2 weddings of couples where the pursuit of the bride we long distance yet totally consistent and committed (Orlando-Birmingham, and North Carolina - China!!) remind me of how He pursues us. The gospel really is too good to be true. It really is! Then I watched Diary of a Mad Black woman... on TBS... some hard stuff in there and pretty funny but there is definitely sacrificial love... LOVE is what breaks down walls... and it takes force to break down walls and love is the perfect power to do that! And then, I have heard the stories of people being in close relationship with friends where their Christ like love for one another- their effort in being intentional and not backing up brought about the love and life of Christ in such life changing ways that people are ruined for the present!! Lastly I watched my granddad weep at the foot of his wife of 64 years' bed as he has done for the last month and a half as he watches her slip more each day into the throws of dementia. Even when she pushes and cuts at him in her conscious moments, he comes everyday to the nursing home and looks for the good things about the day yet mourns the loss of the love of his life and his best friend as he's known her, dreaming of the day they can return home.
To sit and think that He takes pleasure in us because we are His- not because of what we do or accomplish- really it is a gift of grace! Even when we ignore the fact that He is pouring out to us! He has given it ALL! It is that grace that changes my life! It is so powerful that even though I have heard this before it's like I have heard it for the first time--that is the GOSPEL!
Do not despair or be discouraged- the Lord your God loves YOU for YOU and He is so committed to you knowing that. WE just have to open our eyes and see- He may be whispering or he may be screaming, but step back and look- He is in ALL things, declaring His glory and offering all He has that you may know Him.
This hymn just sealed it for me...
O LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO
(arr. by Jason Sears, orig. by George Matheson...)
1. O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
May richer, fuller be!
2. O light that follows all my way,
I yield my flickering flame
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
May brighter, fairer be.
O Love (that will not let me go)
That will not let me go
O love (that holds my trembling soul)
That holds my trembling soul
O Love (that will not let me go)
That will not let me go
O love (that heals and makes me whole)
That heals and makes me whole
O love love that will not let me go
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3. O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
4. O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
