Day 18

I love the church that God has us in right now.

It's not perfect (after all they let me in the door) but the people and the way we are fed and challenged spiritually keeps us coming back.

The music draws me closer to God and the messages challenge me in my faith. The people encourage me to be who God made me to be.

After being out of the church for a while, I am thankful for God providing us with a place we can grow and be challenged.

Love Made Simple

What is love really? Is it a feeling that comes over you? Is it a thing that makes you act weird? Is love a word that we use to tell someone we care deeply for them? Is it a passion that doesn’t burn out?

The word love is overused today. But I have seen it in a very different context than the one above. If you will I would like to show you some real examples of true and abiding love that I have seen.

Love is waking up every morning and going to work with a job that you don’t love, but it feeds your family. Love is staying true to the person you married, no matter how much they change or circumstances are out of whack. Love is taking care of a dementia patient who will never remember what you do. Love is taking care of a sick person and not caring if you get sick or not. Love is signing over all the money in your bank account so someone can pay their electric bill. Love is being willing to lay down everything you have for someone else. 

I’ve seen this kind of real, deep, and abiding love in action. Once this kind of unselfish love touches you, you are never the same. You never get tired showing this kind of love. You can’t hold it in. It just flows out of you.

And when I think of the love that my Savior has shown to me, my breath is taken away. I can’t put into words all the comfort, encouragement, faithfulness, faith, and love that He has shown me.

So this is love made simple. This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us.