love

YOU ARE LOVED…

/ Lesa / 2 Comments

I don’t know what I would do without music.  It’s one thing that can keep me going on those days where my fatigue is just getting the best of me.  It’s very common in my house to hear my iPod blasting music with me singing and dancing around the kitchen like an idiot either cleaning or cooking.  I realized the other day when thinking about this post that there is a lot of music that talks about love.  Love going right and love gone bad.  Why do you think that is?

Coffee-for-Your-Heart-150I’m linking up with my friend Holley Gerth and joining her Coffee for Your Heart challenge. Each Wednesday she asks us to encourage our readers with a theme and guess what this week’s theme is – You’re Loved.  Well how about that?  (smile).

I think there is a very good reason why so many songs talk about love.  We all have a strong desire to be loved.  It’s part of our human nature. But how good are you at loving yourself?  I’m not talking about thinking you are all that and a bag of chips kind of loving yourself.  I mean really accepting how your Father created you.  I think all too often we feed ourselves with negative talk.  I think this really grieves God.  He created you with a plan and a purpose.  Uniquely designed just for you.  Doubting yourself and putting yourself down defeats His plans for you. He loves you more than you can even imagine and He wants you to share that love…with others…and yourself.  As a matter of fact, I don’t believe you can love well unless you truly love yourself.  Jesus’ greatest command to us is found here:

Mark 12:30-31
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’.  There is no greater commandment than these.

As you can see, this love thing is pretty important to God.  But notice that He tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Hmmmm…I think if we aren’t good at loving ourselves…we may not be so good at loving others.  If we are tearing ourselves down, how can we build others up?  So, give yourself a break.  Remember that you are loved beyond measure by a God who knows all your flaws.  But you know…they serve a purpose too.  They help us to rely on Him and they help us to grow.  If you have trouble grasping that you are loved, ask someone for help.  Don’t waste another day not knowing the freedom and grace that God can give you.

His love never fails…it never gives up…it never runs out.  And because I love music so much I leave you with this (smile):

Neither height nor depth…

/ Lesa / 10 Comments

The only way I can even begin to wrap my brain around how much God loves me is to think about the love I have for my children.  I would do anything for them.  When they were little, even the most frustrating day could be made better by sneaking in their rooms at bedtime and watching them sleep.  They always looked like little angels and the days frustrations just melted away.  And in the morning…we had a fresh start.

It’s hard for me to believe sometimes that God’s love for us is even stronger than the love I have for my children.  He sees our mess, He knows our hearts, and He loves us.  Oh how He loves us.  One of my favorite verses is Romans 8:38-39 (NIV):

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.

Notice that there isn’t a “but” in that verse or an “if”.  Nothing can separate us from His love.  As much as I love my children and family, my love is nothing in comparison to God’s love.  God is love.

When people find out that I have a gay son, a common response is “of course you love him…he’s your son.” For some, that statement seems to imply that if he wasn’t my son, I wouldn’t love him…that somehow he wouldn’t be worthy of love because he is gay.  It’s as if you are saying, “well I think same sex attraction is a sin, but what are you going to do, he is your son and you love him.”  My son is not the first gay person that I’ve ever known.  Over the years I’ve known many gay people.  I found that they were just like me.  Regardless of whether or not you think same sex attraction is a sin, I love my son despite the fact that he is a sinner.  Just like I love my husband, despite the fact that he is a sinner.  Just like God loves you, despite the fact that you are a sinner.

When Jesus was asked, “of all the commandments, which is the most important?”  He answered in Mark 12:29-31 (NIV):

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these.”

It seems to me that this love thing was pretty important to Jesus.  And I think the reason for that is…love matters.

I shouldn’t be allowed on here today…

/ Lesa / 11 Comments

So I googled the word frustrated tonight and this is one of the pictures I found:

frustrated-baby

I have to admit…it made me feel a little bit better.  Look at that face!  I had a post all ready to go for today.  I wrote it yesterday.  I usually pray before, during, and after a post before I actually “publish” it.  I finished it pretty late last night and wanted to sleep on it before posting it today.  I got sidetracked this morning by an article someone posted about the church and gay people.  There were a slew of comments after the article.  I have to tell you…reading those comments I was ashamed to call myself a Christian.  I couldn’t stop thinking about it…and it made my heart heavy.

There is nothing wrong with having a strong opinion.  There is nothing wrong with standing up for what you believe in and being very passionate about it.  It is, however, wrong to tear other people down when discussing your stance on something.  The name calling and strong language is just wrong.  The funny thing is that the people who have the strongest opinions assume a lot (you can tell by what they say) and they really have NO CLUE what they are talking about.

When I read posts like I did today, it always makes me question if I’m doing the right thing by having this blog.  Is this really what God wants me to do?  Did I hear Him right?  Will it ever really make a difference?  As I was pondering these questions, God showed me these verses (in the translation that I have listed):

1 Timothy 1:12 – New American Standard Bible (NASB)

12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service,

Zephaniah 3:17 – New International Version (NIV)

17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Thank you for the reminders Lord.  This was the verse He led me to before I started the blog:

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 – The Message (MSG)

13-14 Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you’ve got, be resolute, and love without stopping.

As the Tenth Avenue North song says…”Empty my hands, fill up my heart, capture my mind with you”

I’m going to keep on keeping on….

Love each other…you know why (smile)