Loving people is my favorite thing to do. Giving compliments, taking friends out for dinner, bringing in snacks to work, it’s all about love. Sometimes my mind gets so wrapped up in it. I’m constantly thinking of new ways to love on people. There is nothing more fulfilling then spreading The Gospel by simple tokens of love; that’s one of the things I LOVE about The Gospel, you don’t need to stand on a street corner and tell everyone you’re going to Hell if you don’t repent and become a Christian: your life speaks a higher volume than yelling a street corner ever will. I’m not called to be a radical missionary, if you are, praise God! But I’m not. My mission field is my front yard, it’s the streets I drive down everyday, it’s my family and friends who don’t know Christ, it’s my co-workers and classmates. Honestly, it’s showing the beauty of God through the lens of a camera. The Gospel isn’t always spread through words, and I love that. I love that God has gifted in spreading The Gospel through written and non-written forms.
My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
— 1 John 4:11-12
That’s what God is all about: love. It’s placing others well-being before your own, it’s getting satisfaction out of extending kindness and compassion to others; it’s taking your pride and selfish desires, and placing them at the feet of Jesus because it no longer matters what you want because you’re so crazy in love with your Savior that your only desires are His desires, and His desires are all about loving each other.
Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.
— 1 Peter 4:9
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
— 1 John 3:18-20
[written by Katie Lynne]
I shouldn't be ashamed to love. The core of my being loves. In fact, I've met a couple of persons who do not understand the depth of my love. I go out of my way to be selfless because I know that love can make a difference. I'm not afraid to love. I'm not afraid to step into people's lives and offer them the love they think they don't deserve. Often, I've found myself valuing the things some people dislike, or even hate, most about themselves. But there can be no forgiveness is love hadn't come first. There can be no grace if love had not died for all. A love unworthy, but a gift made for free to those who are willing to receive it.
This past week has been a rough one. Everything seems great on the outside but inside of my being, everything is falling apart. God is draining me. He urges me to serve, even when I'm all empty. He wants me to love and endure the painful rejection of others in His name. The source of my love comes from the relationship I have with Him and many will never understand, He says. I don't understand what God is doing but I guess I don't really have to. I can trust Him. I can look back and see that everything He brought me to, He also got me through. If I have to endure heartache and a broken heart so that my story can keep telling the story of redemption and endless love, than so be it. If I have to waltz my way out of people's lives because they have taken me for granted or have not invested in my friendship, than ok. I'm willing to make others part of my story as longs as they're willing to listen. Unfortunately, those who listen are the rarest to find. A lot of them are so consumed with singing their own song that they are deaf to the beautiful harmony I have to offer because they fear rejection and they convince themselves that all they can do is push me away because their song is far more important than anyone else's. Well let me tell you, the greatest joy in my walk has been to pour into others; to love them. To be there. To comfort. To support. It's not that my calling is not as important as theirs, it's just that this world is so selfish and it needs an alternative aid to the wounds rooted inside of each individual.
Saving souls is not my job, but singing the song God wants me to sing, the very melodious story He composed, will draw others to Him, through me. I have to do my part and He will do His. In the meantime, as I depend completely on Him, I continue to seek His unfailing love so that I may know it and imitate it. If someone doesn't want what I have to give, then I should just let them be. God will call someone else for the job. My heart shall not be broken again for the sake of a selfish other. I'll gently step away and do them a favor so that the energy they wasted pushing me away can be served for a higher purpose. I'll sacrifice myself first.
I just pray for strength. I pray for strong, selfless people to surround me that care for me deeply, that will receive what I have to give. I pray for a future full of hope. I pray for the words that can intercede for my exhausted being when I don't have them. And I pray for faithfulness and obedience on my part; God only you know how uncomfortable I am and how quickly I want to go back to my comfort zone. Remind me that you have not called me to a comfortable life because sometimes loving means I have to bare my heart as an open target for others but that You won't ever abandon me. Amen.
Love,
a girl with a smile
My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
— 1 John 4:11-12
That’s what God is all about: love. It’s placing others well-being before your own, it’s getting satisfaction out of extending kindness and compassion to others; it’s taking your pride and selfish desires, and placing them at the feet of Jesus because it no longer matters what you want because you’re so crazy in love with your Savior that your only desires are His desires, and His desires are all about loving each other.
Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.
— 1 Peter 4:9
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
— 1 John 3:18-20
[written by Katie Lynne]
I shouldn't be ashamed to love. The core of my being loves. In fact, I've met a couple of persons who do not understand the depth of my love. I go out of my way to be selfless because I know that love can make a difference. I'm not afraid to love. I'm not afraid to step into people's lives and offer them the love they think they don't deserve. Often, I've found myself valuing the things some people dislike, or even hate, most about themselves. But there can be no forgiveness is love hadn't come first. There can be no grace if love had not died for all. A love unworthy, but a gift made for free to those who are willing to receive it.
This past week has been a rough one. Everything seems great on the outside but inside of my being, everything is falling apart. God is draining me. He urges me to serve, even when I'm all empty. He wants me to love and endure the painful rejection of others in His name. The source of my love comes from the relationship I have with Him and many will never understand, He says. I don't understand what God is doing but I guess I don't really have to. I can trust Him. I can look back and see that everything He brought me to, He also got me through. If I have to endure heartache and a broken heart so that my story can keep telling the story of redemption and endless love, than so be it. If I have to waltz my way out of people's lives because they have taken me for granted or have not invested in my friendship, than ok. I'm willing to make others part of my story as longs as they're willing to listen. Unfortunately, those who listen are the rarest to find. A lot of them are so consumed with singing their own song that they are deaf to the beautiful harmony I have to offer because they fear rejection and they convince themselves that all they can do is push me away because their song is far more important than anyone else's. Well let me tell you, the greatest joy in my walk has been to pour into others; to love them. To be there. To comfort. To support. It's not that my calling is not as important as theirs, it's just that this world is so selfish and it needs an alternative aid to the wounds rooted inside of each individual.
Saving souls is not my job, but singing the song God wants me to sing, the very melodious story He composed, will draw others to Him, through me. I have to do my part and He will do His. In the meantime, as I depend completely on Him, I continue to seek His unfailing love so that I may know it and imitate it. If someone doesn't want what I have to give, then I should just let them be. God will call someone else for the job. My heart shall not be broken again for the sake of a selfish other. I'll gently step away and do them a favor so that the energy they wasted pushing me away can be served for a higher purpose. I'll sacrifice myself first.
I just pray for strength. I pray for strong, selfless people to surround me that care for me deeply, that will receive what I have to give. I pray for a future full of hope. I pray for the words that can intercede for my exhausted being when I don't have them. And I pray for faithfulness and obedience on my part; God only you know how uncomfortable I am and how quickly I want to go back to my comfort zone. Remind me that you have not called me to a comfortable life because sometimes loving means I have to bare my heart as an open target for others but that You won't ever abandon me. Amen.
Love,
a girl with a smile
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