Love embraces.

posted on: 7.20.2012

© eros turannos

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
—1 John 4:16



I'm about to say more than I should, bear with me.



You know that time when your body begins to change? Some people call it puberty, I call it the "nightmare" period of life. I remember this specific time when I was 12 that I was with my dad at his house and we were laughing, just having a good time and he stops to look at me. It wasn't a creepy stare or anything, he was just looking at me. He leaves, comes back with a razor and says to me, "you need to start shaving your arm pits."

fast forward to last month.

I'm hanging out with Louis in the house, laughing and having a good time with him and then I notice him glance at me. I notice my arm pits and get insecure right away. I'm thinking "Oops, I forgot to shave...awkward"... so I nervously say it out loud: "Uh, I need to shave my underarms (lol)," to which Louis responds "I've seen worse." And we laugh about it, because truth is, I've had them worse.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a hippie or anything (no offense if any hippie is reading this), I just forget every once in a while (I bet you do too!). But I can totally understand if this changes your perspective about me, can't blame you for it.
But you see, God took the opportunity to show me something about His love through these moments. My dad and Louis like me so much so, that what I look like cannot diminish their love/like for me. They embrace me for who I am. I can be myself with them (even when I forget to shave my underarms, hahaha).
There is freedom in this, so I will say it again: I can be myself around them because they love me.

And Abba loves me. And that line just brought me to tears. 

He loves me, not who I'm trying to be or wanting to be or desiring to be; He loves me, right here, right now.
He loved me back when I was 12, when depression filled my heart; He loved me at 13, when I lost my way. He loved me at 14 when I almost took my own life. He loved me at 15 when I started dating a guy he told me not to; He loved me at 16 when pride had the best of me; He loved me at 17 when I was a lukewarm Christian; He loved me at 18 when I came crawling back to Him like a prodigal; He loved me at 19 & 20 when I struggled to obey Him in the little;
He loved me when I least deserved it, when the sight of me made Him turn the other way.

The Lord remains unfazed by my appearance, by the the hairy sin I keep under my arms at times. He loves me so much that He will embrace me, and while doing so, will point at the areas of my life that need to be shaved off and continue to lavish me with His love.
This is such a *Selah moment for me.

I've struggled with being loved, especially by an Almighty God that doesn't need me but wants me, that doesn't abandon me but seeks me when I'm lost.
I cannot wrap my mind fully on why He loves me, except perhaps that He might glorify Himself in my life through His love for me.
In Him loving me, I suppose I disappear;
I sink in so deep that you no longer see me, but Him.


Today I was the "whoever" that got caught in His embrace.
He not only loved me at 21—He wrapped me in His arms and won't let me go.



Love embraces.

22 Smiles:

  1. LOVE this post and the truth that is so embedded within your words. He loves us, oh, HOW He loves us so!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful post! The stories made me giggle quietly to myself but the point of the post is beautiful. It is so true how the Lord cares for us, even when we are so undeserving of Him. If we could love half as much as He does it would be amazing.

    Rachel Keeth // Lavender & Honey

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful. And quite hilarious at the same time :) But really, beautiful and hits home.

    p.s. I think every girl forgets to shave from time to time (or if you're like me you'll make a conscious decision not to haha!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. love this post so much. beautiful and hysterical and poignant and oh, so true.

    ReplyDelete
  5. oh my goodness. this. oh this. so beautiful and so true! this is something i've really needed lately. thank you :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is so true and so beautiful... albeit a story of underarm hair ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Incredible. I think everyone needs to be reminded of this, but my reading this today is nothing short of God's good plans, to free me, to embrace me, to love me.

    Thank you for sharing your heart. Because I could've written each thing you said about each age. We are very similar.

    God is faithful. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love this post. I laughed and smiled so much. Thank you so much for sharing.
    His love is unbelievably SO good and it does whatever it can to take care of us.
    His love RESTORES and cleans us up :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. this is so true. He loves who we really are. I like this post a lot ash!

    ReplyDelete
  10. this just gave me the chills. each one of your blog posts is a wonderful reminder of how loving and awesome our God is... keep letting Him work through you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. i love this post ashley. im so glad i stumbled upon your blog months ago. thank you for continuatlly gloriffying our Father

    ReplyDelete
  12. and i will also add thank you for posting this steffany frizzell song. every song hta girl does ...my goodness! He is there!
    xoxo mila

    ReplyDelete
  13. ah gorgeous. Can't wait for this from the hubs next month :) But I'm always grateful for the peace and love The Lord gives me, no matter what.

    ReplyDelete
  14. beautiful post - so relatable and inspirational (all of your posts are so spiritually wonderful)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh Amen. Sometimes God's love is so hard to believe for me too. Beautiful. I want me to fade away for Him.
    Oh, and I forget to shave my arms all the time too. Yay for rainforest underarms! Lol

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow. This really spoke to my heart tonight. God reminded me of my own journey and how much he has loved me every step of the way. Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank you again for sharing your heart and soul with us! It streams through in these words so so much, and your love for God and your search for HIM is unstoppable and I adore it!

    Have you ever read Life Of The Beloved? I'm sure I've asked you that before!!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Love your story dear :) So crazy how He loves and embraces us always, even at our worst.

    ReplyDelete
  19. this is beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Just what I needed to hear/read/learn/know. Thank you for writing this. Thank Jesus for loving us so much every part of our lifes!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments make me smile :)
I read every single one.