Lesson Learned-God is love

God is love

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

--- 1 John 4:16

The last 2 weeks have been trying, long and difficult. When I started feeling sick I simply kept pushing myself; not really resting to regain my strength although I was continuing to lose strength. In my mind I kept telling myself, “I don’t have time to be sick”, as if I actually get to choose when I do and do not get ill. As I continued getting sicker, as the rash continued to spread across my body, I asked God, “Why are you doing this to me? Do you love me?”

I immediately felt remorse for my thoughts; praise God for His Holy Spirit. How could I ever question His love for me? How could I allow this illness to make me believe that somehow my life was so important that I shouldn’t be ill? I then realized how often we as humans truly do that.

How often do we as humans say, “I don’t have time”? How often do we as humans put aside our love for Him and His commands because something is “more important”? And how many times as humans do we believe that God simply does not love us, or this world because bad things happen?

God IS love. Many scriptures affirm this for us, I chose to pray over 1 John 4:16. Notice that it does not say however that God loves. It says HE IS LOVE. That is His nature, His character. He loves perfectly and unconditionally, always. He never acts contrary to His nature. His kind of love always seeks His best for each person.

Now, how do we remember this when we are experiencing hard times? How do we look at situations and people around our world that are suffering and know that He is there and loving us? We must do one thing only:

1. 1. We must always compare our circumstances against the backdrop of the cross, where God clearly demonstrated His deep and abounding love for us once and for all.

We may not understand our current situation or how things will turn out eventually, but we can trust completely that Christ satisfied His unending love for us on that cross. In His death and resurrection, God forever convinced me (& I hope you) that He loves me always.

I choose to base my trust on what I KNOW—His love for me. I choose to trust that in time, possibly never while I am on this earth, He will help me understand the confusing circumstances I or others may be experiencing.

This is not to say that I blindly think that God has to give me account for the things that He does and allows. He absolutely does not and should not. But, He knows that we question things and He knows that we desire affirmation and He will help us understand the things that we are meant to understand.

So, why did I get ill? Well that’s simple, because that was His will. His will is perfect, therefore no matter what the outcome of my illness had been, it would have been a perfect outcome. For He is perfect.

He has loved me, uplifted me, kept me encouraged. What more could I ask for from the Creator of the universe? What more can I ask for then to simply have Him in my life?

He is my Sustainer, my Comforter, my Perfect Friend.

Blessings, Ashley