As this most holy week ends with the celebration of Easter, I am overwhelmed by just how much our Father must love each and every one of us! Today, we celebrate Jesus’ triumph over death, rising from the dead, and providing each one of us the opportunity to enter Heaven. Hallelujah! He is risen!
This Easter season, I have been spending a great deal of quiet time with Jesus. I have been asking about His purpose for my life, and trying to listen and patiently wait for His reply.
In my quiet, one thought continues to come to my mind…
“You Are Loved!”
I am not sure about you, but sometimes I can only see my flaws. I focus on what I haven’t done, what I did or said that hurt someone, what I could have done differently, etc. I think about choices in my past and wonder how far that took me off of His path. I have felt guilty and ashamed of how far away I drifted from the One who created me.
All of these negative feelings put a wall up between Him and me. It is difficult to hear His kindness and love when I continue to feel shame. And, while I am certain He wishes I would have made different choices, I know that He would not want me walking around with my head hanging low.
I know this because I am a mother. There is NOTHING my children can do to make me love them any less. When they make mistakes (or make poor choices), I hope to help them learn from them to make better choices in the future. I hope they know I always love them – No Matter What!
If I love my children like that, just imagine how much our Heavenly Father must love each one of us. He sent His Only Son to Earth to show us His Love. He demonstrated God’s love to so many people while here on Earth and ensured there were many of those accounts recorded for each one of us to read about. Not only can we read about each miracle, we can also read about how He feels about His children.
I saw this posted on the K-Love Afternoon Show Facebook page and felt called to share it:
PLEASE STOP
Go back to the photo above and re-read each one slowly. Take each one in, and try to hear God’s voice saying each one of these sentences to you. Imagine Him standing before you, looking into your eyes, saying each sentence.
Wow! I am not sure about you, but that is awe-some! I didn’t get far down the list before my heart burst open and my eyes filled with tears. Just thinking about how very much our Heavenly Father loves me, loves you, loves every person on this Earth. How powerful!
When I truly take these in, I know that our Heavenly Father wants us to live feeling each one of these. He wants us to live boldly, not because we earned anything ourselves, but because He loves us so very much that He conquered the world! And, we should live like that…live like we are loved!
Hawk Nelson has a great song titled, Live Like You’re Loved: Click Here
While I like the entire song, I especially like these lines:
I’m tellin’ you somethin’This God we believe inYeah, he changed everythingNo more guilt! No more shame!He took all that awayGave us a reason to SING!
Heavenly Father,
On this most holiest day, I come to You in Thanksgiving! I thank You for the love You have shown me and every one of Your children through the life, death and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus. How much You must love each one of us!
Father, seeing and feeling that love, I ask for Your continued assistance in helping me live like I am loved by You! I ask for this both in the calm times and in the more difficult times. Please help me to always remember Your love, Your kindness, Your patience and Your strength. Please help me to always hold my head up high, not because of me, but because I am Your child. You have given everything for me. Help me to always remember that You created me, and You have called me:
Beautiful Unique Loved Special Created with a Purpose Cared For Lovely Strong Important Forgiven A New Creation Protected Family YOURS!In Your most holy name,
Amen!
