Where do I begin? To tell the story of how great a love can be... A sweet love story that is older than the sea. The simple truth about the love He gives to me. Where do I start?
As I was walking this morning, I thought, "How I've missed this!" Not the exercise - I have to force myself to do that although I usually feel better afterward for having done it. No, what I missed was the intimate alone time with God. While I'm doing laps around the inside of the mall, I am in constant prayer to God - praising Him, repenting my failures and short-comings, sharing my fears and frustrations, lifting up the needs of others. But I'm not the only one doing all the talking. He speaks to me - gives me direction, correction, forgiveness, hope and encouragement. And I realized this morning that it's been a long time since I felt this kind of closeness and intimacy with my God.
I remember before I became a Christian, thinking that Christianity was just a big list of do's and don'ts - a strict, restrictive lifestyle that someone would have to be brainwashed to want to adopt. But I've come to find, as Jason Grey so eloquently writes in his song, it's more like falling in love.
It starts with accepting Christ's sacrifice on the cross for my sins - that's where we met. Then I read about His love, mercy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness in His Word and see these things played out in the lives of others, and I start admiring Him and wanting to be around Him all the time - that's the courtship period. Soon I start experiencing His personal love for me and seeing Him take an interest in and making a difference in my life, and I start to see that I don't want to live without Him any more - that's falling in love. Then I make a commitment to live my life to please Him, to never leave Him, to be faithful to Him- that's marriage.
I met Christ when I was very young. I had a long courtship period, during which I broke up with Him a few times when I wanted to go my own way, but He was always eager to take me back when I realized how much I missed Him. I started falling in love with Him and we were figuratively engaged for a long time. In early 2012, I finally made the commitment.
What I realized this morning is that no matter how much you love someone and how much they love you, there has to be a constant flow of communication to keep that love strong. Though Christ's love for me has never waned one iota, I didn't feel it as strongly when I wasn't setting aside that time to communicate with Him. When I do take the time to just be alone with God, I feel myself falling in love all over again. It's a glorious feeling. That's my love story. I pray you have a similar one. If not, there's someone I want you to meet...
As I was walking this morning, I thought, "How I've missed this!" Not the exercise - I have to force myself to do that although I usually feel better afterward for having done it. No, what I missed was the intimate alone time with God. While I'm doing laps around the inside of the mall, I am in constant prayer to God - praising Him, repenting my failures and short-comings, sharing my fears and frustrations, lifting up the needs of others. But I'm not the only one doing all the talking. He speaks to me - gives me direction, correction, forgiveness, hope and encouragement. And I realized this morning that it's been a long time since I felt this kind of closeness and intimacy with my God.
I remember before I became a Christian, thinking that Christianity was just a big list of do's and don'ts - a strict, restrictive lifestyle that someone would have to be brainwashed to want to adopt. But I've come to find, as Jason Grey so eloquently writes in his song, it's more like falling in love.
It starts with accepting Christ's sacrifice on the cross for my sins - that's where we met. Then I read about His love, mercy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness in His Word and see these things played out in the lives of others, and I start admiring Him and wanting to be around Him all the time - that's the courtship period. Soon I start experiencing His personal love for me and seeing Him take an interest in and making a difference in my life, and I start to see that I don't want to live without Him any more - that's falling in love. Then I make a commitment to live my life to please Him, to never leave Him, to be faithful to Him- that's marriage.
I met Christ when I was very young. I had a long courtship period, during which I broke up with Him a few times when I wanted to go my own way, but He was always eager to take me back when I realized how much I missed Him. I started falling in love with Him and we were figuratively engaged for a long time. In early 2012, I finally made the commitment.
What I realized this morning is that no matter how much you love someone and how much they love you, there has to be a constant flow of communication to keep that love strong. Though Christ's love for me has never waned one iota, I didn't feel it as strongly when I wasn't setting aside that time to communicate with Him. When I do take the time to just be alone with God, I feel myself falling in love all over again. It's a glorious feeling. That's my love story. I pray you have a similar one. If not, there's someone I want you to meet...
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