“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices when the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

His love is different.  God’s love is different from the love that I receive from my parents, friends, or even church family. His love does not spit at me or reject me like humans have the ability to do.

I have to honest with you all. Sometimes, I have a difficult time accepting love from others, because I was teased a lot as a child. Sometimes, I question in my head when a friend says that they love me. I even find the words “I love you” to be strange words to say to my family and friends. Even though I feel the words, I don’t easily say the words. If I say  “I love you,” will something negative happen to me that will make those words useless? Will I be looked down upon or treated cruelly?

With God,  I am working on this destructive thought pattern. I am worthy of love and to be loved by others. And even if the love of others fails me, which will happen, because we humans are not perfect; I have the love of God.

In Amanda Cook’s song “Pieces,” she sings the following lines: “You don’t give your heart in pieces. You don’t hide yourself to tease us.” God’s love doesn’t play games. He generously gives us His love and tells us to bathe in it. To let His love take over. To let His love overcome anxiety, depression, a broken heart, a confused mind, or a battered body.

When I first graduated college, I spent a few years working in daycare centers. I worked with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Little, little children are interesting creatures to observe. They will play and then start fighting. They will share toys and then take toys away from each other.

God’s love doesn’t behave in the way that little children interact with each other. His love isn’t childish. He is not a toddler that will run over and swipe His love away. He’s doesn’t say to us, “Welp, I need my love back boo.”

He is our loving Father who sits in the room with us when we murmur prayers that are sprinkled with tears. He is our loving Father who sits with us when we are numb and watching joy-filled faces parade around us at church. He is our loving Father who scoops us up in the same way that our mama or daddy did when we cut our skin after a fall on a sidewalk.

I have been repeatedly listening to “Pieces,” because I need it to stick in my heart that God’s love defines my identity. The busyness of life and the hurtful words of other can make me forget about the enormity of His love. On the Cross, I imagine that Jesus took all of the insults that I have ever been called onto His body. That His worn body took every moment someone despised me. These words and moments are not mine, but God’s love is mine.

I want to conclude with a prayer for every woman who is reading this post:

Lord,

We pray that we will fully experience Your love! We pray that we will “let love happen” as Amanda Cook sings. We will let love happen when we feel insecure. We will let love happen when we feel like the gum on someone’s shoes. When we feel like we should just be forgotten. We pray that we will love others as You love us. We don’t want our love for each other to be ugly or crude. We desire that we love each other with a selfless love. But within it all, we pray that You teach us how to love ourselves. Because we need to know that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” as Your word states. Thank You Father for how You love and care for us. In Jesus name, we pray! Amen!

 

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