made for love

God made us for relationship, with Him and with other people.  God made us for love, to be the recipients of His love, to give love back to Him, and to share His love with other people.  He designed us with our own emotions, love being one of them.  The Bible says that God is love.  (I John 4:16)  So simple, but the devil has made love so complicated for us humans.

The devil lies to us about everything, but especially about love and relationships...

• If you love, you will get hurt.
• You are the only one who can protect your heart from being hurt.
• You should only love people who love you back.
• Love is not worth it.
• You are imperfect and not worthy of love.
• You are an inconvenience.  (This is the big lie that the devil used on me...and I believed it.)
• Saying "I love you" is too risky.
• and on and on and on...

Only God's love is unconditional.  He loved us and sent Jesus to earth out of love before we were even born.  We humans are imperfect and our human emotion of love is sometimes fickle.  We hurt each other.  Those wounds are painful and in an effort to protect ourselves, we form tough, fibrous scar tissue over them.  Scar tissue holds us together, but it limits our growth and our ability to love.  We withdraw from really connecting with people, afraid that our scars will be seen, and fearful that our wounds will be torn open again.  

We simply need the love of Jesus.  His love can gently remove the scar tissue layer by layer.  His love can heal the injuries underneath.  I speak from experience.  I am finally allowing the love of Jesus to soften and remove the tough tissue around my heart that has been there "protecting" me for years.  If you are ready for Jesus to love you and heal you, just tell Him.  I promise that He will hear and respond!  I am praying for you!

Truthfully, that scar tissue kept me from what God has called me (and all of us) to do...love.  It kept me from receiving God's perfect love and letting it flow through me to the people around me.  It limited my relationships with God and people since I was always fearful of being hurt and rejected.  And now that the scars and the wounds are healing, I feel like the Grinch whose heart grew three sizes in one day.  My capacity for love is growing.  God is teaching me to be filled by His perfect love, and not to look to people to fill me up.  God is teaching me to love people more like He does...unconditionally and without expectation and extravagantly!

February is the month in which human love is celebrated.  But, every day should be a day to celebrate the best kind of love...God's love!  We were made for love!

know the truth

I've been on a truth seeking journey for several years now.  I've been a Christian since I was 9 years old, but that did not make me resistant to deception.  In fact, there would have been no need for deception if I hadn't been following Jesus and pursuing what He called me to do.  The devil launched fierce artillery at me in the place that he knew I was most vulnerable...relationships...trying to prevent God's will, God's best, for my life.

Shortly after I graduated from college, the deception about who I am began and the devil used a group of "friends" and a job situation to define me.  Long story short, I believed the lies about me that were whispered in my ear.  Since then, I've seen myself with vision that is distorted by deceit.  Lies had become the truth in my mind, coloring my perceptions of myself and the responses of other people to me.

One by one, I began to see through the deceptions.  God has placed people in my life who speak His truth to me.  And He reveals and removes the layers of false beliefs one by one from my spirit and my soul, like peeling off the layers of an onion.  I am a work in progress...another layer revealed just this week...I chose forgiveness...and my merciful Heavenly Father is healing my scars.

I'm on a quest for God's truth!  My Bible is read and reread and many truths are marked.  My spirit is  open to hear from God and my prayer is always, "God, give me eyes to see the truth!"    John 8:32 promises that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free!  That's my heart cry...to know the truth and to be set free!

listen

Listen...a small word with big meaning.  My word for 2017.  The word that God dropped into my spirit for this coming year.  Dictionary.com says this about the word listen...to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; to give ear; to pay attention, heed, obey; to wait attentively for a sound.  I have a lot to learn.

God wants all of us to listen to Him.  To wait attentively with the intent of hearing Him.  To pay attention and heed and obey what He speaks to us.  I will confess that I usually come to God with my list of concerns, but I don't take the time to wait quietly to hear what He has to say to me.  My spirit longs to hear Him, and I intend to practice sitting quietly at His feet and listening to His wisdom.  I find it interesting that part of the definition of listen is to obey.  I definitely need some practice on that one, but that is another blog.  I am convinced that if we would take the time to listen to our Father God and then obey Him, we would avoid the frustrations that plague our days.

That being said, it is important for us to realize that God is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to listen to us.  So many of us have felt alone, hopeless, and depressed at some point in our lives.  The enemy lies to us that no one cares and no one will listen and we listen to him and believe the lies. (Another facet of listening...knowing to whom we should listen!  Watch for that in another blog!)  God will listen any time, day or night, and He more than cares...He loves us so much that He sent His only son, Jesus, to the world to bring us back into relationship with Him.

One of the greatest gifts we can give to each other is listening.  Attentively and intentionally listening.  Listening with a goal to hear what is being said with words and what is being said with expressions and actions.  I'm going to be intentional about listening to my family and friends with undivided attention and my mouth closed.  Listening to learn and to love, not listening to respond.

There's a time for speaking and a time for listening.  I'll be doing both this year, but if you need someone to listen, I'd be delighted to!