I love you, My darling! I loved you yesterday, I love you today, and I will love you always.
How do I love you?--I love you unconditionally. I love you completely. I love you eternally. I love you like a father loves his child. I love you like a husband loves his wife. I love you tenderly. I love you passionately. I love you perfectly.
Why do I love you?--I love you because you are Mine. I love you because you love Me. I love you because you are beautiful in My sight. I love you because you are a part of Me.
When do I love you?--I love you when you're in ecstasy, and I love you when you're in despair. I love you when you're successful, and I love you when you feel you've failed. I love you when you do what's right, and I love you even when you make mistakes. I love you when you feel like giving up, and I love you when you hold on.
How long will I love you?--I will love you always and forever!
From Jesus With Love for Women
What stands out in this message to me, is the contrast of our love to Jesus' love! For every way, reason and length of time this message uses to convey the Jesus' love for us (women), we have undoubtedly contradicted that love in some way. Jesus' love for us is not hard to fathom or conceive, but us loving ourselves...well now the rubber is meeting the road. Women have been deceived into believing that if/when they love themselves; they are being selfish, thoughtless and inconsiderate.
I will be transparent and say that I did not love myself every day this week. I have not loved myself unconditionally and completely. Not having my father around has left that void and I'm often suspicious of my husband's love. I sometimes feel out of place in this world, so belonging to Jesus and loving Jesus should make sense, but recently I have even questioned that. Jesus sees my beauty...why can't I?!? He loves me when I'm up and when I'm down; when things are good and when they're bad, whether I'm happy or I'm sad. So why can't I?
Dear Lord, open the eyes of my heart so that I may see me, the way that you see me. Help me to love me for me. Help me to love me in an unapologetic way. I thank you for loving me and for all of the others in my life that love me. I need to love myself...really love myself in order to reciprocate that love. Just as the father said in Mark 9:24 "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief". Lord I love You: help thou my self-love! Amen.
Great post! If all of us were to be transparent and honest we too would say that we did not love myself every day this week. What a post to have to wrestle through and come face to face with some things.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support and feedback! This assignment is definitely, first and foremost, for me first. Nevertheless, my prayer is to be used to bless other women through this journey.
ReplyDelete