An Opportunity to Love

Okay so I've not blogged in a while....and there are three little reasons why and they are my three precious children.....who occupy most of my time! I'm sleeping or reading or doing my quiet time when I'm not writing. Anyway, thanks to my faithful friends who have read and commented on my blog entries. I'll try to do this more often! We went to the beach on vacation for a week and I had a lot of extra time to think about stuff....some good and some not so good stuff about my past. These thoughts inspired this blog entry and this is from my heart so here it goes.....

Have you ever been hurt? I'm not talking about a car accident, though that is something bad to go through. I'm talking about hurts that other people have done to us. Most of us have been hurt in some way by another person. I know I have. But God is using that pain in my life in positive ways.

My senior pastor's wife once spoke to my mom-to-mom's group and she said one thing she has learned to do is to see problems as opportunities instead of actual problems. I have tried to use that advice since then. I think it can be applied to past hurts as well. See, God loves us with a love so deep that we can't possibly fathom it with our finite minds. And once we start a life as believers we are told in II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" That means no matter what has happened in our past, God can cleanse us from all unrighteousness and he can heal our hurts. He can also take away the shame and guilt we feel about our past.

I am still trying to grasp this concept of love from my God, my Father. I am praying and asking God to teach me about love, how He loves me, and how I am supposed to love others. In my search for answers, I have come across many scriptures on love. In Deuteronomy 7:9 it states, "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands." This is an awesome verse because it tells me God is serious about love. He created us to love us and have fellowship with us. And I'm not sure about you, but a thousand generations sounds like a long time to me!

God made the ultimate sacrifice when he gave His only son to die so that we can live. (See John 3:16) Jesus died and suffered and bled and hurt so I don't have to. Isaiah 53:5 tells us "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." You see, as Lysa Terkeurst, founder of Proverbs 31 Ministries, says in her testimony, "His heart broke so mine doesn't have to." Jesus, God, was actually peirced and crushed. He suffered so I don't have to. I can live a life of freedom now, being totally submitted to Him and His love for me. It is not an easy concept to grasp sometimes. It is easy to hold onto past hurts or failures. It is in our nature to do so.

I am convinced that our past does not define us. Through living a life in Christ, we are free from the bondage of sin and past hurts. If we trust in Him and allow Him to work through us, He will never forsake us. This gives us hope. I am a firm believer that God will use our pain for the better. In Romans 8:28 we are told this: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Whatever you are facing today, know this: You can lay it down at His feet in prayer and submission. Grasping this will change your life as it has mine. We have the opportunity to love! One final verse, though there are so many, that can help us in this quest to understand God's love- "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (all scriptures taken from the NIV translation)