Confident in Love

Today is Valentine's Day and I have been thinking a lot about love.  How I show love and how I receive it.  Do I feel loved?  Do I feel worthy of love?

I know what the Bible says about love but how does that play out in my life?  I struggle with feeling and then expressing strong emotions.   MS has flattened my emotional experience.   That doesn't mean I don't experience emotions- it just means that I don't feel them as intensely and that my brain doesn't translate them easily into action.  So, for example, I can feel sadness but I may or may not cry depending on how efficiently my brain processes that sadness on a particular day.  MS can be so random!

I know someone who just can't accept that Jesus loves them.  I don't know why - they know it intellectually but just can't translate that into a heart-felt knowledge of that deep love.  This person has experienced a lot of hurt and rejection and feels like there must be something wrong with them.  As a result, they can't accept the love being offered- by anyone.   This person thinks that unless they FEEL loved, they aren't loved.

On the other hand, I feel deeply loved by a perfect Savior- Jesus Christ.   I know I don't deserve that love and that I am deeply flawed.   But I also know that whatever state I am in, the Father sees only perfection because all my imperfections are hidden from view because Jesus died and paid the penalty for my sin - for all my human failings.  And because of Jesus,  I am dearly loved.  That feeling is stronger than MS.  Truly NOTHING can separate me from His love!

So, if someone in my life doesn't show love for me in a way that makes me FEEL loved, I still know I am loved.  And if I am that deeply loved, I want EVERYONE to feel that incredible confidence in being truly, deeply, unconditionally loved no matter what they do or say.  

I want Jesus' love to shine through me to others too but I admit that is not always easy.  As I said, getting my brain to translate love into tangible action- even into a smile - is sometimes very difficult for me.  The more fatigued I get the harder it is.  My sense of humor fades significantly as the day wears on and by bedtime it is almost completely gone.   I have to remember to be very intentional about even my facial expressions- especially when I'm tired.

I am so confident in Christ's love that it's easy for me to forget that there are many Christians who struggle with feeling loved and need that love from God to come to them through me or through other believers. It's an important responsibility- a God-directed assignment as a Christian that we fill up on His love and let it spill out onto everyone around us - even when it doesn't come naturally for us.

There is no reason that everyone in our circle shouldn't feel deeply loved by Jesus.  It's our job to make sure they are aware of the depth of His love toward them.  Be confident in His love and share it!  

Happy Valentine's Day!❤️