I called Kate last night and we vented for about an hour. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. There might be a new guy in my life whom I could definitely form a crush on and might even receive some encouragement from in that area. However, although he's a nice and fun guy, its not a crush that I can allow to go anywhere. I get very discouraged by these crushes because it just feels like a tease. It always makes me a little more sad each time because I want more than a crush for once.
I am very much a romantic, and I believe I need to understand more thoroughly how God romances me. I believe God has created me this way and wants to be the one to woo me, pursue me, romance me. Ann (Fleener) recently said something to me that has stuck. She said, quoting Rick Stark, that everything good and enjoyable in this world is only here because God hasn't removed Himself from our presence. I'd heard that before, but then she said so think about it, the coziness and enjoyment of a hot cup of coffee, is His grace. So, its made me think about everything I enjoy and to really see that it only comes from Him. That is romantic.
So, last night after talking to Kate I pulled out this book, Mocha with Max, by Max Lucado. It was a favorite of mine in high school. It just has small quotes, verses, and short stories that are encouraging. Now, normally, I'm not a big fan Max Lucado, he's just a little too motivational speaker like. However, this book is very encouraging and helps me to see God as our Ultimate Pursuer. I want to share some of my favorites from it.
"God loves you simply because he has chosen to do so.
He loves you when you don't feel lovely.
He loves you when no one else loves you.
Others may abandon you, divorce you, and ignore you, but God will love you. Always. No Matter what."
"God loves you. Personally. Powerfully. Passionately. Others have promised and failed. But God has promised and succeeded. He loves you with an unfailing love. "
"Others love you because of you, because your dimples dip when you smile or your rhetoric charms when you flirt. Some people love you because of you. Not God. He loves you because he is he. He loves you because he decides to. Self-generated, uncaused, and spontaneous, his constant-level love depends on his choice to give it."
"God isn't going to let you see the distant scene. So you might as well quit looking for it. He promises a lamp unto our feet, not a crystal ball into the future. We do not need to know what will happen tomorrow. We only need to know he leads."
"But why? Why would heaven's finest son endure earth's toughest pain? so you would know that "he is able...to run to the cry of...those who are being tempted and tested and tried" (Hebrew 2:18)
Now some verses :)
Christ Jesus...being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! Philippians 2:5-8
I'll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I'll call the unloved and make them beloved. Romans 9:25 (MSG)
You knit me together in my mother's womb. Psalm 139:13
-I think that might be the most intimate verse in the Bible, just my opinion. The Bible says that he spoke the world into being, but that He knit us together.
I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. John 3:16
Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30
I hope ya'll will enjoy all of this as much as I did.
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