I’m sure you’ve heard at some point in your life that God loves you. Do you believe it? Maybe you don’t. Maybe you do. Maybe you want to, but, you just can’t wrap your mind around it. Here’s my experience, and I’m still learning.

Did you know that despite everything you’ve done in your life that doesn’t line up with the Word of God, He still loves you? Did you know that He chases after you time and time again? Did you know that what you’ve done is NOT who you are? You are so much more than your mistakes. I know this, because, He’s been telling me for some time now, that, I am more than my mistakes; and if that is true for me, then it is also true for you.

As a young adult I never really understood the whole Trinity “thing”. More to the point the “God the Father” part of it. As we read the Gospels, we learn from Jesus about His Father; but, I never knew God in this way. HIS Father wasn’t my father; I had never felt about God the way Jesus felt about Him. I always thought He was some distant being in the sky. That was, until I started really digging deep into my bible, that’s when in a loving and gentle way, He started to reveal to me how he loved me and chose to adopt me into His family (Galatians 4:4-7). When I started learning all this and what it entails I realized His Father is now my Father and my experience has never been the same.

As a parent I love my children more than words can say. If they make a mistake, or they live apart from what they know to be right, and do not live according to God’s Word, my love for them doesn’t change. That is how God the Father loves us. That doesn’t mean there are no consequences for our disobedience; but, it does mean that our Father will love us through our disobedience as well as the consequences.

You see God loves you so much, that he gave you free will, the option to love Him back. However, whether you love him back or not, He will always, ALWAYS, love you. Exactly like a parent loves their child(ren). I’ve been watching my 18 year old son take a variation of the path I took when I was his age. I have tried to prevent that for about 13 years now. But, as his mother, I am at the point that I cannot bail him out anymore; and so it becomes one of those “tough love” scenarios. Does that mean I don’t love him anymore, not in the slightest. In fact, I love him so much, I refuse to continue to enable him. That is what our Father does for us, so that we will grow and mature into His design. Just like we as parents want our children to grow and mature into adults according to God’s design. But if we as parents don’t allow our children to go through the trials that will strengthen their character, we are not doing them ANY favors; and while they may feel as though we don’t love them, the truth remains that we love them more than they will ever know. That is, until they become parents themselves.

God loves you and me, so much that He refuses to enable us, so that our character is strengthen in order to fulfill His plans and purposes for our lives. How awesome is that? Contrary to popular belief, love doesn’t always “FEEL” good. Sometimes love hurts; but, it’s always only for a season of growth.

I pray that, you, each person who reads this, knows just how much God loves you!

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for using me and this platform to reach every person reading this. I ask that You would open the eyes of their understanding in the knowledge of You. I pray that You would reveal to us, the love you have for all of us; the depth of your heart for us; and what it means for our lives, regardless of what our past looks like. Father, take us, in this moment, where we are now, and pour into us, so that we can pour into others. I pray this in Jesus’s name. Amen.