Love, Actually...

Well... just a couple more months until the wedding... seems it is drawing so close and days when it cannot get here fast enough lol... every day is a gift from God and the more days I live it seems these days, the more convinced I am. There is absolutely nothing in this world that isnt laid up by God's own hand, good or bad all things work to the good for those who love God. I am truly amazed at His blessings that are truly new every morning, how redemptive of a God He is and how much He truly loves us. I am blown away by agapao love, unconditional, pure and sweet from God the very source and who is comprised actually of love. In the Gospel of John we find that God calls Himself Love itself.

(1 John 4:8-10 NIV) "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

9 "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."
10 "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

What a God! The very essence of love, the very ingredient in our lives in its purest form. And that He not us, made the first step in loving us, the God of the universe. Think about that for a moment. WOW. He sent His son to die for us, His son. How many fathers would send their children to die for someone else? Not for Himself but for us. Amazing Love. This is never so evident when we read in 1 Corinthians 13 called the love chapter the following:

(1 Cor 13:1-8 NIV) "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."
2 "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."
3 "If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."
4 "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud."
5 "It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."
6 "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth."
7 "It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
8 "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away."

If God is Love, and we substitute God for Love in this chapter we find a very wonderful picture of God's love for His children.

(1 Cor 13:4-8 NIV) "GOD is patient, GOD is kind. GOD does not envy, GOD does not boast, GOD is not proud."
5 "GOD is not rude, GOD is not self-seeking, GOD is not easily angered, GOD keeps no record of wrongs."
6 "GOD does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth."
7 "GOD always protects, GOD always trusts, GOD always hopes, GOD always perseveres."
8 "GOD never fails."

Did you catch that? Did you see that? God never, ever, will ever fail. Ever. He is more solid than the bedrock beneath your feet. More true than the North Star. That will all pass away but He still will REMAIN. What a God. And this is the unwavering love He has for us. The love He expects us to have for the world. Unconditional love.

I have been so amazed at how, when we fail, God never does. When we have given up, God is still on our side. When we sin, God has already provided a way of atonement. He already did the work, we just have to accept what He is and own it in our hearts. Amazing.

How does that fit in my life you might ask... lol... looking at what I have written above I had to ask my self that same question lol... well... not really...

I am the most in love with anyone I have ever been in my life. I am experiencing agapao love like I never have before. A pure unconditional love that only seeks to love me back. I am convinced that my finance is a gift from God as there is no way the two of us could be so made for each other by accident. The past experiences bad or good have moulded us each to be exactly who the other would ever want or need and I am truly amazed. I cannot live without this woman it seems, we live in two different towns until the wedding and I long to be close to her whenever I am away. I have never written so many love letters or sung as many love songs to anyone in my life. I have never dropped all my walls of protection around my heart like I have with her. It is like I expected her to fight her way into my heart and she walked right in to the center of it without firing a shot. Never have I ever had my heart so conquered so amazingly and it was with unconditional love, pure, kind, gentle and simple. I believe that is why there are so many allusions to God's love being to that of a groom for His bride. A love like that cannot be stood up against. You can try, but when someone is pouring out pure, agapao love on you it is pretty hard to keep hard against that person lol... and in this case I didnt even want to try.

I find it amazing that a heart can be broken so hard and still have the capacity to love again. Each day, my heart heals more from my past, and each day past hurts dissapate more like a bad dream. Each day with my love seems like another day of opportunity to love again and the longing to be man and wife preoccupies my mind.

I know what love sickness means now lol... it is true that absence does make the heart grow fonder. Not being able to see my fiance daily is hard. Harder than I thought it would be. Of course never had a relationship quite like this before. I cannot wait for the next email, phone call, webcam, or trip out to see her or her to see me. I have never had my heart long for someone like I do for her outside God.

I guess that is what it is quite like really and I have a whole another appreciation for what God must be going through. He wants Jesus to come back for His bride the church... I cannot imagine how stir crazy God must be going longing to wed with His church. The love and longing God has for His bride. WOW... if He is experiencing even half of what I am WOW... lol of course I know that His love is so much more for us than man for woman, but WOW... that is some kind of love. The fact that He is waiting is even so much more amazing. I have a lot more empathy for God's heart for us now that I am actually experiencing kinda the same thing, though obviously not on the same scale...

And God wants the same with us that we want with our bride, communion, to be together, to talk, to love. How He must long for us when we are too busy for Him. That is why we must know Him, not know about Him, not of heard about Him, KNOW Him... Know what is in His heart, what makes Him laugh, cry, makes him happy or sad. I hear His voice and know who it is on the other end of the line.

If He loves us like I love my bride, His heart must jump whenever He hears from us like mine does when I hear my fiance on the other end of the phone, to hear the words I love you to Him must make His heart soar like mine does when my love says that to me. To have His love poured back to Him like my bride pours back hers to me must be truly amazing on a celestial scale.

Wow... I guess our needs and His needs are not really that different at all... The need to be loved.

God Bless... Moose