Have you ever seen something you’ve seen many times before, and suddenly it looks different? Maybe it’s the way the light hits it. That obviously happens. A table that looked clean the day before, looks dusty when the morning light lays across it.
The light of God’s love shows things as they truly are. I cringe at the thought, wondering how I must look when God’s light shines on me. But then I remember, He loved me even before I knew Him, and I realize His love is much the same as that morning light, and things are not as I thought they were. They’re better. Because though some of the dust remains, in His eyes… we shine.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10
All my life, I’ve heard the saying, “let go and let God,” but I resisted, thinking it was a cop out—an easy way out. No, I thought, I’ve got to keep fighting; I’ve got to figure this out on my own. These days, I can’t say I’ve completely let go, and I can’t say I’m now completely letting God. But I can say I’ve come a long way in both regards. And I didn’t know it at the time but even when I was trying to do it all on my own, God was guiding me to the place He needed me to be. Right where I am.
The following are excerpts from the new book of encouragements we’re working on. Sherry and I read two of them every morning as a method of editing. We’ve read devotionals, and then my encouragements, every morning since we’ve been together. It has made us and our love stronger in so many ways. Our faith in God and in each other grows more powerful each time we read His Word together.
In the early first hours of the day, God speaks to me silently from His heart to mine, and I feel like a child on my Father’s knee, my head against His chest, listening to the sound of His loving heart. And as I go into the day, where I’m often quickly swallowed by the cares and turmoil of this world we live in, I hold tight to His hand, as a toddler holds his father’s hand. I feel His presence—His hand on my shoulder—every minute of every day.
God’s love never fails; it is always constant, always strong, always everything we could want, even when we don’t deserve it. Our love for others, even for Him, is fragile and easily disturbed. The smallest word or gesture can cause us to shrink back from those we hold most dear, and even from God. Our love fails.
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