{loved} - Jeff and Alyssa

97b6bbee2d7b10c2a9a081d0beb43c65I so wanted to write a heartfelt blog on Valentine’s Day, but with the unexpected busyness of the day, my long list of to-do’s before we left for the weekend, and me simply wanting to soak up every bit of the day I could, it didn’t happen. But really, I think the Lord wanted the whole day to speak to my heart. I wanted to write something eloquent on love—so I meditated on God’s love all throughout the day. Um, can we say WOW! Why don’t I do that every day?

As I was sitting on our living room floor that night surrounded by my bible study girls (Jeff and I celebrated a couple days early…which we actually loved!), I ended it with a simple “nugget”, as Jeff would say, that I believe the Lord was speaking to my heart as the words fell off my lips.

Beloved, you are loved. Deeply, immensely, and unconditionally loved. His love is far sweeter, far better than any love from a boyfriend, husband, dad—as sweet as that love is—God’s love far surpasses it. He is love Himself—it’s His very character. I was struck with this imagery yesterday:

While I lived on the beautiful island of Maui, one of my favorite things to do was hike through the jungles and come to a river or bay of water. The moment my sweaty body hit the cool water, I felt refreshed and alive. And as everyone sees from the postcards, at every hike there was a waterfall. Some were gentle, some were fierce. Some you could swim under and let it pound on your head, and others were too powerful, you just let the mist hit you from far away.

God’s love is like a waterfall. Never ending, always flowing—on you. His love is continuously falling on you beloved.

YOU.ARE.LOVED.

Do you believe it? Do you really believe it?

Run under his waterfall of love today. Let him wash over you. Soak you—drench you with His fierce love.

And then walk in love—we love because he first loved us {1 John 4:19}. We are full in Him, so we can love with abandon. That’s the beauty—that’s the call.

“…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of God.”   Ephesians 3:17b-19