God is Love

 "...God is love..." 1 John 4:8

One of the most important revelations we can have is the fact that God loves us. God loves ME! We might say, oh, I know that!!! I've known it since I was a kid. John 3:16. I've heard that so many times!

But do we let it inside us so it changes the way we think, the way we feel every day, the way we treat others? Do we let it invade our heart and mind and spirit? Are we healed of hurts and pains because we know God loves us? Are we so confident in His love that we can get through our challenges and trials victoriously and not allow the enemy to whisper that it's just not true! Do we know in the dark that God loves us, when our mother just died, or our daughter is breaking our heart, or our husband is seeing another woman, or someone is ridiculing us?

We have to work at getting this truth to become REAL in our lives. One of the ways is to confess it, say it out loud. In Psalm 45:1, it says: "My tongue is like the pen of a skilled writer." What we say, our words, like that of a good writer, can touch our heart and mind, so that it can change us. And we need to use our tongue to write the promises of God in our heart. NOTHING, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35).

I like writing "thank you"s to God in my journal and I started to number them after I read Ann Voskamp's book, "One Thousand Gifts". I am now in #13,169. I like to list what God does for me, the big things, and the small. Yesterday I thanked God that my sister Tina and her husband Pat came for a visit from Japan, and we had a despedida for them last night. Our dinner was punctuated by some hearty laughs reminiscing about the past. What a tremendous gift God gave us in our family! Truly God shows His love for us through each one of our family members! 

I can look at my journal and see all the ways God surrounds me with love. And it reinforces my spirit, and makes me strong and confident. It is good to watch out for signs of God's favor. It is not so good to take for granted all the wonderful offerings of love God woos us with.