A God Who Loves

Last night I couldn't sleep. No idea why. I just woke up at 4am, stayed awake until 6am, and dosed until my alarm went off at 7am. Two hours (give or take a little) gives you a lot of thinking time.

As I was laying there, a faint hint of something drifted through the air. It smelled like a mix of soap and flowers. I don't know. I started thinking about how God speaks to people. I remembered the story a friend once told me of how she smelled flowers during Adoration, then heard God's voice speaking to her. He said something along the lines of "These are for you and all of My beautiful daughters. They are far and few in between and such a gift to Me." Although what our Father said to her is beautiful, it stirred thoughts.

I thought about all the times others have had similar experiences. At this year's NET retreat a girl spoke of her "God spoke to me" experience. She described the calm that settled on her. My friend with the pure flowers mentioned something similar. I, too, have experiences like that. It's just a sudden calm and peace. The world fades away. It's just you and God. It's one of the most amazing experiences in the world.

I thought about how outrageously lucky I've been to hear God's voice and be spoken to personally. I thought about how much God loves me. Then a sudden realization came to me.

Our God is a God who LOVES.

Before last night, it was kind of a "duh" kind of epiphany. But really, think about it. God loves others. Well, obviously. God loves us. Naturally. For a long time I've been thinking about how much God loves me after everything I've done and all the mistakes and broken promises I've hurt Him with. I thought "Wow. I'm so lucky He loves me.", and when I heard stories of how others didn't feel that, I immediately thought, "OF COURSE He loves you! How could He not?!" It was a no-brainer for them, and a "Oh my Him. I'm the luckiest girl on the planet." for me.

I was thinking about this last night. I realized how amazing His love is for us. After everything we do, after everything that happens, He LOVES us. Totally. Completely. Irrevocably. Eternally.

I caught a sudden glimpse of how deeply God loves us. Just a glimpse, and even for me, a hopeless romantic, it was unfathomable. A unfathomable glimpse of love. What does the whole picture of His love look like? I think it must be impossible for our human minds to comprehend the beauty of His love.

This all sounds so simple. But think about it. Can you even IMAGINE how much God loves all of us? Not just you--everyone. We're always thinking about how much God loves us individually, and then with everyone else, it's kind of like "Of course He loves you!" Do we ever think about how He individually loves ALL of us? Can you fathom how much love that is?

It's really the ultimate love story. Creation was our prologue. Christ's death was merely the exposition! Okay, maybe some rising action, too. But here we are, still stuck in the middle of this eternal love story. Individual and together.

Our God is a God who loves. That's amazing.

How He Loves-David Crowder Brand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FxaUYjRtkc