Bridges

Love. Four letters. Many interpretations. Many ways to show it. Shared by many. Some feel it. Others give it. You can hold it. You can feel its departure. You can see it. You can think it. You can have it. Confined to the society’s interpretation being only in relationships with a significant other or how physically active you are with someone else, love is completely misunderstood. One must not receive gifts from others or have a significant other to have love. Love is up to you. Love resides in your heart. Love is always a choice you can make to love others, to make others feel love, to show others love, give it, share it, and see it.

Many people do not believe they are loved. Many people do not want to admit it, especially if they have been taught that God loves them. So, for those that are too afraid to say it: I myself struggle daily to accept the love God has for me as a truth in my life. The promise he gives in Jeremiah is a refreshing reminder of the everlasting love of God.

Jeremiah 31:3 (ESV)

3 the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

It is easier to accept I am not loved because that explains why things go wrong for me from time to time. Because of this lie, I must preach the truth of God’s love to myself every single day. On my mirror, I have it written so every morning I am reminded the loved, unique, beautiful, child of God that I am.

On the average day, I do not feel loved. I feel alone no matter what people do or say. Day by day God proves me wrong. In the big things and the small, He shows me His constant presence and care for me as His daughter. I have realized that every good act of another person is an act of God’s love through the people around you. He is constantly using the things and people around me to show His love to me whether that is a reason to laugh or laugh, a hug, a shoulder to cry on, or anything else that involves good friendships and supportive family in Christ.

James 1:17 (ESV)

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

To grow in the healing from what my past has brought, I need to first accept the truth of the love God has for me and sacrifice the comfort of not crying or feeling pain so that the feeling of love can break through my walls I put up, my insecurities, and the chains of my guilt of the past that holds me down. It is easy to lie to ourselves about things such as our ability to be loved; but we rob ourselves from true freedom. True freedom comes by accepting the truth and embracing the love so freely offered by God himself. I must accept truth so that I can feel the grace and love of God overwhelm me to my core. Accepting the love of God in my life, relieves the chains of guilt that sin brings. It breathes life into a soul darkened by the harm of others. It opens me up to feel the comfort of God throughout all of life, especially when life seems to fall apart.

There will be waves you can’t seem to overcome. You will feel like you are drowning. You will feel you will fall off the side of the mountain that you are climbing. There will be times you can’t swim any more or climb any more or whatever the world throws at you; but only one person will never leave you, that is love. People do not love perfectly. No matter how amazing he or she is they will not be able to love you with the love that your soul longs for. Your soul longs for a perfect and everlasting love. Your soul longs for n unconditional love. People will let you down over and over again. God never will. God's love is so vast it’s hard to accept. It is hard to believe that such a love exists, but it does.

I mean he has seen every little bit of my ugly rotten heart. He sees what I have thought, said, and done, along with everything I will in the future. He loves me ANYWAY! He was there with me last year, a few years ago, and a few years before that when I was a person I am now embarrassed to say was me. But for every regret there is an all loving God in the truest sense of love that 100% means everything He says about my value and the love He has for me.

For every heartache that falls upon me the need for His comfort becomes more real. The need for His love to overwhelm me becomes a life source. Above all else, love is pointing out what is crippling someone from growth. Love is helping someone rip off the Band-Aid and rebuild a better mindset or thinking process to heal the wound even those wounds long ignored. This is how love helps us not just barely get by, but thrive throughout our lives. Love breaks through chains, lies, and walls.

1 John 4:16 (ESV)

16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Love. One word. One meaning. God. God is always with me. That is love. God is always pushing me to be better. That is love. God puts people in my path to give me a glimpse of His protection, love, mercy, and grace. That is love. Love without actions is just a word. It means nothing. Love is action. Love is sacrifice. Love is encouragement. Love is being present. Love is a listening ear. God is love.

In the end, there is nothing that will stop God from pursuing a relationship with you. He will get your attention however He needs. No mountain is too tall or valley too low for God to wrap His loving arms around you. For Him to love you in the truest way love can be shown. There was a time I felt unlovable. Daily, I have to fight the battle Satan tempts me with. He puts words of deceit in my head that I am too broken, too damaged, too far gone, to be worthy of God’s love. That’s just it, I am not worthy of His love, but He loves me ANYWAY! See right there how Satan twists the truth. He took the truth of God being loving and twists it in my mind to say I am not worthy of it. But God, in His love has built the bridge between man and Himself. I only need to run across that bridge into His arms. Our hope and peace need to be found in the one who has loved us with a reckless, relentless, and everlasting love that no man can ever live up to.

“Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.”

- "Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury