So we might love.

*Whew.*

These last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind- absolutely crazy.

But this week it is Easter and I felt like the topic the Lord laid on my heart to write about was very fitting.

So here we go.
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1 John 4:19, "We love because He first loved us."

Romans 5:8, "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

His love for us is unimaginable, incomprehensible...beautiful.

I find myself often in awe of how much He loves me. Even while I'm sinning He loves me.

Isn't that amazing?

Last night at church we did a walk through of the death of Christ.

The next to last step was to sit at the foot of the cross and write a prayer thanking God for His sacrifice.

{Let me tell you something about myself: I LOVE to write out my prayers, it feels much more personal that way. The end.}

So, I kneeled at the Cross and began writing. The heaviness of what happened 2,000 years ago to my Savior weighed on my heart. And I poured my heart out to Him.

Because I did not deserve- I don't deserve- that kind of love. Yet He loved me. 

My prayer these past few weeks amidst the business of life is that God would give me opportunities to show His love to those around me.

He died so that I might show His love to others- show His love and glorify His name.

One of these times came last Saturday while I was babysitting my Sunday School teacher's three young children. Sonia had come along to play as they are good friends.

At one point little man pushed his big sister off of the hammock and it left the eight year old little girl in tears. She wasn't hurt- she was just offended.

(After putting little man in timeout for pushing his sister) I did the only thing I could think of to do: I snuggled up beside her and asked her if she wanted to talk about it.

She shook her head and a tear fell down her cheek but I stayed. I laid beside her and asked the Lord to give me the words to speak to her.

She had mulch on her back from where she had rolled off of the hammock(which was only a foot from the ground-no worries people, I'm not a terrible babysitter!). I began to pick the pieces of mulch off of her shirt and her tears stopped.

"Now you wanna talk about it?" I asked again.

She nodded but still didn't say much. I stayed close to her and we laid in the hammock looking at the blue sky filled with puffy white clouds.

Minutes later Sonia and the other little sister came and laid with us on the hammock. I wrapped my arms around the three of them and closed my eyes.

This is what love feels like. And I thanked God for that moment with the three of them. That moment He had gifted me with to love them.

Let me tell you, making the choice to love is the most rewarding thing I think I've done in a long time. It's the tiniest moments that mean the most to me.

The moments that you let Him use you to show His love are incredible. Could you ask for a greater gift- especially at this time of year?

So let me challenge you, as I am challenging myself, to show the immense love Christ has shown us. Pray for opportunities to love- He will give them to you so be on the look out for them.

Christ loved us so He died. But Sunday is coming.

Because death could not hold my Savior down.

He will find victory.

Praise Him for that. And find love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8 (emphasis added.)

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends."

~Bailey