Hey Friend,
Do you ever get so worn down that you just need a good ole dose of lovin'? And, not the kind of love that says, "I'll love you when..." or "I'll love you if...".
Let me share with you a birthday card that always sits on the table beside me where I do my writing. It was given to me by a wonderful friend who knows I struggle at times with truly believing that God loves me...period. No strings attached.
It reads: God Rejoices In You
The Lord your God is with you...He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)
(The cover of the card is filled with sparkly pink cupcakes with candles in them- how girly and yummy is that?)
Inside it goes on: Not once upon a time, but all of the time...God rejoices in your life. He believes in you...watches over you...and tenderly keeps you in His constant care.
You are valued and loved, not only by those who know you, but by the one who created you! Happy Birthday! (thank you DaySpring cards).
I love the word "delight"! When was the last time someone truly delighted in you? Not for what you did or accomplished, but simply because you were you?
We are human and we put conditions on our love for people. Everyone we know, including our closest family, will forsake us at some point in our lives. Not so with God. He is capable of pure unconditional love.
I am a very emotional and "feelings" oriented person. I admit I have struggled with a vision of God who is emotional to the point that he would gush over me with love, delight and singing. I can picture Jesus doing that...after all he was the one who sought after lost sheep and performed compassionate miracles of healing. He was tender and loving toward little children. But God?
He's capable of plagues and who has not heard of "the wrath of God"? But, Jesus says it himself in John 14:9. "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." Jesus is God in human flesh - fully human, yet fully God. When I look at Jesus, I am staring straight into the eyes of my Heavenly Father.
This is the God who so loved me, that he sent His only Son to the cross because He couldn't bear to live without Me...God sent his own son so that He could adopt me, little old me, as His very own child.
Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father." (Romans 8:15)
Abba translated means "Daddy". Because of what Christ did for me, I can now call God, Daddy. I've always wanted to be "Daddy's little girl", and because of what Christ did for me, I now am. The bond is forever and nothing can ever separate me from my Daddy. I am worthy! I am loved unconditionally!
"...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." (Romans 8:39)
Have you ever stood beneath a mountain waterfall? I have, and it is the most wonderful feeling having the pure, fresh, life giving water gushing over you. The water has no end...it just keeps on coming...drenching me, enveloping me, soaking me...
That's how I envision God's great love for me. A love without end. I invite you, if you never have, to accept God's offer of adoption. It doesn't have to be all flowery and profound, but a simple prayer that invites Christ to come into your heart and be the Lord of your life. A prayer that says, "I accept your act of unconditional love, by which Jesus took my sins upon himself so that I will never have to be separated from you, my Abba Daddy."
Then run and fall into the arms of your Father, your Abba, your Daddy and let him rejoice over you with singing. Let him delight in You!
Love,
Bev
