Now is the time! I've been waiting to tell you this.

I love this picture of my husband and daughter many years ago.  She would toddle over to him and raise her arms. He would lift her up making some kind of rocket noise while she giggled in delight. This picture of the love between them made me think of you.

❤️❤️❤️

Oh my friend - I have been thinking about you and praying for you.  Last weekend, I thought I knew exactly what we were going to talk about today, one of my favorite subjects, FOOD. I went to bed Sunday night thinking about which pictures I would use for the post. I even made giant chocolate chip cookies for my family in anticipation of my writing this week.  (Those are not my cookies below)

 However, at 2 am I woke up knowing there was something much more important we needed to discuss.  I knew I would broach the subject with you sometime.  But, it is a Truth that seems impossible to grasp.  Even the Apostle Paul says what I am about to tell you is "too great to understand fully" (Ephesians 3:19b).

This is it:

You are dearly loved - deeply, unconditionally - on your best day and on your very worst day.  It does not matter what you have done or what you have been through, I am positive you are loved by the One who created the entire universe. Nothing can change that. 

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. Romans 8:38-39

Dearly Loved

Can you imagine how our society would transform if people could truly understand this? God loves you so deeply, He chose death for His own son, so you could be with Him eternally.    

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 1 John 4:9

So why don't we get it?  Why don't we understand it? Accept it? Why do we struggle to "toddle" up to our Heavenly Father (just like the picture above)  and trust the Truth of His love?

Here are 5 things that came to mind.

Distractions - They are everywhere all the time unless we intentionally block them off. 

     But NOTHING can separate you from the love of God.

Disappointment - When circumstances disappoint us, sometimes over and over again year after year, it becomes easy to believe the lie that God does not care.

     But NOTHING can separate you from the love of God.

Devastation - You are not alone if you ask God questions when terrible things happen.  There have been so many frustrations and fears expressed this week. I am writing at 5 am 2/16/18. Our country has seen pure evil the last 6 days with the death of two Westerville, Ohio police officers & a terrible school shooting in south Florida.

    But NOTHING can separate you from the love of God.

Disobedience - We know our own hearts and the things we have done.  It can be things we think and sometimes say. There are times the things in our past seem to big to be forgiven. Addictions and negative patterns can make us believe God could not possibly still love us.

    But NOTHING can separate you from the love of God.

Distrust - Sometimes the hurt in our own lives makes it hard for us to trust anyone including God.

Oh friend - I want you to grasp this, to understand it deep in your heart.  I will continue to pray that you get it - that I get it.

God delights in you. He adores you. He understands you. He is not mad or disappointed in you.

He loves you so much more than you know. 

So please

Don't forget the truth - You are dearly loved.

Dearly Loved

(If you did not listen to this song earlier, please listen now)