The Ultimate Love

So, we are to the final days of February already. This week we are going to be reminded of the Greatest Love of All....God's love for us.


Ironically, as I was reading the "My Daily Bread" devotional yesterday, the scripture was from Isaiah 46. Verse 4 says: Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you.


God is with us, he sustains us. That in itself shows his love for us but there are so many more things. Of course, the biggest one is the fact that He sent His Son to die for us. He sent His Son to die for ME. I was in a Bible study one time as the realization came to a friend of mine that if she and Jesus were the only 2 people on earth, he would have still went to the cross so she could live. It was a humbling experience for all of us. I think another very humbling experience was when Robert was born. I had been saved for many years but holding this tiny human being in my arms and realizing Christ's purpose for being born was to die for me. I couldn't imagine letting Robert die for anyone. I pondered that for some time. I truly think the dawning of what God did for me hit home that day. John 3:16 took on new meaning: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life. Try replacing God with yourself and his one and only Son with your child's name. Do you love anyone that much? I couldn't do it and I feel I am a very loving person.


God shows His love for us in so many ways. We know our earth is a corrupted place but we are still given a majestic beauty just in so much of our landscape; the mountains, the ocean, the stars above....beautiful sights that remind us of His awesome love and majesty.


I love this little meme that is running around the internet:  

 

I have seen God's love for us almost all the time in the last few years. I have had to learn to just trust Him when I can't see how things are going to work out. It is not always easy but that moment you truly turn your problems over to Him, it is breathtaking, the peace you feel.

It just so happens that there is a new song about God's Love out and I can't get enough of it. The son is called Your are Loved, by Stars Go Dim. I want to take a bit of time to explore the lyrics.

We hide pain in the weirdest places:

Broken souls with smiling faces

Fighting for surrender for now and the after.

Isn't this so true? I think, even though I feel my faith is stronger than ever, I have spent the last three years in a struggle. I try very hard not to be afraid of what is in front of me but there just seems to be a lot going on. And I have a really bad habit of giving it all the Jesus just to snatch it back, especially when I don't get an instant answer.


Just look around and you'll see that
people are scared to say how they really feel
we all need a little honesty.


I get caught in this trap and I have admitted it here on this blog before. I don't like to say it when I'm worried because that is admitting I don't trust God is big enough. And the stupid thing is, I really do KNOW that He IS big enough. My suggestion is to pray for your loved ones, even if they haven't said they are struggling.


The second verse of that song says:


We're not made to be superheroes
Photo shopped, all size zero.
We're a light not expected, but not quite perfected yet.
Look up see the sun is shining,
There's hope on a new horizon, calling you.


I love this verse!! I am going through this RIGHT now! I want to be a superhero. I want to get up, do a days work at home before I go to work, then go to work and change the world, come home, fix supper, do another day's work and go to bed. I also wouldn't mind being a size zero, though I remember one of my best friends in high school struggling with being too thin as I was struggling with being too fat--the worst part is I would love to weigh and look like I did in High School- we are NEVER happy with ourselves!  But the rest of that verse says we aren't quite perfected yet. God is still working here-it is OK to not be able to do it all-that is God's job, not mine. Today I am truly talking to me!


The chorus of this song says:


You are loved
If your hearts in a thousand pieces
If your lost and far from reason
Just look up, know you are loved.
When it feels like something's missing
If it hurts and you can find healing
just look up and know you are loved.


Haven't we all been there? Heart breaking, lost and feeling all alone?


God knows and He cares. He truly does love you and me. You can never get so far away, that he can't reach down and sooth the heartache. It is okay to just wait. Actually, I heard myself ask Him this morning for a little clearer guidance because I am apparently too stupid to figure out what He is saying. It wasn't 2 minutes after that when I felt such a peace that it brought me to tears and I could hear him say, "It is going to be okay, I promise." and when I asked, "How?" He said, "You let me worry about that, you just keep your eyes on me." It is not easy to do, but it is what we are told constantly. The verses that comes to mind is Proverbs 3:5-6


Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.






There is a little bridge in the song that says:


You don't have to prove yourself, don't try to be someone else.




God sent Jesus to prove us, He made us to be who He wanted us to be, isn't that the most important thing to remember?







I leave you with just a couple more verses to remind you how much He loves you.




Romans 8:39:  nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.






NOTHING can separate God's children from His love.






And 1 John 3:1: Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.








We are set apart, we are His, and He LOVES us!




I have talked so much about the song from Stars Go Dim, here it is.


Enjoy, and remember, if God is for us, who can be against us? He loves us.

Friends

So, if you are reading this on Saturday morning, I am actually on my way to Chicago for a girls day with 3 of my 4 best friends from high school. Since this month's devotions are on love, I thought I would explore the importance of our friends.

Friends are a priceless gift from God. Friends that have known you your whole life just share a bond that can't easily be explained.

I have shared before that my dad died young. My mom was 40 when she became a widow. She and my dad were inseparable and I though that was great when I was growing up; but when Dad died, it left Mom in a lonely state. When Andrew and I got married I was so shocked because she told me then: don't make the same mistake, you make time for your friends. I think we all went through those years of running after kids, and jobs and life to where it was harder to get together (We have 8 kids between the 5 of us) but now as the last of those kids are all seniors in high school this year, it is getting easier to schedule time to see each other again. We still haven't successfully gotten all 5 in the same place at the same time, but we will.

When you are an adult, and look for friends we seem to have a set of criteria. God tells us we should look for friends who won't lead us astray (1 Corinthians 15:33 says, "Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals") When we are little though, you pick someone and think, "Yeah, I like you" and away you go. It is amazing to me how much you keep having in common with those friends. I know this isn't always the case, but again, thanks to the technology we call facebook, I see so many childhood friends that are still close.

So, today, I am offering up a few verses to ponder.

The first is on how the Bible says we are to treat our friends.

Ephesians 4:29-32 says: ²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

These girls I am spending the day with have been my friends for over 30 years, one of them over 40 years (Wow, just realized that myself). You know kids fight and argue. We were typical, we all had our spats too, but we need to forgive and forget and walk on. As I have gotten older these four are such a great source of encouragement to me and I hope I am to them as well.

The next thing I want to look at is how to be a friend. The simple answer to that is to just be there. In our busy lives, just knowing someone cares enough to take the time to say, "how are you?" is a big deal.  I had a disappointing doctor's appointment this week. On my way home I got a text: "How are you doing? Hope everything is ok". It made me smile, it made my heart smile.  My thoughts on this is, when you are feeling led to reach out to someone, DO IT.

The last thing on my list is to treasure your friendships- they are truly gifts from God.

Proverbs 27:17  says; As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Proverbs 11:14 says: For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.

Proverbs 77:17 says: A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

I think God makes it pretty clear, he meant for us to lean on each other, and to cherish one another.

I know I have focused on my high school friends today, I have so many friends that I have picked up along my journey and they are all important to me. Friends from different places we have lived, friends from Robert's school years, and friends I have through work. Please understand, all these friendships are important.

So, I challenge you today to say a special prayer of thanks for those people God brought along beside you and then get ahold of them and let THEM know you are thankful for them.

And what could be more appropriate than Michael W Smith's Friends.

My Top 10 Favorite Christian Love Songs

As promised:

These are all favorites, don't know that one outdoes the other. I decided to share a view of the video/ lyric videos, if you don't know the other ones, I believe they can all be found on youtube. NOW, I ask you to LEAVE YOUR FAVORITE IN THE COMMENTS. Happy Valentines Day!

1. The Captain and Tennille: The Wedding Song (There is Love)

2. Steven Curtis Chapman: I Will Be Here

3. Newsong: When God Made You

4. Dave Barnes: God Gave Me You


5. Michael W. Smith: I will Be Here for You

6. Casting Crowns: Wedding Day


7. Michael W. Smith: You Belong to Me

8. Selah: God Bless the Broken Road

9. Matthew West: When I Say I Do

10. Matthew West: The Day Before You

Love

Okay, so this is probably the easiest devotional I have came up with yet. Basically because it has already been written. Straight from the Bible, I find it odd when people say the Bible is outdated, or that it can't address problems from today. The Bible is so many miracles in itself, and one of those miracles is it is still relevant after all these years.  God gave us a perfect roadmap for relationships. It is all right here, all together in 1 Corinthians 13.

 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

So, glean from this, 16 things that make a healthy, happy, "what God wants for us" love.

1)  Love is Patient
I find it interesting that Patience is first and probably the most important thing to help with all the other things listed.  I struggle with patience myself and seem to think things would be better off done in my time, when we all know, God's time is the only timing that is truly perfect. We had been married about 6 years and living in Bloomfield, IN. We were celebrating the 50th anniversary of a couple that belonged to the church we were attending. When asked for their advice on how to have a happy marriage; the wife said, "If you want something changed about your husband, tell God, NOT your husband. Then God will either change your husband or show you that he wasn't the one that needed changed". I took this to heart and use it with EVERY relationship problem I have, husband, friend, family.....if I am having an issue, I start by telling God. It is amazing to me how many times He has shown He would take care of a situation and sometimes that He has told me to let it go.


2)  Love is Kind
This seems to be something so many Christians seem to forget. There seems to be a lot of unkindness in the world, and I hate it when  see it coming from Christians. Think twice, speak once, because contrary to the little kid's tale, Words do hurt. It also seems we are notorious for treating our loved ones worse than we treat total strangers. Unkind things cut deep, and when they are coming from someone you care deeply about, it is worse.


3)  Love Does not Envy
There is no place for jealousy in a relationship. That being said, don't put yourself in situations where there is a reason for anyone to be jealous. I cannot stand seeing married people who flirt.  A lot of people say flirting is harmless. Think back to when you first met your one and only, I can imagine some flirting went on. See where it led?  I deal with a fair amount of men and women both and I have had to sit, painfully, through some of them flirting with people in front of me, and a few times, trying to flirt with me. I pretty well take everything they say and tell them something my husband would say, it works. It shuts it down without being offensive. I have to tell you, I learned that from watching a fellow male colleague who was being flirted with at our table at lunch.  That was the day I learned his wife's name and realized instantly what he did. He turned the flirting into a conversation about his wife, my respect level raised higher for him that day and after that, I truly felt safe working with him.

4)  Love Does not Boast
Boasting and talking yourself up isn't necessary when you are with the right person. If you are being you, and they are the right one, God is going to let them know you are the one for them, you don't need to. Just be you.

5)  Love is not Proud
I think the translation that uses "puffed up" is my favorite. When you have to speak about how much you love somebody all the time, are you really honoring that person or are you deep down trying to proof to others how good YOU are. I apparently don't have many friends on fb that have to say constantly how much they love their significant other, but apparently there are some out there that has to say it on an hourly basis. The problem is, two weeks later, they have moved on to a new significant other. Herein lies part of the problem. That's not love. That is desperation and you need to realize you are back to that bit I was talking about last week of square pegs and round holes. If you are going through relationship after relationship, you might want to slow down and find a deeper relationship with your Lord and Savior first, let Him be your guide. That being said, yes, when Andrew does something really sweet, I share, it is still okay to tell others that you are thankful God gave you your one and only.

6)  Love Does not Dishonor Others
If you have to put someone else down to feel confident in your relationship, that's not love. PERIOD.

7) Love is not Self-Seeking
If you are trying to see "what's in it for me", that's not love. Love is that yearning to make someone else happy, and you find you are happiest when you are making that someone else happy. In return, that person is wanting to make you happy. I love that old song, Mutual Admiration Society. I believe that is the epitome of not self-seeking.

8)  Love is not Easily Angered
Okay, this is a picture of my husband. When we were younger, I would fly off the handle because of something he had done. He would sit and watch me and then say, "Are you finished?" which most of the time would make me laugh, at which time he would apologize or explain his actions. I have learned over the years to not get angry, because it truly isn't showing the best part of me. I wish I could say we never get upset with each other but that would be a lie, and everyone who has had a relationship knows it but I think the word there is easily. And the Bible tells us never to let the sun go down on your wrath. So, whatever it is, get it talked out before you go to bed.

9)  Love Keeps no Record of Wrong
This is also one I have been guilty of, Andrew said in passing one day that I store anything stupid he says up for the next time I get upset. We weren't even arguing and I realized he was right. Do you hear people say, "I will forgive but I won't forget", that isn't REALLY letting it go. God forgives us completely, covering our sins with the blood of His own Son. I think we can all work on being better forgivers.

10)  Love Does not Delight in Evil
Seriously, this always reminds me of Bonnie and Clyde. Yes, it is okay to laugh at that. But really, if Love does not delight in evil, how is it possible that they could even love each other? Just a thought, and I may be skipping over something here that someone really wanted to know about but my thought is, if you are trying to find a Christ-centered love, why would evil be a thought?

11)  Love Rejoices in the Truth
Ahh...Truth, sometimes painful, sometimes good, but facts are facts, a relationship cannot be built on lies. If you start finding someone you are trying to get to know hasn't been truthful with you, I can pretty well guarantee you, God didn't send them to you. I have seen this first hand pretty recently, it never ends well.

12)  Love Always Protects
Do you know what "Mom-Arm" is? Ask my son, he knows. He is 23 and to this day, if he is riding in the front seat and I am driving and I have to slam on my brakes, my right arm extends out across the passenger seat, hopefully holding him in place. Once you have ""mom-arm", it doesn't matter who is in that seat, and I will admit to putting it out there when nobody has been there at all. That is the way our relationships should be. Every chance we have to protect our loved ones from something that is going to hurt them, physically or mental, we just do. I believe it is a natural fruit of love.

13)  Love Always Trusts
There are a handful of people in this world that I would trust with my life. Some are friendships, some are family, and of course, one is Andrew. I think this is one of those ways you can figure out who in your life you truly love.

14)  Love always Hopes
When I hear this I think back to those days of our relationship being new, where we would sit for hours and talk about what our future was going to be like. Has it been anything like those thoughts in the first days? More no than yes, but the thing is, when God puts us on a new route, it is easier to adjust together. I know there is always one person that is walking this very same path. This goes back to what I said last week about that phenomenon of two becoming one.


15)  Love Always Perseveres
I went to a wedding a few years ago that the pastor said, "Divorce should not be in your vocabulary".
This is tricky and please remember, right this instant, this is personal opinion here, NOT WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS, okay?? I have seen marriages fail that I truly never believed God put them together in the first place. Was it regrettable that it failed, of course. I have too many friends that I believe God put their second (or whichever) marriage together to personally believe anything else though, as I said, personal opinion. I believe that the Love that is talked about in this chapter is God-centered love, not attraction, not infatuation but a deep, spiritual love. If that is the love you are entering into then as stated above, Divorce should not be in your vocabulary.


16)  Love Never Fails
This is the "when your whole world is shattered but there is someone there to pick up the pieces and hold you back together" feeling. And the thing is, the bottom line, so to speak is, we have relationship here on earth that God lets us experience this with each other but when it all comes down to it HE sent His Son to be the ultimate lover of our soul. He loved us so much that He not only would die for us, He DID die for us.

I don't know if you have ever looked at these verses this way, but replace all of these points with Jesus. Perfect love, right there, laid out for you.

There are a ton of songs that would go with today's devo, but being the Matthew West fanatic that I am and self-confessing that I had a problem with Not Keeping a Record of Wrong, I chose The List. This is a lot about keeping a list of your own wrongs too, it is time to tear it into a million little pieces.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day. If you are a couple, Thank the Lord for that person in your life that God made just for you and if you are a single this year, find some time to revel in the love He has for you. And look around, chances are, there are people out there that you love and that love you. It may not be in a couple's relationship, but you have love in your life, don't overlook it.

ALSO, Because I am a music fanatic, watch Sunday for a special blog post, I think I will give you all a playlist of my favorite Christian Love Songs.

Happy February!

Since this is the month of Valentine’s Day, I thought I would focus my devotionals on the voice in our heads regarding love. From “Why doesn’t anybody love me?” to “This wasn’t what I signed up for” and “Why am I a bum magnet?”

Please remember, this is NOT an advice column and I am not pretending to know all the answers because when it comes to this topic, I probably have more questions for God than answers myself.  I’m just sharing different things I have learned in my own journey.

This coming December, Andrew and I will be celebrating our 25^th wedding anniversary. I am so thankful to God for my husband. When I was younger, I dated several people, had a few long-term relationships and even spent 3 days engaged. I had this issue of wanting so badly to be in a relationship that I spent a lot of time trying to make square pegs fit into round holes. Some of these guys were seriously jerks (hence, the first person I ever called a bum magnet was yours truly), others were nice guys,  they just weren’t right.

I will never forget the first time I met Andrew. I had just started working at Walmart, and one of my trainers told me I just had to meet Andrew, or Drew, as he was known to all of us then.  At the time, he was the manager in charge of the overnight stocking crew. He was coming to work as the rest of us were getting ready to go home. This was in the days of stores closing at 10, so he got to wear blue jeans and t-shirts to work. I’m telling you this because the first time I ever met him, he was wearing a purple t-shirt with a frog on it, that said, “Kiss me, I might be a prince”.  Something has to be said for the fact I remembered that. The shirt disappeared before we ever started dating.  That was in September of 1989.

Over the next year and a half, Andrew switched to days and we truly became friends. In May of 1991, I started realizing I had feelings for him. This was a problem because he was my boss and there were rules against us dating.

For the first time ever, when it came to a relationship, I started praying. I prayed that God would open doors to make it legal for us to date, and then I prayed that Andrew  would ask me out.  One of my positions while working for Walmart was that of a loss prevention floor walker—I caught shoplifters.  In August of 1991, a position opened for a new store in Decatur. When I went to interview for the job, the first question I was asked was, “Are you dating Drew Browning?” I could honestly answer no. My soon-to-be supervisor told me Andrew had made several calls to make sure I got this interview. 

I was still praying things would change so he could at least be in a position to ask me out. It looked like that was happening.  I got the Decatur job in September, and officially transferred out in October. The next week, Andrew asked me out. We dated six weeks and then drove to Kentucky one Friday morning and got married. It is unreal to me that we are going on 25 years. Because I prayed so fervently for this to happen, I never had a second of doubt that it was right.

We have always tried to make God the center of our marriage and at times, we do a better job of that than others. We do get to experience that strange phenomenon of “two becoming one” because I think we have very seldom, if ever, both been in a rough place with God at the same time. Usually, whichever one is going through doubts and fears, the other one has received a boost of grace to help combat the negativity.

I would say around the year 2002, I heard something that changed our lives. I was on my way home from work at lunch. I was listening to Tony Evans on the radio and he was telling how God wired men and women differently.  Ephesians chapter 5 tells husbands to love their wives (vs. 25), but it tells the wives to RESPECT their husbands.  (vs 33).  This was truly an ah-ha moment for me. I had read several Christian relationship books but had never gotten the message this clearly. I knew I felt the most important to Andrew when he would show actions of love—a hug, a kiss, grabbing my hand if we are walking into a store and I always assumed it was the same for him.

That day though, I started watching how he responded to those things versus how he responded when I quite simply showed him respect. We live in a society where it has become the norm to put men down. So many of the television shows on now seem to portray women as the smart ones and their husbands as bumbling idiots. This is just wrong. Watch for it, you will see what I mean.  If shows made a habit out of men treating women that way, or even two women treating each other that way, it would be a big deal. When you realize God made men to crave respect, some of the things you see will honestly start to hurt.

In getting ready to write this, I turned back to Tony Evans and found a wonderful little e-book on just this subject. You can download it here:

http://go.tonyevans.org/christian-free-ebook-victorious-marriage?__hstc=235029662.de61367c6e2048c1a66ed852d82c80d2.1454707246387.1454707246387.1454707246387.1&__hssc=235029662.2.1454707246387&__hsfp=1518272375

I encourage you AND your spouse to read it, there are even some little daily devos in it.

I also encourage you to watch your actions toward your spouse this week. Women were made to crave love, although not all in the same way. They were made to want to know someone cares about them. Men were made to crave respect. They want to know someone believes they are capable of taking care of the people and properties God has entrusted them with. 

I’m leaving you with When God Made You, by Newsong and Natalie Grant.

I encourage you this month to look at your relationships. If you have a spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend, spend the month searching how you can draw yourselves closer to God as a couple. If you are single and still waiting for God to send you “the one”, search yourself and see if what you are looking for is what God would really want for you too.