I found the quote below in my journal this morning. It almost brought me to tears, seeing the beauty of God’s pursuit of us.
He is the RELENTLESS LOVER.
He wants you.
He wants me.
And when we finally surrender to Him- whether in salvation, or daily in our walks with Him, we can then be wrapped in His splendor & be bathed in His light–that was waiting for us the whole time.
“Thank you Jesus for your pursuit of us, even in our rebellion. You never give up. Your pursuit is ferocious- unrelenting. What grace Lord!”
“I came to You late, O Beauty so ancient and new;
I came to love You late.
You were within me and I was outside
where I rushed about wildly searching for You
like some monster loose in Your beautiful world.
You were with me,
but I was not with You.
You called me, You shouted to me.
You broke past my deafness.
You bathed me in Your light,
You wrapped me in Your splendor,
You sent my blindness reeling.
You gave out such a delightful fragrance,
and I drew it in and came breathing hard after You.
I tasted, and it made me hunger and thirst;
You touched me, and I burned to know your peace.” {Augustine}
Here’s one of the best books I’ve ever read on the topic of God’s relentless pursuit of us. It’s a fiction novel based on the story of Hosea & Gomer in the bible (where God commands Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute, to display his relentless pursuit of us). You can see the book here. It’s such a beautiful story!
Beautiful! thank you for this I needed to read thank you
YES. Our God…my Father, has an indescribable, overwhelming, unfailing, relentless LOVE. Praise Him for grace…the fact that we are FREE to fail..and that we don’t have to live within that failure because of HIM. His forgiveness. His MERCY. His GRACE.
He is the ONLY reason to ALWAYS praise Him, through any wedding day or dark storm. He is faithful. He is victorious.
I loved that excerpt. God’s words, He alone, always brings such a wonderful heaviness to me. It is WAY beyond a fulfillment of feelings. A relationship with my God cannot be based off the ebb and flow of how I “feel” about God and who I may TRY to make Him out to be. Nor can it be a “heavy moving of the soul” just as much as repentance isn’t about talking–>crying–>”feeling” better. Scripture reveals to us who the God of the bible is, that is my Father!…SOLI DEO GLORIA
Awesome!! So needed this today! Thanks Alyssa!!
I love this.!
I absolutely love that book!
Love, Love this! And how true this is to me! God bless you!
Incredible! It is so inspiring to see God flow from your words! Thank you for sharing and saving lives.
Sweetness!
Thank you so much for posting this Alyssa. You’re authenticity is encouraging.
I love when God speak through other people to get you when you ignore Him…God i’m listening….
This is so good. Often times when I am in the midst of my situations I think how can God love me or continue to love me when I am suppose to be a “Christian” yet I act like the complete opposite of His word….then I hear this whisper in my ear say “where did we first meet?”….my response in the midst of my mess….in a pit. If He loved me then He will love me now…in the midst…He shows me His Ferocious Love….Thank you for the reminder! God is AMAZING!
Alyssa Thank You so much for sharing this and for the encouragement, you are very gifted;)!
I love this, and the timing is PERFECT. Totally God. Thank you so much for sharing.
Beautifully said! And Redeeming Love was the first Christian Fiction book I ever read, and it’s still my favorite to date!
Alyssa,
I absolutely LOVE this post! It really spoke to me! I LOVE GOD WITH ALL OF MY HEART! Thank you keep posting!
Thank you!(:
That quote is precious! Never read it before so thanks for sharing it! Thanks for sharing your beautiful heart for Christ. So encouraging. <3
Love Francine Rivers and especially Redeeming love! One of my favorite books/authors.
Thats my favorite book! SO good!
Amazing! God has recently charged me to study of his love and this is an amazing initiative! Thanks for sharing…beautiful words.
I love that book! I have read it a few times and it always makes me cry. I would suggest it to anyone(:
That is my favorite book of all time. I’ve read it over eight times!! Thank you Alyssa. Your blog has really been a blessing and has encouraged me to dig deeper into the word. You have really in a sense become a role model for me. I want to have a good enough relationship with the Lord so I can be more like you. <3
Beautiful post & awesome book!
LOVE this blog!!!!!!!!!!!! and LOVE LOVE LOVE this post!!!!!
Mind blowing the depths of this Love the Father LAVISHES on us! it’s insane! I feel spoilt – daily!
Jesus my relentless lover <3 may we be in ferocious pursuit of HIM as He is in ferocious pursuit of us <3
Alyssa, thank you for your posts. Always such an encouragement in the midst of a hard pursuit after my Lord.
I would love to know where you found the Augustine quote… those words pierced straight through to my heart.