Happy Tuesday Everyone! I usually don’t start with a greeting but, I thought I would spread some love and good cheer on Valentine’s day. This post is going to be more of a personal conversation that I hope inspires and encourages you. I want to give you a glimpse as to where I am at, what God is doing in me and what he is speaking to me.

Advertisers have just finished their “new year, new you” campaign and are starting their #LOVE campaign aimed at persuading you to buy something for your significant other and if you don’t have one; treat yourself! All the Hallmark movies, the Instagram posts, the roses and chocolates point back to a societal view that tells you that if you don’t have someone beside you, you’re lacking something. We want to be loved and to feel loved and in fact, we are! The love of our Heavenly Father is incomprehensible! As a young girl, my parents had a terrible divorce, and I haven’t seen my dad since. I grew up without an earthly father and God has ALWAYS showed me his faithfulness, his love, his mercy, and his grace every single morning. I will never forget the day He told me “Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6 MSG)

God won’t ask you to give love that you never got.

He gives it to you.

If we go to the world before we go to God, we find ourselves going into the world to get love instead of to give love.

Too often, we miss out on what God wants to do in us and through us because we listen to the voice of the Enemy telling us, you’ll never ever ________________. Most of the barriers in front of us are rooted in two identity issues: the way in which others perceive us and the way in which we see ourselves. If you never know how to be loved, you will never know how to give love. We are commanded to prepare for the move of God before he makes the first move.

The truth is: we love ourselves more than we love other people and we fail to properly apply the gospel towards them. We are more concerned about the offense against us and the reality is that the other person has offended God. We want revenge more than we want the person that offended us to experience Grace. I learned this lesson when it came to how I saw my dad and until I came to that realization, I was not able to walk in the fullness of freedom that my Heavenly Father has given me. It is in moments like these that, you discover how sweet it is to find your identity in Christ and to see how He intricately works on our behalf because of God’s love for us rather than basing our self-worth on our own performance.

1. Disconnect the affections that hold you from your past, and go towards what is greater.
2. Discover the love that our Heavenly Father has towards you.

“God’s splendor is a tale that is told; his testament is written in the star. Space itself speaks his story every day through the marvel of the heavens. His truth is on tour in the starry-vault of the sky, showing his skills in creation’s craftsmanship. Each day gushes out its message to the next, night with night whispering its knowledge to all. Without a sound, without a word, without a voice being hear, yet all the world can see its story. Everywhere its gospel is clearly read so all may know.” (Psalm 19:1-4)