It is 4:09 am and I am still awake. I was feeling very discouraged yesterday and it lasted until a few minutes ago. I have been wrestling for hours as to why this discouragement has been following me lately. It is so beautiful right now in Flagstaff!! Summer is my favorite time of year with its long days and beautiful colors!! I love being outside with my bare feet in the lush green grass!! My family is healthy and happy!! My precious baby is home for the summer!! So I struggled with this question for hours with no answer in spite of several attempts to distract myself.
This led me to pray a different prayer. I stopped asking; "Why?" and I started asking; "Lord, help me to be lifted out of this discouragement." And, of course, my perfect and gracious God did a miracle in my heart!! He gave me a revelation of something so exciting, I felt like a superhero jumping out of the deepest of pits. So I want to share it with you.
As I asked God to help me, I was reading through the scriptures and came to a very familiar passage. But in the familiar, I found a new and exciting revelation. I was reading my Amplified Bible (which is a version of the bible that includes Greek and Hebrew word definitions in the text). I was reading 1 Corinthians 13 which is usually referred to as the "Love" chapter. In verse 8, it says; "Love never fails..." and then defines this phrase with the words; "never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end." This was very exciting to me!! I had never understood this to mean that love never fades away, becomes obsolete, or comes to an end!!
Later in the passage in verse 13, my Amplified Bible gave a beautiful definition of love. It defined love as being; "true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for us and God's love in us." As I read this, I related so much to the statement. How many times have I been so aware of the extravagant way God loves me and seen it overflow to all who are around me. When I comprehend the way God loves me, it spills out all over the place!! Being filled with this kind of love gives me a true affection for God and man. Meditating on this concept makes me realize God's love in me gives me a true affection for people; even those who might be considered my enemies. This is supernatural!!
This new insight filled me with hope! My discouragement seems so far away!! Each day as I go through life letting the love of Jesus spill out with true affection, I am doing something that will never fade away. Each and every moment of love will never end. It will last forever and follow me and everyone else into eternity!! Though the gifts I have and the causes I support will be lost to this life on earth, no moment or act of love will ever be lost!! These actions are eternal!!
Think about this revelation. Think about how many times this true affection for God and man has happened in our lives!! Hugs, kisses, high-fives, acts of compassion, sacrifices made for others, and other moments like these are critical! They are never to be lost! Wow!! I am ready to face today with the joy of knowing I can create eternal moments by staying close to Jesus and allowing love to flow out of me!! It is awesome to live knowing; "Love Never Fails!!"
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