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With all your soul…
Only God knows our intentions and posture of why we give and receive love. At times, we even lie to ourselves about the condition of our souls. Our life can only reflects how much we know, love, and trust God. The way we behave is secondary. Obeying God out of obligation, fear, shame, or to earn God’s love are all in vain. A desire to know, love, and trust God is where we are transformed. By developing our connection with Him, our soul is nourished and restored.
If we actually love someone, we yearn for time and connection with them. When our soul cries out to be loved, God is the only salve that heals. Money, power, comfort, validation, control, sex, and accomplishments cannot give us fulfillment. Our soul cries out to be loved, but we look for that love to be satisfied in all the wrong places. To crave love is the human condition; to look for it outside of God is a common experience; this is the result of our delusion that we can save ourselves.
But, do you love yourself enough to give your soul what it truly desires?…
With all your heart…
I remember explaining my love for my children to a friend who was expecting her second child. She was concerned she would not be able to love her second child exactly the way she loved her first child. I shared with her that she was absolutely right. Loving our children is a unique experience for each one. While I love all of my kids immensely, the love I have for them is special and reflective of our specific relationship. I don’t love my kids the same, I love them each the way they need to be loved. I couldn’t possibly love them all in a blanket, measurable way.
My friend looked back at me with a blank stare that made me question everything. As we processed this information, she helped me realize she was more worried about having enough love to give. Then I asked her where she gets her love…
Love God.
Suddenly, I was out of breath. As my breath quickened, I felt my heart race, and it was like a series of gears inside my brain allowed pieces of love assemble into a beautiful mosaic of truth in the forefront of my mind. Even though I had read this verse countless times, this moment left me with a fresh awareness and I heard God whisper: Love me by letting others love you. It brought me back to that moment of clarity about discipleship and I was, again, emotionally moved by remembering the beauty of the gospel by seeing how simple and complicated it is all at once…
Our God is One
Our God went to Moses, saw his value, and brought him back to Egypt to free His people. The God Moses is referring to in the Shema (Sh’ma) prayer is also the same God who brought Jesus into the world. He sacrificed so much for His people over time so that all my know His deep love.
He is the same God who loves you and desires to see that you know how loved you are…
Who is Israel?
The names used for God’s people has changed over time. At first, we required no name, because we all were His creation. Over time, the family of Adam, after about 1000 years, lead to a man named Noah. After God brought a great flood that covered the whole earth, the three sons of Noah spread across the earth. Derived from the name of one of the sons, Shem, came a name that represented the people of God for generations: Hebrew…
Yearning for a Fresh Start
The new year, even if you are not the goal setting type, feels like a new beginning for many of us. Even though I no longer purchase a crisp new planner and pack of colorful pens, the experience of “January” still fills me with the same nostalgic feeling of starting over; having an opportunity to look at the world a bit differently.
When Gratitude Stretches Us
In this moment, at the final gathering, I was filled with a plethora of emotions. Sadness the week was over, relief the children would no longer be my sole responsibility, gratitude for what we had been through together, and anticipation of going back to normal life. As these flooded me and became tangible all at once, I was aware of the preciousness of this shared experience…
Week 4: He Longs for Us to Reflect His Heart
Below is a 28-day guided study about The Heart of God Through David’s Eyes which was created to invite you to encounter God’s heart in new ways. Below is Week 4 of the study. For the book with all four weeks, purchase a copy on Amazon. 
Day 28: Becoming One After God’s Own Heart
When He made us like Himself, God gave us complex emotions that help us navigate our relationship with Him so we could try to imagine the depth of our value to Him. Despite our incapability to comprehend the vastness of God’s love, we can try to feel what He feels and love in similar ways He loves. Only then can we rely on Him so He can cover our insecurities and failures.
Our God wants to sit with us in our fears, failures, joy, peace, excitement, and grief. He wants us to be so engaged with the world and with Him that we are aware that we were not made for this place of brokenness, sin, and distraction. We were created for another intention.
Day 27: It is Time to Embrace Anticipation and Hope
Even though David spent much of his life on the edge of despair as he grappled with sorrow, grief, anger, and empathizing with others, he experienced incredible hope of what God is capable of. David was not shy when it came to allowing his feelings to flow, but he anticipated that there is intention, purpose, and meaning behind God’s movements.
There was a calm confidence David had in God’s ability to do the impossible. David rarely seemed concerned at God’s choices, because he trusted God to his core. Even when things get messy, scary, and most people would abort mission, David saw God at work and stayed exactly where God placed him. His anticipation was based on his own experience and what he understood about God from the experience of the generations of Israel before him...