You Are Loved

The following is a repost of something I wrote several years ago.  It still holds just as true as it was then and will ever be...

If there is one simple truth, one message I could give to you, one thing I want you to step away from this blog knowing - it is this...

God Loves You:

no matter what you weigh

no matter what you wear

whether your hair is:  long or short - curly or straight - brunette, blond, red, gray, or white

even if you have no hair

whatever your job is

even when you are grumpy

with makeup or without

whether you cooked dinner, or ordered takeout

whether your house is clean or messy

whether the laundry is clean or not

if you made it to the gym today or skipped it

with pimples - or wrinkles

if you have a house full of children - or no children

Despite of what you've done

Because of who you are

Always

No matter what

My One Word: LOVE

It's that time again... when I select one word to be my focus for the next year.  Each year, I start praying about my word and thinking about it around October.  Somehow the word always seems to find me rather than having to go looking for it.   In past years that work has been Fearless, Better, and - most recently - Simplify. 

For 2018 my word is:  LOVE

I anticipate this year being a journey of three stages based on Matthew 22: 37-39...

"Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"


Love of God:  Sinking deeper into His Word to develop a better understanding and appreciation of His great unconditional for myself and the world at large. As a result, I expect my own love for Jesus to deepen and mature

Love of Myself:  Learning to love and appreciate myself for the unique individual God created me to be.  Taking better care of myself - spiritually, emotionally, and physically through kindness, acceptance and grace.

Love of Others:  Demonstrating LOVE to those around me. Especially family and friends.  But also strangers and even to the seemingly unlovable.

Do you have a word for 2018?

Sunday Inspiration: He Delights in Me

We're All The Same

We are all the same in God's eyes.  Beloved prodigal children.  Wanted wanderers.  Sinners in need of redemption.  He loves all of us.  Deeply.  Freely.  Completely.

He died for all people.  The people you love.  And the ones you don't like very much.  He died for the ones who make you smile when you think of them.  And the ones who make you cringe.  He died for ALL of us.  Every single one. Because He loves each of us just that much.

(Yes.  Even that person you're thinking of right now.)

You can find me connecting at these Blog Hops and Link Ups

They All Weigh The Same

Jesus didn't just die for some of us because our sin wasn't too bad. And he didn't die for some of us because our sin was bad enough.  He died to redeem ALL of us from the prison of our sins.  The "big" sins, and the "small" sins.  He didn't pick and chose which sins he would carry up to the cross.  He felt the weight of each and every one of them. 

photo - publicdomainpictures.net

Sin is sin.  It's all the same in God's eyes.  We can play the justification game in our head.  You know the one... "well, at least I've never done that!"  But my sin was nailed up on that cross right along with yours - and everyone Else's.

We don't like to think about it.  We like to look at the Cross and focus on the after.  What came next.  The redemption.  The salvation.  That's all well and good.  It's great, in fact.  BETTER than great.  But especially during this Lenten season - until we acknowledge the sin and all the judgement and justice which it deserved, how can we fully appreciate the fullness of the gift of the forgiving?

 

You can find me connecting at these Blog Hops and Link Ups

As I Have Love You

“A new command I give you: Love one another. 

As I have loved you, 

so you must love one another.^"

 ~ John 13:34

"Love one another" 

Jesus' words to His disciples.  "Love one another"  Seems simple enough, doesn't it? 

But He doesn't stop there.  Not just the basic "love one another" .  Nope... 

"As I have loved you, so you must love one another"

Whoa!!  Hold up there! 

Love others as Jesus loved?

Jesus... Fully God.  Fully man.  

Jesus...  Who gave up everything - His place in Heaven, His home.  His place of power at the right hand of God.  His very life!  Gave it all up out of love.

THAT's the kind of love to which we are called?  Those are some mighty big sandals to fill!

I dare say most of us aren't willing or able to love fully to that extent.

But if we tried... If each of us held that kind of love up as the example we worked to imitate.  

Imagine the difference it could make in the world if each of us at least made the attempt to love as Jesus loved.  

   

You can find me connecting at these Blog Hops and Link Ups
 The Dwelling Tree: Let's Be Friends
Cornerstone Confessions: Titus 2 Tuesday
Rich Faith Rising: Unite!
Growing Home: Growing Homemakers

Yesterfood: Treasure Box Tuesday

Juana Mickels: Wednesday's Prayer Girls

WholeHearted Home: Wholehearted Wednesdays Linkup

We Are THAT Family: Works For Me Wednesdays

Woman to Woman: Word-filled Wednesday

A Little R & R: A Little R&R Wednesdays
Joy Dare Blog: Capture Your Journey Link Up 
My Daily Walk in His Grace: Winsome Wednesday 
So Much at Home Linkup Party 
Holley Gerth: Coffee for Your Heart 
Adorned From Above: Wednesday Link Party
Mom's Morning Coffee: Coffee & Conversation 

One Simple Truth

If there is one simple truth, one message I could give to you, one thing I want you to step away from this blog knowing - it is this...

God Loves You:

no matter what you weigh

no matter what you wear

whether your hair is:  long or short - curly or straight - brunette, blond, red, gray, or white
even if you have no hair

whatever your job is

even when you are grumpy

with makeup or without

whether you cooked dinner, or ordered takeout

whether your house is clean or messy

whether the laundry is clean or not

if you made it to the gym today or skipped it

with pimples - or wrinkles

if you have a house full of children - or no children

Despite of what you've done

Because of who you are

Always

No matter what

publicdomainpictures.net

You can find me connecting at these Blog Hops and Link Ups

My Love Dare: Day 20

“While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” ~ Romans 5:6

Day 20: Love is Jesus Christ

We are all imperfect people.

We all sin.

We all make mistakes

We all fail sometimes.

We all have flaws.

Despite all of our short comings and disobedience – God still love us!

Jesus proved God’s love for us on the cross.

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." ~ Romans 5:8

We don’t have to work for God’s love. We don’t have to earn it. We can’t. It’s a gift freely given to us. All we have to do is accept it.

Once we begin to understand the love God has for us; we can begin to share that love.

To love our spouse even when they may not act lovable. To see past the flaws and imperfections and still love. To give them the grace and blessings of that love. To share with them the True Love we have found in Christ.

TODAY’S DARE: DARE TO TAKE GOD AT HIS WORD. DARE TO TRUST JESUS CHRIST FOR SALVATION. DARE TO PRAY, “LORD JESUS, I’M A SINNER. BUT YOU HAVE SHOWN YOUR LOVE COR ME BY DYING TO FORGIVE MY SINS, AND YOU HAVE PROVEN YOUR POWER TO SAVE ME FROM DEATH BY YOUR RESURRECTION. LORD, CHANGE MY HEART, AND SAVE ME BY YOUR GRACE.”

I opened my heart to God’s grace and love some time ago. But I still sometimes need to remind myself of exactly how much God loves me. And how that love was shown through Christ. And to ask him to continue to change my heart and lead me in His will.

“In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them.” ~ Isaiah 63:9

Happy Valentine's Day

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.


Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

~ 1 Corinthians 13

My Love Dare: Day 10

God deomonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ~ Romans 5:8

Day 10: Love is unconditional
Why do you love your spouse? Could you make a list of reasons? I could. I’ve even written a blog post about it.  41 Reasons

What if one day your spouse stopped being every one of those things? Would you still love him?

Love isn’t (and shouldn’t be) determined by the one being loved, but by the one choosing to do the loving.

This kind of love is “Agape”. Unconditional love. Selfless love. Agape love is the kind we speak of in marriage vows: “for better or for worse”. This is “True Love”

This is the type of love God has for us. He doesn’t love us because we are loveable, but because He is loving. We don’t have to earn His love. He has made the choice to love us all on His own..

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~ Romans 8:38-39

This is the type of love that makes a marriage strong and lasting. Not love that gives up when it doesn’t like something, but love that loves even when everything isn’t perfect.


TODAY’S DARE: DO SOMETHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY TODAY FOR YOUR SPOUSE – SOMETHING THAT PROVES (TO YOU AND TO THEM) THAT YOUR LOVE IS BASED ON YOUR CHOICE AND NOTHING ELSE. WASH HER CAR. CLEAN THE KITCHEN. BUY HIS FAVORITE DESSERT. FOLD THE LAUNDRY. DEMONSTRATE LOVE TO THEM FOR THE SHEER JOY OF BEING THEIR PARTNER IN MARRIAGE.

I had great plans percolating in my head.  I was going to make a banana pudding for The Man of the House.  Unfortunately, I didn't seriously think about it until too late in the day and I had neither pudding, nor vanilla wafers, nor whipped cream. Oops!  Ok... quick plan change. I decided to give him a nice, relaxing foot rub while we watched a little evening television. Which I did.