Letting God Love You
There was once a young lady who longed to be married. She waited seven years for God to send just the man she was praying for.
Waiting, waiting, and some more waiting seemed to consume her days.
Finally the day arrived!
She met the love of her life and not long after they were married. The wedding was glorious and the honeymoon grand. But when life settled back into a new normal, all those fuzzy feelings seemed to disappear.
One afternoon her husband brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers home and after giving a slight smile and no thanks, she placed them in a vase. The next day, as she looked at the flowers, she didn’t feel any love from this gift and decided to throw them away.
The husband returned home after work and felt rejected when he saw the flowers in the trash. He tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, trying to convince himself she just had a bad day. Putting on a smile, he walks into the living room ready to greet his bride and noticed a glum look on her face. Slowly walking over, he reached his hands out and began rubbing her shoulders.
The wife sat silent for a couple moments, then brushed his hands off of her and walked to another room. She felt no love by him.
Of course you may be sitting there thinking, “But he’s trying to love her!” Yes, from the outside that’s what it seems to be. It is quite obvious to us, but to the women, she felt nothing but glumness.
A few weeks later, the husband bought tickets to a movie both of them had wanted to see. He was so excited to present this gift to her and entered the home with anticipation. His wife as usual did not acknowledge his presence and upon the husbands presentation waved him away and told him to go with someone else.
The husband was so in love with his wife though and kept trying to show it. He tried everything he could think of. He even went so far as to ask her how he could love her and she ignored him.
Now you’re probably thinking that there has got to be something wrong with this lady and you are right. She totally rejected her husband’s acts of love. She felt so unloved even amidst the multiple attempts from her groom to love her.
Upon reading this story, I want you to think of your relationship with Jesus. How many times does God try to love you and you just ignore him with some of the same responses this poor wife did.
- She threw the gift away.
- She brushed him aside and left the room.
- She ignored his presence.
- She denied his love.
- She totally rejected him in every way.
After struggling for so long with not feeling loved, I asked God to love me. I knew He loved me enough to give me His Son, but I struggled with the fact that He loved me in any other way. The problem was that I didn’t know what love was.
Love isn’t a feeling, it’s an action. A gift that must not only be given, but also received.
I began to ask God to love me. To help me see the gifts and blessings in which He tries to show His love.
Not only did I start seeing the sunset as a beautiful painting for me, the wind as a kiss on the cheek, and the birds music as a love song, I also saw prayers answered in special unique ways. It started with sales for things I wanted but couldn’t afford the full price. Then it switched to strength during hard times, in particular my races. I began feeling so loved by God nothing else in the world seemed to matter to me.
Unfortunately I quit seeing His acts of love. I got too busy with things going on in the world. My to-do list seemed to consume my every waking minute. I noticed that things began to irritate me, fear in every area seemed to over take me, and life became boring and extremely difficult. After being brought to my knees, the tears streaming down my face, God gently touched my heart and led me to allow Him to love me again. I am happy to say that I am back on track, not as much as I was, but pretty close, and dare I say I’ll never look back? I think not!
God has a way of making me feel special and loved that no one on this earth ever has or even could. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and knows me more intimately than even I do. He created me and knows my every thought. Therefore I have been confident to know that He knows exactly what I need and when. I just need to look for it and accept it.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us.
1 John 4:16-19
All of life is settled on love.
I created a New Years letter for myself and friends, and decided to share it with you all down below. Hope you enjoy!
I love ya’ll very much and hope you will take courage to begin looking for ways that God wants to show you His love.
Happy Running!
Listen to episode #34 on the Be Still and Run by Alli Anne podcast using your favorite platform.
Be Still and Run 