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2017: Loved, #myoneword

In 2017, I was asked by a pastor-friend if I wanted to be part of a group praying through the #MyOneWord method and seeing what God had for us during that year. My dear friend, Jerri Kelley, has shared her stories of the Word God has given to her in the past and the amazing way in which is unfolds as He weaves this Word into your heart and life. As I went through the exercises for this, I ended up crossing off Hope, Faithfulness, Healer, Dauntless, and ended up with LOVED. The next part of the exercise was to find a verse that spoke of that to you. I ended up finding 18 that resonated with me containing LOVED in them and then four that rose to the top:

“...I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”
(‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31:3‬)

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

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

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— (Eph 2:4-5)

But the one that won out was the one that spoke to me. It was personal. HE has loved ME. HE has drawn ME to HIM with lovingkindess. It reminded me of how he had wooed and pursued me with His extravagant love in the past.

 

In 2017, I learned what it was to live loved which meant I had to also love without restraint. God was calling me to total abandonment of fear which is not of Him and to trust Him to catch me or teach me to fly when I jump into wherever He was leading me or calling me. I put that little note right in my backpack and forgot about it for a while, but I found it again right as He was calling me to let go and see what He had for me. He's like that...patient, perfect, faithful, loving, kind.... I learned to see God as Husband finally. To know He provided for my every need. He showed up and was there every time the tears rolled down my face. At each wall. At each closed door, especially the ones He closed to protect me and my tender heart. He was there at every jumping off point encouraging me to take the next step even when I didn't know what it would look like once I did. He kept saying, when you know how loved you are, you will be able to trust me, to follow me wherever I may lead you, to keep your eyes on me in the storm. Trust me, Beloved. And I do. In a way that I never knew I could. In a way that allows me to be free even when so much around me tells me there is no hope and no future, my God/Husband/Father/Lover of my Soul speaks Truth to my Soul and says, I have it all in hand, delight in me, walk with Me, look to Me, I will deliver you and it just at the right time, and it will be better than you asked or even imagined. Are you ready for it? I will prepare the way...

It's frightening, and amazing, and exhilarating, and hard. So hard. But, He is soooooo good and I am soooooo LOVED. He continues to draw me to Him with loving-kindness and I continue to lean into Him and KNOW who He is. I have been reading my journals from the time since my divorce and just how faithful and loving and kind God has been to me through it all. I continue to choose to live LOVED and know that my God is working things out as He sees fit for what is best and right. I trust in Him and know His ways that are higher than my ways and I am leaning not in my own understanding, but acknowledging Him as He directs my path for I know what it is to be loved and trust the One who loves me with an everlasting love.

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