{Perfect Love}

I haven't slept a full 8 hours until 2 days ago. It's been about 2 weeks. I'm the kind of person that needs sleep. If I don't sleep, I get grouchy. And WAYYYYY more emotional. So that is why I have been crying daily for a week straight.

Maybe it's not just that. But that is what I will blame for [now.]

It's almost 2014.
It's a time for reflection.
It's a time to be reminded of love.


Love that is
 
overwhelming, 

powerful, 

unconditional.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18

We forget that this is the love that we have. God perfectly loves us. 

Our society is so focused on love from another person that people think that will be their fulfillment. No, dear friends, love from another human will be imperfect. Imperfect love was not intended to be your fulfillment. God is. And God is love. {Perfect love.}

{Perfect love} gives us confidence. 

{Perfect love} shows us acceptance. 

{Perfect love} cares, always. 

{Perfect love} is real. 

{Perfect love} can be seen. 

{Perfect love} desires relationship. 

{Perfect love} changes us. 

{Perfect love} wants more for you than you want for yourself.

{Perfect love} waits for you to come back. 

{Perfect love} is perfect.

{Perfect love} is eternal. 

{Perfect love} moves us to tears.

Are you living in that {perfect love?}

Journey With Me

I've been alive for 23 years now. I don't remember what it was like to be a tiny human until the age of 5ish. One of my very first memories is laying in bed and across the room, my sister was laying on her bed. We whispered back and forth, but were soon told to go to sleep by my mother. I remember wondering what life would be like when I was older, as I drifted off to slumber-land.


In September, I start the program for my Lay Counseling Certificate. I have been preparing for it by reading the book assigned and reflecting on the content. The book is called, To Be Told, and it is written by Dan Allender. So much of this book is about {my story}. It's about coming to grips with the God-breathed story I have been living. But it also delves deep into my hurts, pains, anguish, and tragedy. I'm not one for the dramatics. I am very in-touch with my emotions. This allows me to feel deeply, in pretty much any situation, whether it is about me or someone else.

As I have been reading this book, those same deep emotions have been tapped into, exposed and left in the open. Which is incredibly painful. Along with all of these emotions, it seems that Satan is trying to come at me with every possible distraction. It has taken everything in me not to just scream my head off! I know that God is good. I know that this path is unknown, but it will be so worth it in the end.

{I want to invite you on this journey with me.} 

God is moving in my heart, my mind,

and all throughout my life. 

It is overwhelming.

It is unfamiliar. 

It is exhilarating. 

It is God-breathed!

Listen To The Story

What is it about a person's story that can capture our attention so wholly? 

Why do we listen intently to great storyteller's? 

What is it that draws us to hear powerful stories from people just like ourselves? 

If you read, The Story That Has Captured My Heart, then you've heard me talk about how our story is not our own when we live for Christ.

God has truly been showing me how to listen, truly listen, to someone's story. He's showing me what it looks like to see past all of the exterior walls that people build, and see someone's heart, even when they don't want you to. It is intriguing for me to watch an audience engage with a speaker as they tell a story. Just the other day, I was sitting in a meeting and as one of my pastor's told a story it gave me goosebumps. When we are watching movies, which are stories, we are wrapped up in them. Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we are moved to tears, sometimes we are angry, and sometimes we cringe. But we are entranced by the story.

What God has me pondering is why we only listen to some stories. Every story is unique and every experience has a story. My encouragement for you, and for myself, is to listen to people's stories. You can learn so much about a person by allowing yourself to listen, truly listen. That story may show you something you didn't realize about that person. If you let it, it could move you to tears.

God gave us the ability to relate to others for a reason. Do it. You may see God in a different way through someone else and their story.