Living Loved

"I have loved you with an everlasting love;

I have drawn you with loving-kindness. 

I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt."

Jeremiah 31:3-4

Throughout high school, in the back of my head, I always thought about what would happen if I were to be in a car accident? Wondering who would show up to the hospital? Who really cared about me or who loved me? Some days it was just a thought, other days it was a hope. 

I thought of myself as not enough. Whether it be in my school work, at home, with boys, if I was skinny enough, or with sports. As I got older, I learned to hide those fears and insecurities with the right words, appearance and actions. I saw myself in a way that was not God's view of me at all and I was trying to find love in the wrong places. My junior year and senior year of high school, I wasn't necessarily doing the wrong things, but I moved further away from God. At that point in my life, I had a self focus instead of being Christ centered. Jesus always had something more.

Truth: 

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should

 be called children of God! And that is what we are!" -1 John 3:1

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God it love." -1 John 4:16

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8

When it comes to following Christ, we need to do so by following the melody of his love for us. We need to pour God's love into our mind so it can make its way into our hearts. Because we can't see or touch him, it is not natural to live feeling loved by God. We learn to live loved by taking his word of truth by faith. We are his children and he wants to provide for us. The care, protection, love and direction that we need. When we allow him into our hearts, He replaces our fears with a wonderful peace. He showers us with his love and when realized by faith, can calm us, center us, and builds a confidence in us.

There are a few things I realized.
When we live as one who is loved:

• We live differently, a journey with the Father
• We have a changed viewpoint, our focus is the bigger picture of God's unseen plan
• We can walk in faith, believing in something we cannot see, but dare to hope for

 This week is going to challenge me a little bit. I need to think about how am I going to show love to someone that maybe I normally wouldn't? At work? At home? With friends? And pray for those situations that the lord brings me to. To not look for love from people, but focus on the true love God has for me. I need to remember that without faith, it is impossible to please our heavenly father and I need to ask God to help me in areas with any unbelief regarding my true identity as his daughter and to remind myself of the truth that God lavishes his love on me. Bring it on!

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" -Romans 8:31