How He Loves Us

I woke up this morning to find this sweet note from my husband on our bathroom mirror. It is something he has done since we were first married, and I love it every time. He has such a gift of encouraging me with words. In this particular note he refers to the "divine adventure" that we are on together. That is what we started calling our journey soon after we knew that God had brought us together for a lifetime. We love our story because it is so apparent that only God could have written it. It seems like neither one of us had anything to do with it. Yet we were both at a place of taking big steps of faith and surrendering every desire and dream to Him, and he orchestrated our meeting with such beautiful care and timing. We consider our journey a "divine adventure" because at the core of who we are and why we are together, we both have a sincere craving for God, a passion for loving others in a way that draws them to Him, and an incredible peace in knowing that together as a team, we are stronger for Him. We both say the gift of each other is one of the most tangible ways God has ever expressed His great love for us.

Kevin and I were with a group of people from the Oldham Campus, the new multisite of Southeast we are helping to launch. We had a great discussion based on Deuteronomy 5:7, "You shall have no other gods before me," about making sure that we are serving only the one true God, rather than all the little gods we allow in our life to become our idols. Some of the suggested things that we idolize were spouse and kids, hobbies, work, success, finances, self, and even the Christian life. We were talking about how so often we minimize our faith down to a "to do" list that has to be done to make us "good enough." In actuality, God isn't interested in our efforts to prove our faith or earn our worth. Rather, he is interested in us...in our hearts. He created us so that He could have a relationship with us. He loves us so powerfully that if we could fully grasp and comprehend his great love for us we would be completely overwhelmed and overcome. My heart beats faster at the thought of seeing Him someday. Until then I know the only important thing is to truly know Him and build an intimate relationship with Him. To invite Him into our hearts and draw on the power of the Holy Spirit to be our strength and guidance in the battle of life. Literally everything else will flow out of that. I LOVE the song from David Crowder, "Oh how He loves us." Here are the lyrics:

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If his grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

That He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

Love it!!! I also love the recording by Kim Walker. Here is the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-rW528qiYw If you have this song or can get it, I would turn it way up in your car, be surrounded by it, and listen to it over and over. I love the part that says, "we are His portion and He is our prize, drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes." I love how there is no mess too big or darkness too great in our lives for God to overcome and redeem. He delights in overcoming our weaknesses with His strength. We need only to be broken and lean into Him...admitting our need. I also love the line, "He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy." God wants us for Himself. He loves us so much that He doesn't want to share our devotion with anyone or anything else. When I was in junior high or high school, my youth minister told us if we only remembered one thing, remember this: "God loves me, God loves me, God loves me." That alone has sustained me so many times since then, and even still today. In any moment, at any time, if that is the only truth I have...then I have everything. He loves me, He loves me, He loves me...and He loves you.