn’t want to hear it, that he would always love me no matter what. He continually pursued me even when I insisted that I was not interested. He showered me with gifts and tried to make me happy even when I wanted nothing to do with him. The more that I pushed him away, the harder he pulled to win me over.

Ok, so let’s cut to the chase.

The point is: I found him. My prince, after pursuing me for years and years, finally got my attention. I’m not entirely sure how he did it, because he hadn’t changed from the start. He was always a prince; I just failed to realize it. Nevertheless, he caught my eye and he captured my heart and since then, he has been everything that I’d always dreamed my prince would be and I am absolutely crazy about him.

My prince was brave enough to come to my rescue and save me.

John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

Romans 10:13, “For whomever will call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

My prince is strong enough to slay the fire-breathing dragon.

John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.”

1 John 4:4, “You are from God and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Psalm 28:7-8, “The Lord is my strength and my shield … The Lord is their strength, and He is a saving defense to His anointed.”

Job 9:4, “He is wise in heart and mighty in strength.”

My prince is strong enough to carry me when I am weak.

Isaiah 40:29, “He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.”

Isaiah 46:4, “And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; I will bear you and I will deliver you.”

My prince is strong enough to bear my burdens.

Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Psalm 55:22, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall.”

My prince promises to provide and care for me.

Philippians 4:19, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Psalm 121:7-8, “The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever.”

(Also see Luke 12:22-31).

My prince loves me unconditionally.

Isaiah 54:10, “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake but my lovingkindness will not be removed from you.”

Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.”

Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”

John 15:10, “Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you.”

My prince wipes my tears.

Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

2 Corinthians 1:3, “Blessed be the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction.”

Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Everything that we as little girls dreamt about, my prince was, is, and always will be.

My prince is strong; strong enough to carry my sin, your sin, and the world’s sin to the cross. My prince slays my dragons and fights my battles. My prince protects me, provides for me, and guides me. My prince loves me more than I can fathom and will love me in the same way until the end of time. My prince sought me; He pursued me even when I ignored Him and ran in the opposite direction. My prince reminds me each day how much He loves me and each day He makes me fall in love with Him all over again.

My prince chose me, my prince saved me, and my prince loves me.

He’s better than any fairytale prince I could have ever imagined, and He’s mine.

Ps. He can be your fairytale prince, too. I think He would actually prefer it if I shared.

This Is Way Too Easy

       Has anything ever seemed TOO easy? Have you ever come across those instances wherein you feel almost conned? “This is just way too easy. It’s got to be a trick.” You feel like you must be missing something or you must be doing something wrong. We ask, “What’s the catch?” We think, “This is way too good to be true.” Have you ever had those moments?

I have. I feel that way daily about God’s grace.

His grace is absolutely incredible and it astounds me every day.

I must be missing something, because receiving God’s grace is just way too easy.

I think that one of the reasons that His grace is so hard for me to comprehend is because our society teaches us to work. Work, work, work to get, get, get. We learn that nothing is given to us. We don’t gain anything that we didn’t earn. You have to be the best to have the best. This is how our society works; but God and His grace? That’s an entirely different system to follow, and it’s so easy!

God doesn’t require us to reach a certain “level” before He grants us grace. He doesn’t require that we work a certain amount of hours, sing a certain amount of praises, or do a certain amount of good deeds. His grace is a gift, and we don’t have to work to earn it; we can’t ever earn it. Grace is a gift because Jesus did the work for us. He carried our burdens and our sins and laid them upon the cross. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,” Ephesians 1:7.

Grace is a gift. A gift! That means it has been GIVEN to us.

So how do we receive it?

We ask.

You read that correctly. We ask for forgiveness and we’ve got it. That’s it! You see what I mean about too easy? We can’t work for it, we can’t earn it, and we don’t deserve it. We merely ask for it. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

God is always ready to forgive. His forgiveness is different than the forgiveness (or lack thereof) that we have experienced with others. People have difficulty forgiving the way God does, if we even decide to forgive. We keep track. We hold grudges. We remember the mistakes and we bring them back up later.

God doesn’t.

We find it hard to forgive because we feel the hurt and we feel that forgiveness is letting a person “off easy.”

God doesn’t.

We can’t always see a “clean slate” or forget the sins of others.

God does.

God promises to forgive us, and all we must do to receive it is ask. Our request doesn’t go before a judge and jury. God doesn’t contemplate how many offenses we have committed and whether or not this will be the last straw. He doesn’t even consider if we deserve it; He knows that we don’t. There is no, “I’ll forgive you if…” with God. He forgives us regardless of what we’ve done and how many times we’ve done it. It’s called grace for a reason.

Grace: Favor or goodwill. Mercy; clemency; pardon. A manifestation of favor, especially by a superior. Synonymous with kindness, forgiveness, charity, mercifulness, leniency, reprieve, love.

None of us deserve God’s grace, nor will we ever earn it, and yet we all can receive it. His grace is so easily attainable. Too easy! There is no catch. God wants to forgive us. It’s not too good to be true. God wants to give us His grace. I don’t see God as feeling burdened when we ask for forgiveness. I don’t see Him as unwilling to forgive. Instead, I see Him as saying, “Mary, what took you so long to ask me? I’ve been waiting on you. I have been wanting to forgive you.”

His grace is amazing. His grace is a gift. Receiving His grace is way too easy.

“For you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon you.” – Psalm 86:5.

Dear God, Why?

     People always say to look at the glass half full rather than half empty. They encourage you to find the positive in a negative situation or they throw at you whatever other cliché they can think up. Most of the time, I feel like this is a fairly easy concept to put into practice. In most situations that seem negative on the surface, one can usually find a silver lining. However, this is certainly not the case on every occasion. There are always instances wherein we find it impossible to see any silver lining. We feel that there is none; it’s just a bad situation. There is no understanding why it has occurred or what good could possibly come from it. So where do we then go for hope? Who can possibly guide and comfort us in such hopeless situations?

Our heavenly Father.

The hope that you can find in God is different than any you may find in a friend, or any other person for that matter. People will give you hope by trying to explain away any situation with a list of ‘maybe’s. They will encourage you to try and understand “why” and help you to see the glass half full, but sometimes there is no “why.” We can’t always find a good answer, and that is where God comes in. God’s comfort and hope is completely different than any that you will find in an explanation.

God is not going to sit you down and say, “This is why what you’re experiencing has happened and here is how it will benefit you.” He will not give you a map, a cheat sheet, the inside scoop, or the reasoning behind His plan. I don’t think that is how God works. This isn’t to say that God doesn’t want us to understand (I don’t believe that God is against us knowing His plan) but I don’t believe it’s necessary for us to know, nor is it probable for us to know; we don’t see the big picture.

God doesn’t ask us to decipher why He does what He does. He doesn’t promise that we will understand each fork in the road or each tribulation we face. So what does God do and what hope does he provide for us? He does promise in Romans 8:28 that all things work to good for those who love Him. He promises to be faithful and that His lovingkindness will never be removed from us. He tells us in Romans 5:3-5, to rejoice in our tribulations so that we may achieve hope. God understands the reasoning. God knows the timing. Our job is to wait on Him and trust in Him. “Wait upon the Lord. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait upon the Lord,” Psalm 27:14.

You don’t always have to understand His ways; you just have to trust them.

When you do come to trust His timing and His ways, you will have all the comfort that you need. What greater comfort can you find than in knowing that your Savior has a plan for you? “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future,” Jeremiah 29:11. He has a plan, and He knows what steps to take to accomplish it.

God comforts you not in saying, “This is why,” but rather in saying, “I’ve got this. Just trust me.”

God Loved You First

Romans 8: 35-39

            “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God’s love for us is oftentimes an incomprehensible idea; it is near impossible to wrap your minds around the lengths and depths of His love. Nothing we do or say can separate us from His love. You catch that? Nothing. That's a pretty comforting thought! But what about those of us who don’t love Him back? What about the sinners who do not acknowledge Him or His love and power? Is His love still unfailing in those cases?

Absolutely.

I have come to know people who are convinced that, because they do not have a relationship with God, He does not love them. They believe that God doesn't love sinners and they can't understand why God would want to bless them, love them, or care for them if they don't know Him. "God doesn't love sinners," they say.

First things first, we are all sinners. Romans 3 tells us that, “There is none righteous, not even one.” In one form or another, we are all flawed and sinful. God’s love doesn’t differentiate; His love is referred to as ‘unfailing’ for a reason. His love doesn’t fail; it does not fall short of expectation or give way. His love is continuous, never-ending, unceasing and certain. God loves us in all moments, not just our best ones. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8. Read that again. Christ died for us even while we were yet sinners. He didn't die for those who were perfect, which no one will ever be. No, He died because we ARE sinners.

I have a friend who struggles in his relationship with Christ. Since he doesn’t see himself at a place of “good standing” with God, he struggles to understand that God still loves him and wants to bless him. He thinks that because he spent years ignoring, disbelieving, and doubting God that he is not loved and he will be treated as such; a child unloved by God. However, God’s love is so much more than that. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love, because He first loved us.” His love isn’t based on our decision to love and accept Him. God loves us, not because we love Him, but because we are His children. God loved us first! God loves us before we even acknowledge Him, before we love Him in return, and before we invite Him into our hearts. (God even intructs us to do the same to others! Luke 6:32-35, Matthew 5:43-48). His love is not based on our performance or our love for Him. Crazy as it seems, there is nothing we can ever say or do that will make God love us more or make God love us less. Never. Nothing.

Christ died for us because we are all sinners and we are all children of God; each and every one of us. God’s love for us is unfailing, and we couldn’t escape that love if we tried. God loves us, all of us, period.

“Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39. 

Listening to God

Once there was a man who dared God to speak.

            Burn the bush like you did for Moses, God.

                        And I will follow.

            Collapse the walls like you did for Joshua, God.

                        And I will fight.

            Still the waves like you did on Galilee, God.

                        And I will listen.

And so the man sat by a bush, near a wall, close to the sea

            and waited for God to speak.

And God hear the man, so God answered.

He sent fire, not for a bush, but for a church.

            He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of sin.

                        He stilled a storm, not of the sea, but of a soul.

And God waited for the man to respond.

And He waited…

            And He waited…

                        And waited.

But because the man was looking at bushes, not hearts;       

            bricks and not lives, seas and not souls,

                        he decided that God had done nothing.

Finally he looked to God and asked, Have you lost your power?

And God looked at him and said, Have you lost your hearing?

The first time I ever read this story, I was left speechless. I don't know about you, but I have been guilty of looking at bushes, seas, and stones only to be disappointed and convinced that God didn't hear or answer me. I used to think that if I wasn't hearing Him, He just must not be answering. "If God was going to move in my life, wouldn't He move in big ways?"

           God does not always answer us the way we want Him to or think He will. Sometimes His answers don't make sense to us, sometimes they go unnoticed, and oftentimes they don't come when we think that they should, but He always answers us. Isaiah 55:9 says, "As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." The problem isn't that God doesn't hear us or that He doesn't answer us. The problem is that we don't know how to look or listen. I feel like we have underestimated the power God holds and simplified the ways in which He can reveal Himself to us. We take everything for face value and do not look deeper to see the meaning beneath. 

            I think that we need to begin to see God in the beauty of everyday life. Do we see and hear God in the everyday miracles? Do we hear His voice or see His work in the beauty of simple things or the small acts of kindness? If we don’t, we should. The pastor at my church gave an amazing sermon on this topic fairly recently. He said, "The whole world is a love letter from God." He stressed the importance of feeling God's presence and hearing His words through the gifts, the people, and the world that He has given to us. God works in amazing ways; He doesn’t necessarily always give us a verbal response or a physical embrace. If you don’t think you hear or see God in your life, merely look around. All of your blessings, the sunshine, the rain, a smile, a friend, a bible verse, a song, anything; you can hear God if you listen and you will see Him if you look. If we turn our focus away from bushes, bricks, and seas, maybe we will see God in the miracles of hearts, lives, and souls. If we learn how to look and listen, we will come to recognize the comfort that is in our faithful Savior and that His comfort is not necessarily revealed to us how we expect it should be.   

            Matthew 13: 16 – “But blessed are your eyes, because they see and your ears, because they hear.”