This past month has been full of ups and downs, growth and a lot of learning. Something the Lord has been teaching me a lot about is His love. How His unconditional love is truth and my identity is rooted in that truth.
Did you know there’s nothing we can do to make God love us any more or less?
This is something that I’ve known for a while but just started to understand. God’s love is literally ours to have. He gives it to us in abundance and it is and always will be consistent. He loves us so much that even with the darkness we carry, He sees us as beautiful, lovely and righteous. This is a part of our identity. Whether you understand or believe these truths yet, they’re apart of who we are in Christ. We are seen as so lovely to God and He loves us deeply.
You might be questioning these truths and telling yourself that you can’t actually be that “lovely” to God. This could be because you’re believing lies about yourself or carrying shame and guilt for your past. But guess what? We shouldn’t be ashamed for the darkness we do have because any amount of shame or guilt was already taken on by Jesus on the cross. We all have darkness in our lives, but that will never change the way God views us. The more light of Jesus we let flood our lives, the more it allows darkness to flee. When light meets darkness, light always wins.
This past weekend my squad and I got to hike a dormant volcano (Acatenango) to watch an active volcano (Fuego) close by. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever witnessed. I for sure have a new found love for volcanoes. God crafted this earth so specially and wants us to enjoy it. Seeing and hearing Fuego erupt from up close was surreal and has given me more of an awe and wonder for God. God created volcanoes and all of the mysteries within them. Something so beautiful, big, powerful and dangerous.
God is so much bigger and powerful though.
Trying to wrap my head around how big God is, is something I’m always trying to do. But man I’m thankful that this will be an on going process for the rest of my life and that I will never fully understand Him here on earth. Knowing that I get to stay in wonder of how big, good, powerful and loving God is for the rest of my life is so sweet. He really cares about us. He doesn’t give us too much to process or teach us too much at one time. He’s not a God of stress, anxiety or fear but of peace, comfort and curiosity. That’s how much he loves us! His love is never ending and can be something we all wonder about for the rest of our time here on earth. He loves you and me so much more than we can ever imagine.
He reminded me of His abundant love on the hike. Allowing me to experience a natural phenomenon with some of my favorite people was one thing but showing me His love in physical form was another. We did a sunrise hike to the summit of Acatanango from our camp site. This sunrise hike was hard, cold and SO windy. However, it was so beautiful on top of the summit and so worth it. The view was breathtaking and seeing Fuego from the summit of Acatanango was something I will never forget. We all took several pictures on the summit, of course, but it wasn’t until later when I was looking through my pictures I noticed the sweet reminder. I had my friend take a picture of me in front of Fuego. Right when she was taking the picture, Fuego erupted. I didn’t know the eruption would be so special until after I looked through my pictures. This was a special one because the smoke of the eruption was in the shape of a heart. WOW. God really loves me a whole lot and He also loves you a whole lot. So much that He can show you His love amongst a natural phenomenon 14,000 feet in the air.
Such a sweet perspective, friend! Spittin the Truth! Miss you!