It All Comes Back To Love

I am a highly relational person and lately my relationships have been challenging. Some have been a positive challenge where other people are encouraging me to grow and be a better person. Some have been frustratingly challenging where I feel like I am walking into a brick wall over and over again. Some have been emotionally challenging because they require a sacrifice or an element of care taking on my part.

I am always up for a good challenge and when I am able to learn something from my experience I am a happy girl but I have been struggling with what God wants me to learn in this season of my life. I have been feeling like I am doing a lot of giving and not a lot of getting. And in classic Drea form when I feel this way I tend to shut down and retreat into my quiet place.

Thankfully God loves me so much that He reaches down and pulls me out of the darkness of my hiding and uses the very people that I am challenged by to shine a light into my life. Over the past three days I have been having some very God directed conversations and hearing some very God delivered messages (I love my church) and have been surrounded by and filled with some very God derived love.

The challenges I face have not been removed but my understanding of them has been changed. The positive challenges make more sense. I have a new game plan for the frustrating challenges. I am learning how to reach out and ask for support with the emotional challenges. And in all of this, through all of this, because of all of this I am developing a deeper understanding of what Christ Jesus means when He says “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” Luke 10:27.

I love myself a lot and so I can imagine what that means to love someone as I love myself. I am not always good at doing that but it is a wonderful model to work towards. When I remember that everyone around me deserves as much love and compassion, grace and mercy, time and attention as I feel I do, then I am released from my need to make sure I get my tank filled before anyone else does. It strips away my selfish tendencies to "get mine" first and it brings me to a place where It All Comes Back To Love.

The love God has for me. The love Christ showed for me. The love I have for others. The love others show me. Love is THE most powerful thing I know. When it is missing it can feel like a barren desert with no one around. When it is present it can change the course of a life, fill the empty voids, run over and out to others. It can bring peace and healing. I, for one, would rather live in, and with, and through love than to be without it.

So..... Who in your world is in need of some love? What challenges do you face and how could a little love help the situation? Have you acknowledged the people that love you and let them know how much you value and appreciate them? Who are you afraid to confront because you think the love is gone? Do you trust God enough to show up and do a work, through love, in your life and your relationships?

My prayer for today is that we all remember the Great Commission and "Love your neighbor as yourself." I pray that we will find healing and restoration in the loving arms of our Heavenly Father. I pray that we are able to improve our relationships through love. I pray that we will reach out for help when needed and offer help when asked. I pray that when others look at us they can see the Love of God flowing through us and out to a hurting and desperate world.

Until We Meet Again,

Drea