The Love of God

I used to tell myself that I wasn't a preacher... 
In fact, I used to limit God and say that He could not use me to preach on stage. I thought that because the first few times I got up to speak didn't go so well. However, this last week I've been extremely convicted that I told God what I would and wouldn't do for Him, and he gave me multiple opportunities to share my testimony and a short teaching. I've never felt so confident on stage before, and I completely believe that the confidence came when I stopped relying on my ability and started relying on the Spirit of God. It's amazing what He can actually use us to do when we just stop trying to accomplish His plans in the flesh.

1 Corinthians 12:9
"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 

I also used to tell myself that I 'didn't like' kids.
And then, well... You know what happened. I fell in love with them.

I seriously just wish I could express how deeply I love these children. It breaks my heart that they don't totally understand how much I love them. I want them to succeed, I want them to learn, I want them to have a real, thriving relationship with God some day. And by faith, I know that they will. Despite their circumstances or bad behavior, I commit myself to prayer for them. They are gems and they have so much future awaiting them, so many mistakes to make but even more potential and success to see.

Once again, I have to compare this love to God's. We cannot ever truly know the extent to which He loves us. We can never truly understand the amount of time Jesus spends interceding and fighting for us. Yet even though we can never really understand all these things, and thus never be fully appreciative of them, He continues to do them because His character is such that He's compelled to. 

Romans 8:34

"Who then condemns us? No one. Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God, and is also interceding for us."

I hope you're encouraged by Jesus' love today. I hope you know and see how much He loves you. I know that sounds cliche, I know you've heard it a thousand times. But when you truly find His love, when you truly begin to understand it, nothing in life compares. 

Ephesians 3:17-19

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know His love, that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Hope to hear from all of you soon! 

God Bless, 

Karen