There are some things about God that I sense very clearly on a day-to-day basis. One of these is his guidance in my life. It's very clear to me that my whole life He's been bringing me to greater heights in my relationship with Him. He is also forever developing my character and molding me and making me into the person He created me to be. In every area of my life in which I put forth effort, he brings me to a higher level of learning, understanding, or achievement. At this point in my life, I see this in areas of time management, housekeeping, caring for my children, teaching my children, and loving my husband. God's just good like that. I see the fruits of it daily.
An attribute that I have trouble grasping in Him, though, is His love for me. Don't get me wrong. My earthly Daddy loves me. He just isn't always the best at showing it. I don't blame him for this. We're all wired differently from birth, and our experiences in life have a major impact on who we become too. Yet I do see a connection between my trouble grasping God's love for me and my trouble at times grasping my Daddy's love for me.
I remember hearing Joyce Meyer say a couple of times that she spent a whole year studying about God's love in the Bible because it was hard for her to receive it. In no way, shape or form, do I have the difficult past that she had to overcome. Yet I would probably do really well to follow her advice. At this moment, though, I'm thinking it would help me to reflect on His love for me by remembering all that He's done for me.
Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. (Psalm 103:1-5)
The older I get, the more I understand that people were not put here to fill my every need. Seeking that in any relationship is like going down a dead-end-road. It's a waste of time. God created people to love and support us but not to meet our every need. That's something that only He can do. If that were not so, what need would we have for Him? Thinking on that truth makes me thankful for the the areas in my heart that my Daddy, my husband, and no one else can fill or heal. It just makes me all the more thankful for the One who can.
This is beautiful Jamie, I had problems in this area as well. What I had to grasp was God's "Unconditional" love. His love is not based on anything, He simply loves us. No matter what we look like, where we came from, how much money we have, how many friends we have, etc....He simply loves us because. I began to pray and I had a dear friend praying for me as well during the times I needed God to reveal His love to me and He did. Sometimes He reveals His love to me in big ways by really shocking the socks off of me so to speak, doing things that I am not even expecting. Then at times it is in small things. One day in particular a couple of years ago I was feeling down and thinking no one loved me and in that very moment I looked outside and there was a red bird on the deck as though God placed him right there in a split second to say "I Love You". As Beth Moore would say, it was a God Stop moment. He is so Amazing!
ReplyDeleteAlthough the ones He has placed in our lives can not love us like we expect them too, it's not because there's anything wrong with us, it's so we can realize that only God can fulfill us. I love my husband, my children and my family and I know they love me in return, but it's God's love that knows no limits. In their fleshly nature they can not possibly love me like God can. Like you said, if they could we would not need God. I read something the other day that really blessed me.
There are no limits to His love
No Boundaries to His Blessings
No Fences to His Faithfulness
No Lines Drawn to Seperate Us from His Salvation
No Guardrails against His Grace
No Containers holding His Compassion
No Restrictions to experiencing His Righteousness